I wouldn't call it exactly warm, but it was temperate enough that the Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers were in fine voice, and they're now calling loudly from early afternoon until the temperature drops below 40 at around 10 PM. (The WFs go quiet first, while the Peepers seem to be a little more cold-tolerant.) The fact that there's a persistent amphibian chorus, of course, means that other cold-blooded critters are more inclined towards activity, too. Among them was this rather small Garter Snake—I'm guessing it was about two feet long—that I practically stepped on while I was on my way into the vernal pool that I monitor. The reptile was coiled up on the leaf litter near the water, and it probably just came out of winter sleep and needed to soak up more sunlight and warmth before it could become feisty. In another month, there is no way it would stay this still while I lay down next to it and, no more than a foot away, photographed it with the Nikkor 85mm micro. Today, however, it didn't even flinch: a boon and a blessing for the documentarian.