TWO SPECIES

Garter Snake, Green Island Road, Iowa

Usually when I make a visit to the wetlands along the Mississippi River I have something to report about birds. Sometimes great news and sometimes not so good news. Last weekend I found not much to get excited about our feathered friends but two encounters of different critters made me wondering if we have larger numbers of snakes again after other people seem to see more this year as well.

Brown Snake

Both were stretched out on the gravel road in the Green Island area and seemed to enjoy a bath in the sun. I usually get out of the car, make a few clicks with the camera, and force the snakes to go off the road, mostly with the leg of my monopod. It took me awhile this time, both snakes didn’t like to give up their sunny spots. Unfortunately too many of these critters get killed by people just driving over the animal, quite often intentionally. Thinking about that just makes me mad…

Garter Snakes are non-venomous and play a vital role to keep the ecosystem they live in healthy. Snake fungal disease is attributed to the decline of snakes in recent years but habitat loss may play a big role as well. Garter Snakes are recognized with 37 species and 52 subspecies but they are usually easy to identify.

Brown Snakes are also harmless and very docile. Their diet includes mostly earthworms, insect larvae and slugs.

Nikon Z6 II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S,    @400mm

NATURE CLICKS #435 - BROWN SNAKE

It has been 10 years and one month ago since a Brown Snake was in front of my lens. I have lamented numerous times about the fact that we hardly see any snakes anymore around here, probably due to snake fungal disease (SFD). This photo is a few days old, because I was out of town for business, but my excitement hasn’t really settled yet. This is not a photo for winning an award, but for me it is a very important documentary shot.

While filling a hummingbird feeder in the front yard I discovered this snake between our Brown-eyed Susan sunflowers. Brown Snakes are primarily woodland snakes and eat earthworms, insect larvae, and slugs. They are docile and harmless.

The problem with making this photo was finding a “window” between all the flowers where nothing obstructed at least the head of the snake. This looks easy but a little wind made things moving around the snake and I have several shots where this was just not the case.

HEALTHY SNAKE?

Garter Snake -------

I have been possibly pointed in the right direction about my suspicion over the dramatic decline of snakes in our area by Pamela, who is also a member of the Dubuque Camera Club, today. Thank you Pamela! The cause could be snake fungal disease (SFD) and if you are interested to learn more about it, here is a useful link for you: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5095536/ . Oddly enough, Joan found a Garter Snake at the edge of our woods  yesterday, the first we saw in a long time. The snake just rested in the grass and gave me plenty of time to get the camera.

So how do we get a good image of a snake lying in the grass? I don’t know! I tried a low angle but din’t like the outcome. There was always a blade of grass that covered part of the head. I finally went for a picture from above, using the coil of the reptile and the soft evening light as my means for the story telling.

In a close-up view of the photo I can see that the skin of the snake is kinda flaky, however, not really visible in this size-reduced image of my blog. I will send a larger file to the people that do research on this disease and will either learn that this Garter Snake is healthy or help to pinpoint the spread of this fungus. This is all very concerning, knowing about what impact the Chytrid Fungus, in particular Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or “Bd”, has done to amphibians, wiping out more than one third of the world’s frog species. Just reading a lot about it today, the threat to these reptiles seems to be not less…

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2018 #02 - ABOVE FLOOD STAGE

Garter Snake, Mississippi River, Mud Lake Park, Iowa --------

I have a hard time keeping up with my visual story telling about things that happen in nature right now around here. It is an eventful time. So, let me talk about the Mississippi River again. The river was above flood stage during the last few days but reached its high today. Some of my usual shooting locations and places where we give also our dog Cooper his exercise were under water. Yesterday I was down at Mud Lake Park and the picture below tells you how this recreation area looked like.

Mississippi River, Mud Lake Park, Iowa

Ok, so what has that to do with the photo of a beautiful Garter Snake? During the last few years the number of snakes has dramatically decreased in this area. Years ago I could make a picture of a snake every day in our backyard and found them at many other places. This is not the case anymore. I have a hard time to find any snake at all and last year I saw only a single Garter Snake, which were usually abundant. I talked to many people, like rangers from the DNR or biologists. Everybody observes the same trend but nobody has really an answer what causes the decline. I still hope it is a temporary thing but my fear grows that pesticides or other aggressive treatments of mother nature play a role. 

The high water level of the river and subsequent flooding have obviously effected the habitat of some critters and this Garter Snake was out in the open. A dangerous place since many predators, like herons, egrets, or owls may not hesitate to have them for dinner…

NATURE CLICKS #351 - WESTERN FENCE LIZARD

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

I was asked if there were any other critters in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve beside birds. The answer is yes, although I only saw this nice looking fence lizard in one of the bushes near the border of the reserve. Just minutes later another local photographer showed me a picture of a coyote he just had seen. The same friendly guy reminded me to watch where I go in order not to come close to a rattlesnake. Two species of this venomous snake can be found around the wetlands. Unfortunately I didn’t see any. I also didn’t see any rabbits, cottontails, mice, ground squirrels, bob cats, sharks, or any other kind of lizards. Fish were jumping and I saw for the first time a ray at the bottom of the laguna. The ecological reserve is full of life but one day is just not enough time to explore all of it. I’m nevertheless happy with my image of the Western Fence Lizard. The blue patch at its throat indicates that this is probably a male.