One board revealed three Red-Spots, none alike and yet all of them beautiful. All three were secured for comparisons and a hand shot, and then returned underneath their cover. We found a few snakes in shed, with blue eyes and faded, milky scales; these we left unmolested. There were plenty of pretty garters left to go around.

The sun was warming things up nicely, and as we walked along we would occasionally scare up garters on the move or basking in the grass. One corner of the field held a small ephemeral pool, making it a pretty good habitat for garters and other snakes. Plenty of rodents, slugs, worms and frogs on hand.

We turned up another Garter-Ringneck Combo, and a very different looking concinnus. The typical red side bars were a pale, faded peach color on this snake, as was the head. The bright white vertebral stripe was still there; this snake seemed to glow from a light of its own making. I had trouble getting a picture with good focus - the sharp contrast seemed to be throwing off my camera's auto-focus. I need to take some time and learn a workaround for this, since it also occurs with other 'contrasty' animals, like Slimy Salamanders.

Casey spotted an adult female Red-Spot basking out in the open, on top of a piece of tin. We were able to slowly move in for a closer look and get some pictures. She was a real beauty, one of my favorite snakes found that day.