northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a (no doubt young) Eastern Garter Snake I met last month. They are considered one of our most common snakes.  When working at Nokia, I would see them fairly frequently. Unfortunately they liked to sun themselves in the parking lot where there was a fairly high chance of getting run over. I'd try and scare them off the asphalt, though I suspect they'd return there after I was gone. (They understood they needed to warm up but didn't understand the dangers of vehicles.) I'm afraid I scared this individual who was sunning itself on the top of some greenery but slithered someplace safer when my camera and I came by. It ultimately swam into a hiding place in the water. I know they can't breathe in water, though they probably can stay underwater for at least a couple minutes. And it's possible there was an air pocket in it's hiding space. Although they're in a different genus, the Garter Snakes are considered to be closely related to the water snak...