Well, the snow has finally disappeared from my new home and the herps have started moving. I've been out in the field just about every weekend since it started warming up, but hadn't found anything but salamanders and newts. Then, this weekend, I spent my entire Sunday checking out some spots that I'd scouted on Google Earth. After finding nothing of interest, I went home and resumed my scouting. Somehow, it seems that I managed to overlook some trash piles in an open field on the other side of the swamp from where I live. So I rushed back out to try and find some last-minute herps. Fifteen minutes later, I had found four snakes, three species, all lifers.
Unfortunately, last month's rains sent my new camera to an early grave, so I was unable to photograph my finds. Today, though, I was smart enough to take my girlfriend's camera phone with me as I returned to the same area. I left most of the cover alone, looking for stuff I'd missed yesterday. Only found one snake today, but it was the first species I found yesterday. If you can excuse the crappy camera phone pics, I'd like to introduce Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis, the Eastern gartersnake.
Like I said, low quality photos. But I will have a replacement camera by this weekend, so I doubt that you guys will have to endure many more of these kind of shots from me.
I'll try to get some more shots this weekend. In my circle of friends, a sighting without a photo doesn't count. That said, I've got a sneaking suspicion that I'll be posting photos of Red-bellied snakes and Eastern milk snakes very soon. Call it a hunch.