First garter snake, Bell

Today's sunny but chilly trek was a combination of toil and pleasure. The work part involved assessing the management needs of an area that the Avalonia Land Conservancy organization I volunteer for is slated to receive in the not-too-distant future. Because the land is close to my house and is currently owned by the Nature Conservancy, it's a refuge I've come to know quite well, so I'm always up for a walk there. Some of the shrubs were just beginning to leaf out, but there were no wildflowers in evidence, the butterflies were few and far between, and even the birds were keeping to themselves. But in a patch of almost-warm sun along the edge of the old logging road that forms a trail, we stopped for a few minutes to watch a newly-emerged Garter Snake basking in the light. The serpent's sun-bathing, of course, has a serious purpose. The snake is probably hungry, but it needs to raise its body temperature to more effectively hunt for a meal or two. Given how still it was, even when I moved quite close for a portrait shot, I guessed that it needed a few more moments in the sun before it could get to work.