Tenacious
Category:
Backyard,
Organisms,
Photos,
Vertebrates
I found this little snake in my backyard this afternoon. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but at only about 8 inches long, it must have been literally 1,000s of times smaller than me. Did it care? Did it quickly slither away upon being discovered? Uh, no. Gotta respect that.
2 comments:
Nice shots! Feisty one.
The scale pattern on the head and the red tongue make me think it's a juvenile garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). The coloring is unusual though especially the near absence of a dorsal stripe. Perhaps someone else can confirm.
Neil - Thanks. Garter snake was my initial thought when I saw it, but I wasn't sure since it lacked striping and was so aggressive. I probably spent 15 minutes taking pictures of it, the whole time it was rearing back and striking. It was on tarp I was trying to move, so eventually I had to shove it off with a stick - even then it was "digging in its heels", so to speak.
I've never seen such behavior from a garter snake, especially one this small, before.
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