Red Sided Garter Snake Orgy
Taken at the Narcisse Snake Dens in Narcisse, Manitoba (about 1 hr north of Winnipeg).
The Snake Dens are the natural winter hibernating area for ~75,000 Red-Sided Garter Snakes. In the first couple weeks of May the snakes come to surface in the natural limestone pits (of which there are four, all interconnected underground) for a mating frenzy. The pits themselves are all about 6 or 8 feet deep ~10ft across x ~20ft long and the bottoms become one big writhing mass in the afternoons (when the overhead sun warms the ground). It is a total sensory experience - the ground all around the pits is covered with dead leaves from the previous autumn and all one can hear is the slithering sound of snakes + as anyone that ever caught Garter Snakes as a kid will know - the snakes have a distinctive musky smell that pervades the areas around the pits.
P.S. - it is a bit of a challenge to get good photographs - the conditions that get the snakes active (direct overhead sun) is not ideal for photography - this shot was made using some fill flash to try and cut down the contrast.
Red Sided Garter Snake Orgy
Taken at the Narcisse Snake Dens in Narcisse, Manitoba (about 1 hr north of Winnipeg).
The Snake Dens are the natural winter hibernating area for ~75,000 Red-Sided Garter Snakes. In the first couple weeks of May the snakes come to surface in the natural limestone pits (of which there are four, all interconnected underground) for a mating frenzy. The pits themselves are all about 6 or 8 feet deep ~10ft across x ~20ft long and the bottoms become one big writhing mass in the afternoons (when the overhead sun warms the ground). It is a total sensory experience - the ground all around the pits is covered with dead leaves from the previous autumn and all one can hear is the slithering sound of snakes + as anyone that ever caught Garter Snakes as a kid will know - the snakes have a distinctive musky smell that pervades the areas around the pits.
P.S. - it is a bit of a challenge to get good photographs - the conditions that get the snakes active (direct overhead sun) is not ideal for photography - this shot was made using some fill flash to try and cut down the contrast.