Reptiles & Amphibians of Alberta

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.

I rarely come across frogs, so I was very happy to see this little Wood Frog on one of my walks.

Didn't want to crop this any more, so unfortunately it is a rather distant photo. However, it shows a Red-sided Garter Snake, which is one of our two kinds of snake - the other is a Wandering Garter Snake. Today was the first session of Snake Monitoring in a local park. We found about 32 snakes, I think, which were measured and recorded, roughly half of each type of snake. My reasons for going are to hopefully get the occasional photo worth posting and also in the hope that I will lessen my fear of snakes!

There were something like eight or nine of these snakes caught inside one of the wooden traps at a hibernaculum that I was at two days ago. I was attempting to get a few photos, while others caught, measured and recorded each snake found.

Another photo of one of the Red-sided Garter Snakes found in the hibernaculum in a local park. Think I might just have to ask a trusted friend to hold one of these snakes for me on one of the monitoring days, in the hope that I might even be able to get a supermacro image! Not that I exactly fancy being a couple of inches away from a snake! Anything for a photo, right? Maybe... Red Sided Garter Snake Identifying Features: Body is very slender, average length is 460 to 1300 mm Background colour is dark olive green to black Dull yellow or brown stripe on the back fades towards the tail Red or orange bars appear on the sides Dark spots appear on the back, throat is whitish Females are larger than males Diet is insects, worms, fish, amphibians, small birds and mammals Jaws can dislocate to spread far apart, enabling the snake to consume prey larger than its mouth Information from www.friendsoffishcreek.org/

Despite my fear of snakes, I have to say that this Red-sided Garter Snake seen today on our Snake Monitoring session, was absolutely beautiful. It had just been caught, measured, recorded and released over the hibernaculum fence.

A friend held this Red-sided Garter Snake today after it had been measured and recorded, so that I could try and take a photo of it. Almost impossible to get a focus on it, as it was constantly swaying.

A more distant view of the brightest Red-sided Garter Snake that we monitored yesterday.

Another composition of the beautiful Red-sided Garter Snake that we saw on Monday during our Snake Monitoring.