Garter snake

When I first spotted this snake at the bottom of the exit stream that drains the vernal pools near my house, I thought it was dead. In fact, I thought I was looking at a stiff and striped corpse that lacked both head and tail. Curious to learn what the body might reveal about the cause of its demise, I started nudging it out of the cold water. That's when it came to life and very slowly slithered away. But if the chilled serpent wasn't going to reveal anything about its end, I was hopeful that it could tell me something about its identity, so, even more gently, I used a stick to bring enough of it above water that I could read field marks. I was hoping for a fairly rare Ribbon Snake, but a look at the snake's "lips" revealed slight markings—and no telltale white on the chin or in front of the eye. These, combined with a fairly stout head and tail, the location of the stripes, and other diagnostic characteristics pointed to a commoner: the Garter Snake. I apologized for the interruption and left him to return to waiting for dinner.