Happy World Snake Day

 Celebrating Snakes Today

Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail, Ontario, Canada. 

The theme for World Snake Day 2024 emphasises the critical role snakes play in the environment and how they can be good neighbours by controlling pest populations and contributing to biodiversity. 

I love to photograph snakes. Most common is the Eastern Garter Snake that I come across most often. It is most favourable to photograph snakes in the spring and fall this is when they are most docile and very slow in their movements. Otherwise they move with great speeds to get away from you in the summer months. It is kind of scary that most species of snake have a conservation status connected to them and it is becoming increasingly harder to come across these wonderful creatures in the wild. The rarest being the Massasauga Rattlesnake the only rattlesnake here in Ontario, I have only come across once in my travels to the Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada. Here are just a few snakes I have come across in my outings.

Banded Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata) Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Columbia, North Carolina, USA.

Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus) Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada. Conservation Status: vulnerable (N3) in Canada (NatureServe).

Lake Erie Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon insularum) Pelee Island, Ontario, Canada. Conservation Status: imperiled (G5T2) (NatureServe).

Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys vernalis) Quebec, Canada. Conservation Status: vulnerable (S3S4) in Québec, CA (NatureServe).

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon ssp. sipedon) Sarsaparilla Trail, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Wandering Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans ssp. vagrans) Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, British Columbia, Canada. Ramsar site no. 649.

And now for just some favourite photos of snakes I have come across on my adventures out on the trails, they always give some interesting poses but with a flicker of their tongue is always a very welcoming photo. All of these photos are of the Eastern Garter Snake like I said is our most common snake we have to come across.