Snakes Alive

 

I trailed our boy up in the field yesterday, but decided discretion should be the better part of valor as far as slogging through the overgrown fields to his eventual destination. Thus I wandered down the hill, birding as I went, alone.

At midday like that, birds were scarce, but I saw more snakes than I have seen all summer.

They were all Eastern Garter Snakes, probably the commonest species we have, but all were in fresh, bright, skins and just beautiful.

They poured across the ground dark as molten chocolate, the richest lovely brown you could imagine, glittering like jewels poured from hand to hand in some mystic kingdom. I have never before seen them in such dark shiny colors.

I grabbed the photos, which don't begin to do justice to how gorgeous they were in the hot Autumn sun. More than made up for the silence of the birds.

Later the boss and I went out to Sara Lib Road quarry where the tiny migrants were busy in the swampy woods. Lots of both kinglets, chickadees, both nuthatches, and catbirds, calling and bustling around. That was nice too and I should have slept well after all that exercise.

However, the fat lady below sang all night and disturbed our peaceful slumbers.