Walking in snake country

My daughter and I headed out for a walk last saturday morning. I took the dog along with us. We were walking along the river channel, it's a favourite for her...she's a retriever so loves to play in and around the water...as does Janelle!

Here are a few pictures from the walk.


Goldie (aka Fat Dog heeheehee)


A beaver pond




A rim in the creek. I thought I was being all artsy fartsy with this one until Lindsay asked me why I was taking pictures of garbage?!! sheeesh.


Then we found this guy! Yikes!! I wasn't sure what he was until I got home and googled him...



It looks very much like a rattlesnake, but as it turned out it was actually a harmless gopher/bull snake. A type of constrictor I guess. Lindsay is now informing me that of course it's a constrictor--how else would it kill it's prey?? (me)Well....I don't know....I thought maybe it bit it's prey to death....oh dear... guess I just never thought about it before. She's now rolling on the floor in great fits of laughter. :-S



Can you pick out the snake in the picture below...I wanted to show the length of it so it's a bit far away and hard to see.





It was morning when we were out there. The snake was laying in the sun warming itself. Apparently they kind of "freeze" up at night since they are cold blooded. After about 30 minutes of us watching him, he very slowly slithered under the rocks. So off we went and continued our walk.


The snake's head.











On our way back we stopped to see if the snake was still at the same place. It was gone but this little guy was in his place. This is just a common garter snake. I won't be so quick to climb around on rocks to take pictures anymore...at least not without having a real good look first!!