“A sure sign of spring is the time the reptiles emerge from hibernation, each assessing their environment, and seeking a first meal.” – Ed Lehming

I know there are many who are not big fans of snakes, but to me they are all part of the natural world, participants in the local eco-system. As spring ramps up, larger and larger forest dwellers start to show up. It started with small flies and beetles, butterflies, frogs, and mice. Now, the predators are showing up too, working our way up the food chain.

I happened to catch a motion to my side as this fairly large Garter Snake began to move from the place it was basking, warming itself in the warm sunlight. As I stopped to watch it, it stopped to, coiled up in a defensive bundle, it’s tongue flicking the air, trying to figure out what I was. It also swayed it’s head back and forth, assessing me, almost as if asking, “Who’s There?”

This particular day, I had decided to travel light and only had my iPhone with me. I was able to get down low to the ground to get this picture (one of several) and also captured a bit of video to go with it, before he’d had enough of me and headed for the cover of the forest. No need to watch if snakes make you squeamish.

One of the added benefits of the iPhone is that I can make videos easily to document some of my photos, something that is a bit more challenging with my D800. The original video was done in 4K and looks quite good. It does not translate well to WordPress and I don’t want to spend the time figuring out why.

iPhone 12 Pro @ 4.2 mm
1/575 sec, f/1.6, ISO 32