Early Spring Snakes

Inspired by the nice sunny weather, I took a walk in Winooski to a site where I suspected I may find my first snake of the year. I hiked to a section of Casavant Park that is directly adjacent to a steep embankment below I-89. Sections of the hill include natural rocky outcrops and artificial "talus" which I suspect was placed as fill for the raised highway above. At the base of the hill is an extensive marsh and floodplain forest... perfect habitat for Gartersnakes.

The steep, west-facing slope clears of snwo early in the season and offers good sun-exposure for basking snakes. In addition, the rocky embankment likely offers the local snake population the best location for hibernaculums as the rest of the surrounding area is within the flood plain and the water table is quite high. Despite patchy snow and cold temperatures (only 44 F when I found them at 1:00 pm) they were quite alert and active.


(the bigger one)


(the smaller one)

I also added a new section for snakes, accessible on the tab on the right column. Click to expand and see the two snakes I currently have pictures of.