Reader Alex MacMillan sent some photos of garter snakes, as well as a video he took. As you might know, garter snakes (and many others) overwinter underground in shelters called hibernacula, often congregating in large masses to shelter them from the elements during winter. Alex’s notes:
These photos and the video are of Eastern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) emerging from a hibernacula which appears to be a water drain or pipe of some sort. This occurred in London, Ontario on April 16th of this year when we had a period of unseasonable warm (mid 20’s Celsius) weather.
After leaving the hibernacula T. sirtalis will form large mating balls as many males compete for a chance to mate with the larger females.
Snakes in a drain!
An emerging female:
His video:
Reader Anne-Marie Cournoyer has a daily standoff in her Montreal yard between a gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and a grackle (Quiscalus quiscula):
Almost every day this week, Petit Ami [the rodent] and Mister Grackle chase each other in our backyard. There is food in different places, but bothering each other for the same spot seems more interesting. Ahhh testosterone! I was lucky to catch them in action!
I wonder how they all managed to find the tiny opening to the drain pipe last Fall.
I’ve read that they tend to go back to the same hibernaculum year after year, sometimes from long distances, but it’s not clear how they find it in the first place.
I knew there was a hibernacula in this area from experiences over the last few years. The area has the foundations of several old buildings and I was sure the hibernacula would be in the stone foundations of the old buildings. I was surprised when I saw them coming out of a drain nearby!
My red squirrel seems to be hanging around. Earlier in the week, he chased away a gray squirrel from the feeder. I love the moxie of the smaller red guys. Mine lives in an evergreen tree near the road, on the neighbour’s property & must venture down the horse fence to get to my seeds.
Are your red squirrels The same species (Sciurus vulgaris) that we have in the UK? Here their population has been dramatically declining for decades because the introduced grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) carry a virus to which they have some resistance, but to which red squirrels do not. I am curious about their co-existence in Canada; a genetic study might be interesting.
No, ours are the American Red Squirrel (Tamiascurius hudsonicus). They are small but territorial and they aren’t afraid to bully other squirrels.
Thanks. I always like to learn. 🙂
“. . . and they aren’t afraid to bully other squirrels.”
. . . or an overly-effusive Golden Retriever, or my brother-in-law too.
American Red Squirrels are Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. Smaller and (I say with some trepidation) even cuter.
I’ve tried to keep young garter snakes in an aquarium, but they don’t eat the crickets I put in. I occasionally see little ones on the lawn here in NY. The other day a large one – maybe female – about 2 feet long appeared. They like the warm days we’ve had.
Try earthworms and mealworms. Also little ones will have an easier time with small prey.
Lovely color on that grackle!
That appears to be a valve box for a water supply line. Note the hole is in the shape of a keyhole so that one could insert a key on a long shaft into the valve box to turn the valve off or on without having to remove the valve box cover. Unless the valve is leaking, the hole is probably dry-ish. It’s likely several feet deep and, consequently, frost-free.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
Excellent photos, Alex and Anne-Marie. Thanks for sharing.
At a local golf course, I saw a bed of young garter snakes emerging from under a drain cover along a pathway. It must be a favourite kind of place to hibernate in.
I love that picture of the grackle. They look jet black form a distance until you get up close and see that their plumage is really quite colorful. I get visitors in the form of grackles and mocking birds in my back yard and my garden all the time. Just recently, I was startled very ealry in the morning by what sounded like someone throwing a rock against my front window. After further inspection I realized that the cracking nosie that roused me from sleep was a swallow-tail kite (a gorgeous raptor which is absolutely majestic in flight) hitting the window at a termendous speed. The poor bird was brathing heavily and rapidly on the front lawn, but otherwise unresponsive. After googling what to do with a stunned bird, I placed it in a box on the picnic table outside and it slowly recovered until it flew off after about 45 munutes. I wish I’d thought to take some photos, but most of nthis transpired at about 6am while I was traipsing around the yard at 6am.