Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Wandering Garter Snake

Thanks, David, for letting this Wandering Garter Snake slither along the sleeve of your jacket to give me yet another photo opportunity! Taken while we were monitoring snakes locally. I photograph - my friends monitor, LOL! 50 snakes, both Red-sided Garter Snakes and Wandering Garter Snakes, were recorded, measured and then released. Most of these 50 snakes had collected inside two snake traps and only a handful were actually slithering down the hibernaculum hill.

NOT my hand, I can assure you! Taken in a local park when we were snake monitoring on May 30th. Rules (from higher up) were changed this year - including not needing to wear plastic gloves, which surprised me. Pretty much impossible to get even one photo, as a standing rule is to handle the snakes (never by ME!) absolutely only as long as it takes to measure them. Common but localized populations; least abundant among the three Thamnophis species. Adults: 45 cm - 107 cm. Watch where you step : ) I don't know about you, but my knees always go weak when I unexpectedly come across one of these when I'm on a walk! Unfortunately, some snakes are killed by bicycles on the bike paths within the park.

Thought I had "better" post a couple of photos of things out in the wild, to give you all a break from my Zoo photos : ) This is a Wandering Garter Snake, seen down at Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park. They tend to blend in really well with their leafy surroundings.

We came across this young, male Wandering Garter Snake yesterday afternoon, when several of us went to 12 Mile Coulee. It's quite a tough walk, being steeply uphill and downhill for the most part. The weather was cold and overcast, apart from a short bit of sun, and it started snowing part way throughour walk. This snake was tightly coiled to keep warm and was tucked under a small bush. I had NO intention of getting any closer, to remove the slightly annoying dry blades of grass! I saw the tail end of a second snake slithering through the grass right next to this snake.

Well, it took a number of shots before I managed to catch the tongue coming out, LOL! Unfortunately, my camera focused on the body instead of the head and tongue : ) Thank goodness for 18x zoom (and a crop), ha, ha! After seeing f4h1m's comment, I thought I'd better just add that these Garter Snakes are harmless, for anyone unfamiliar with them. To me, a snake is a snake - harmless or venomous is beside the point! Very definitely not my favourite creatures : )

I'm still trying to get a good photo of the two types of Garter Snake that we see while monitoring at a local Hibernaculum. Some individuals are far more active than others, or more accurately, very occasionally we come across a slightly more docile one.

This was one of seven (I think) snakes that we saw during Snake Monitoring yesterday. It was our last time doing this, so I was glad to get one or two more photos. This is one of the two different species that we get here - a Wandering Garter Snake male. I was just lucky to catch the tongue out - no matter how hard I try, I almost always click just a split second too late.

Probably my last photo of a snake, as our Snake Monitoring has now come to an end. These guys move so quickly that it's almost impossible to get a decent photo. Lucked out with this one showing the flickering tongue.

Plucked up my courage, and cranked the zoom! Wandering Garter Snakes are harmless - but that's beside the point!

Similar to a previous photo I posted here but this time I didn't catch the bright red tongue. This was the first snake I ever photographed.

This is what I came across on one of my local walks. Once my knees lost some of their weakness, I plucked up the courage to lean forward and just kept clicking. The weather wasn't particularly warm, so fortunately the snake was too cold to move.

I must admit that this is not my favourite member of the wildlife of Alberta. However, I was determined to try and lessen my fear of snakes and in fact took part in a short monitoring of snakes in one of the parks earlier this year. Well, I should say that others held and measured each catch - and I photographed! It seems to have helped a little - anything to get a photo!

Managed to get this photo despite my fear of snakes!

Finally, a photo showing the bright red tongue of the Wandering Garter Snake.