After working on Michigan photos for these last few days, I felt like my eyes were beginning to cross. I needed to get outside and away from the screen for a while. So I headed to one of my favorite local parks yesterday afternoon (with cameras in tow, of course) to see what was out and about.
Midday is tricky as it’s the quietest part of the day for wildlife, but Eagle Creek Reservoir is generally good for at least turtles and waterbirds. They didn’t disappoint, and they even brought friends: At one point, I was so caught up trying to photograph a warbler that wouldn’t stay put that I almost missed a small herd of deer that moseyed right past me, cropping the tall grasses at the waterline. Cedar Waxwings flitted about. An Indigo Bunting perched to sing. Red-winged Blackbirds dive-bombed me like the brats they are.
It was a good day.
After leaving the reservoir, I stopped back at the creek itself a final time to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and it’s a good thing that I did. A line sliced through the water ahead- a snake on the move.
There is a myth that only venomous snakes can swim with their bodies high in the water. This harmless watersnake (Nerodia sipedon) is a great example to the contrary as it cruises along at the surface. I love snakes (which comes as a surprise to nobody at all) so I was happy to watch it zip around in the water for a while.
Eventually it approached a small logjam, and I noticed another watersnake basking- and then a third swimming. While it’s impossible to be any more certain without harassing them, I eventually counted at least four individuals out enjoying the sun.
Snakes are generally solitary animals, though social behaviors have been recorded in gartersnakes and rattlesnakes. Other insights may come to light as research continues, but in the meantime there’s one particular age-old reason that brings creatures together unless they’ve worked out an alternative.
It doesn’t require three but hey, why not? But there’s a black bar for each of these shameless little derps- that’s better. I left them to their exertions. I look forward to more watersnakes.
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