A few garter snakes darted off the trailside where they had been basking as I passed by. The birds were singing, and the distant sound of woodpeckers knocking on the dead tamracks could be heard. Eventually, a dark shape materialized trailside in an open sunny patch of sun.
A beautiful sub-adult out in a coiled position for an early morning bask. It was more than willing to sit still for a few pictures.
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sistrurus catenatus
Seeing one rattlesnake in a morning is a nice treat, but seeing two is lucky. A few hundred feet up the path from the first snake was an even larger individual basking on some fallen down sedge grass.
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sisturus catenatus
The following morning, I headed out around 10AM because the colors were a little cooler and the skies were sunny with haze. I also noticed some garter snakes out moving about in the morning sun. After seeing a few buzztails the morning before, I was hoping I'd be lucky enough so see another individual out along the trails. I got my answer just after 10:30 AM as I noticed this layed out a few feet off the trail near a largr stand of tamaracks.
This snake was a large gravid female, estimated to be in the 23-24" range. She noticed me and coiled quite quickly to stand her ground. You can notice from these photos how swollen she was with embryos growing inside of her.
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sistrurus catenatus
As I was photographing the gravid female, I heard a small buzz coming from behind me. Imagine my susprise when I turned around to see a yearling massasauga coiled just a few feet away. One of the few times I've seen two massasaugas near each other. All together, that made it a four rattlesnake weekend and brings my observations to five on the year. Should be a good field season!
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sistrurus catenatus
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