I went out herping for the first time this year yesterday. I've been sick for a week, and I thought I was better (more on that later), so I grabbed my camera and headed to a couple of my local spots.
I live in a fairly large city, but I have a secret spot in the middle of it where I find a fair amount of snakes. It's a quick and easy spot, so I pulled in there first and hopped out. Temps were around 60, and the sun was peaking out from partly cloudy skies. Not ideal, but I was optimistic. The first sheet of tin I flipped had two eastern garter snakes. Great way to start the year, and really got me hopeful for the day. But, of the other 20 or so cover items I flipped, I only found one more garter. But, still, 3 snakes in cool temps in early march - I wasn't complaining.
Garter 3 by
Scott Wright, on Flickr
Garter 2 by
Scott Wright, on Flickr
Garter 1 by
Scott Wright, on Flickr
After walking around this very flat, and easy area, I was sweating and light-headed. Maybe I wasn't quite as "well" as I thought. But, in true Me form, I jumped in my truck and headed to the mountain where I was going to look for timber rattlers. By the time I got there, the sun had disappeared behind clouds and I wasn't feeling at all optimistic about finding Mr. C. horridus. But, I was eager to explore an area I'd investigated via google maps. So, off I went. The area did indeed look promising, but, as I'd feared, no snakes in sight. Not even a lizard on the rocks. I think it was just too cool in conjunction with no sun to bask in. Due to how weak I was, I spent a lot of time sitting. I'd walk 5 minutes, then sit on a rock and look around me. I did that for a couple of hours, and went home exhausted and well aware that I wasn't over my illness. I didn't find any timbers, but I'm eager to go back to that spot when the weather is a little better. All in all, a nice start to the year, I think.
Hopefully more trips and photos soon.
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