Yellow-bellied

  

A quick look at a Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon) this afternoon (3 June 2026)

With its head raised, the nice yellow color on the underside was easy to see:

 

 

Successs

  

Leaving work tonight (17 September 2025), we noticed a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) perched on top of a telephone pole.  I turned around and pulled off the road nearby.

We watched for a few minutes and then the owl crouched and took off, gliding down towards the ground:

 

 

 

It landed among the grass, but at first I couldn't tell if it had caught anything:

 

 

  

But then the owl looked up and I could see something in its bill.  This happened quickly, and looking through the camera I couldn't tell what it was, but zooming in later, the prey was visible:

 

 

 

A garter snake!  

It didn't take long for the owl to swallow the snake.  

The next views showed off those large yellow eyes:

 

 

 

 

 

And then the owl flew up to a nearby cypress tree.  The light was just right for a great view of its talons:

 

 

An unexpected encounter!  You never know what you'll see on the way home from work.

December sun

  

I went for a short walk in the woods today and came across this small snake sunning among the needles and leaves.  I think it's a Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis).  Although it's mid-December, the air temperature reached ~53°F (~12°C) in Walpole, Massachusetts, this afternoon.  Warm enough to do some exploring and to catch some rays!

 

 

 

 

Snake eyes

  

Walking through the dunes today (29 April 2023), I was pleasantly surprised to come across this beautiful Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon).  It was curled up below a shrub and eventually turned and moved off in the other direction, but I managed a few photos for the record.  I don't see racers that often on Bodega Head, so it was a highlight on a cool day at the coast.  Here's a close-up showing the scales (and a reflection of me in its eye!).

 

 

I posted about racers way back in 2012, so if you'd like to read a little more about them (and see a photo of a juvenile), see "Color shift" on 15 October 2012.

 

Belly dancing?

  

I saw several of these tracks on the upper beach in Truro, MA, on 28 September 2022.  

A wonderful snake track!  

Although I looked, I didn't find the snake itself.

Fall beauty

 

 

A beautiful DeKay's Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) crossing a trail in Chatham, MA, today (29 September 2022).

 

This is a relatively small snake — it was approximately 12 inches long (and that's about average size for this species).  

 

Here's a view of the entire snake:

 

 

 

And I can't help ending with a close-up.  The coloration and markings are subtle, but check out the blueish iridescence on top of the head:

 

 

 

Not the only onessssss

 

 

When we were at the Gualala River recently, we realized we were not the only ones searching for toads.  We came across a few garter snakes, including the one above that had swallowed a toad!  (More on this below...)

 

There are several species of garter snakes in this area, which can make them challenging to identify.

 

Two of the snakes we saw had a lot of red coloration on their heads and bodies.  Here's a side view of the same snake shown in the first photo:

 

I could use some help, but my guess on this individual is California Red-sided Gartner Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis).  

We also photographed a different individual that I think might be the same species:

 

 

 

 

But the third snake looked very different:

 

 

 

Here's a side view of the same individual:

 

 

 

The identification of this snake was confusing to me.  Usually garter snakes have a paler yellow dorsal stripe down the middle of the back.  This one only had a partial stripe on the neck.  

As you can see, there is no red coloration anywhere.  And if you're interested in comparing, the labial scales (along the jaw, below the eye) and the internasal scales (between the nostrils) are different (in number and shape, respectively) relative to the first two snakes.

My best guess right now for the third snake is an Aquatic Garter Snake (Thamnophis atratus, possibly Thamnophis atratus hydrophilus).  But I haven't been able to locate another example of an Aquatic Garter Snake with this coloration.  [The color pattern is a better match for a Two-striped Garter Snake (Thamnophis hammondii), but that species isn't found in Sonoma County.] 

 

If you have any input about these identifications, I'd be grateful for any feedback!

P.S.  Fun natural history note: If you look closely at the first photo in this post, you'll see that the snake looks swollen in its midsection.  We weren't sure what was causing that at first, but while Eric was watching the snake, it regurgitated a partially digested toad!

Arm's length

 

Luis spotted a wonderful Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris) this morning (12 July 2019).

 

We felt very fortunate to get a close look at this beautiful snake.  

Many thanks to Luis for his sharp eyes and quick hands!

P.S.  You can click on the images for larger versions.

 

Sssssearching

 

 

 Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris), 30 June 2019

Greenish-blue below

When I arrived at the beach at the end of the Abbotts Lagoon trail yesterday, I overheard a family talking about a snake.

Intrigued, I went over to take a look.  It was a beautiful California Red-sided Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis)!

Sometimes this species has a wonderful greenish-blue coloration below:

 

Here it is pushing off the sand:

 

And one more — a close-up of the markings:

 

 Many thanks to the family for sharing their colorful discovery!

ADDENDUM (26 November 2017): P.S.  Eric and I were debating about the color of the underside of the snake.  We discussed turquoise and teal green, but neither of them seemed right.  Then Eric sampled the actual color of the snake in Photoshop, and we tried to find the closest match with a Pantone color (see photo below).  We didn't find an exact match, but we found that Pantone 345 was closer to the snake than either turquoise or teal (although it still needs to be a bit grayer).  Pantone 345 doesn't seem to have a name, so I guess it's up to us to make one up.  What would you call it?  :)

   

Blue-black

 

Eric and I were looking for toads in Walpole, Massachusetts, on 1 October 2017, when we spotted this beautiful Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus) under a rock.  I'll admit — it fooled us at first!

Although it's hard to tell from the picture, this is a very small snake.  [We estimate it was ~12 cm long, or a little less than 5 inches.]  In a shaded woodland, the yellow ring around the neck was hard to see. We thought it was a salamander at first, but when I got a little closer for a photo, I realized it was a young snake.

Here's a zoomed-in view:

 

And the smooth, blue-black scales:

 

For a size reference, here's the snake in Eric's hand as we released it next to the rock where we found it.  Adult Ringneck Snakes are often ~25-38 cm (~10-15 inches) long.  In Massachusetts, hatchlings emerge from eggs in August/September, so it's likely this snake is only 1-2 months old.

Although Ringneck Snakes are also found in California, I haven't seen one there yet, so it was a treat to encounter this species! 

 

Unexpected guest

An unexpected guest stopped by my office today:

 

I was a little surprised to look down and see this young garter snake just outside my door!  Then again, the recent warm weather seems to have awakened much of the local flora and fauna.

I think this is a juvenile Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris).

For an earlier post about them, review the "Fork in the road" post from 9 April 2013.

 

A first spotting

Did you hear about the Yellow-bellied Sea Snakes (Pelamus platura) that washed ashore in Southern California?

There were several articles written about them — see examples in National Geographic, Scientific American, and The Washington Post.

With the strong El Niño conditions this winter, and hearing about these sea snake sightings, you can imagine that I've been watching the wrack line closely.  

Not too long ago, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this on the beach:

 

I was a little hesitant, but eventually I was brave enough to flip the snake over:

 

Can you believe it?  Even rarer than a Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, this is the first sighting of a White-spotted Sea Snake (Pelamus albomaculata) in North America!

Okay, okay — April Fool!

Hope I didn't get you too excited.  (Perhaps you could tell that this snake didn't have a flattened tail, and that it was made out of rubber.  But it did make me do a double-take when I found it washed ashore!)

Enjoy the first day of April!  :)

 

A longer view

 

Do you have a guess about the identity of this animal?

Here's another view as it disappeared into the grass along the side of the trail:

 

I was disappointed to only have a few seconds with this snake, but I also felt very lucky to see this beautiful California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae):

 

I'll have to hope for a longer view on another day!

 

No essscape

 

A silhouette, unfortunately, but I hardly ever get to show pictures of snakes.  I'm not sure if this counts, but it still seemed worth posting.  This Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) had just flown up to the wire after catching this snake in a grassland on Bodega Head.

I was hoping to read about what types of snakes Red-shouldered Hawks have been known to catch, but I couldn't find much information about that (at least quickly).  However, if you do a Google Image search, you'll find some amazing pictures of Red-shouldered Hawks with different species of snakes.  I'm not certain which species of snake is in the photograph above, but the most likely is a garter snake (based on their abundance on Bodega Head).

Red-sided and blue-bellied

 

I debated about showing these pictures, but then I decided to go ahead.  It's an opportunity to praise and share images of one of the most beautiful local snakes — a California Red-sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis). 

The unfortunate part is that this was a road-killed animal.  I'll be selective and I won't show you the entire snake.  But I hope you can appreciate how handsome it was.

 

 

Although the blue of the belly scales was much brighter in person, I think you'll be able to see the keels on the scales in the following close-ups:

  

  

Perhaps this snake will serve as a reminder to all of us to slow down and always watch for wildlife.

To learn more about California Red-sided Garter Snakes, check the California Herps web page.

Fork in the road

 

Finally, a real snake for the Year of the Snake!

This garter snake was basking in the warm sun on a gravelly road on Bodega Head today.  I was excited to get a few pictures including one showing the forked tongue (above).

Here's the whole snake.  It was over 2 feet long.

 

A close-up of the body shows the handsome color patterns and the keeled scales.  Note how each scale looks like it has a thin line running down its center — that's the keel.

 

 

Now here comes the tricky part.  I think at least two species of garter snakes have been recorded on Bodega Head.  One is known as a California Red-sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis) — it's a subspecies of the Common Garter Snake.  The second is known as a Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris) — it's a subspecies of the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake.

So is this a California Red-sided Garter Snake or a Coast Garter Snake?  One important feature to look for is the number of upper labial scales (labial = lip).  Red-sided Garter Snakes most often have 7, while Coast Garter Snakes most often have 8.

Here's a side view of the face so that you can count the labial scales.  Start with the one below the nostril and then count towards the tail until there's a dramatic change in scale size (all of sudden they become much smaller). 

 

What number did you get?

Don't worry if this is confusing at first.  I'm not always sure I've done this right, so here's an example of how I counted (the scales are numbered below).

 

Because it appears there are 8 labial scales, I checked to see if there were other features that might confirm this as a Coast Garter Snake.

Another helpful characteristic is the shape of the internasal scales.  This is just what it sounds like — internasal = between the nasal openings or nostrils.  In Coast Garter Snakes, the internasal scales tend to be wider than long, and rounded (not pointed) at the front end.  The next image shows the two internasal scales (see arrow).

 

It does appear that the internasal scales are broad and rounded.

I also read that Coast Garter Snakes often have red or orange flecks within the yellow side stripes and on the belly.  So I checked for that, too.

 

You can probably guess that I'm leaning towards this being a Coast Garter Snake.  But I'll also be the first to admit that I don't have much experience separating these two species, so let me know if you disagree!