West Coast Canadian Garters

[Spankenstyne]

I was off on Vancouver Island a couple of weeks back & managed to find some fantastic looking garters, figured I'd share a few pics. Also to note all were left in the wild... It's illegal to keep wild garters in BC.
There are only 3 kinds of garters that can be found on the Island: Northwesterns, Puget Sounds, and Wandering. I found several different looking examples of 2 of them all within a few feet of each other over the course of an hour or two.

First up the Pugets. They look different than what one tends to see in the hobby, they aren't the blue colour or at least not as blue. I found several and most looked like this, quite striking in their own right imo with the high contrast:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivxx2011.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivww2011.jpg

Some did seem to have varying degrees of blue in the side stripes and particularly the belly. This one survivor had more of a blue belly

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivzz2011.jpg

A closer look at it's tail

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/visnake3.jpg

[Spankenstyne]

Next up the Northwesterns.. I was really excited about how variable the ones I found were. A few examples:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivyy2011.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/visnake2.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivvv2011.jpg

Crazy orange spots on this one's belly, several had this:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/visnake4.jpg

[Spankenstyne]

Oh and this beauty Northwestern really made my day. We saw a few of them but I only managed to catch this one. Melanistic with some gorgeous hints of blue & green in his stripes. Hard to catch in the pics but you get the idea:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivaaa2011.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/ivbbb2011.jpg

Habitat shot. Most of the snakes were found in & around some nasty blackberry brambles which made it difficult to catch them as they would beeline for cover. I also had a Northern Alligator Lizard in my grasp but had to let him go as I also had a big piece of bramble, a branch and some grass all in hand with it sort of pinned & didn't want to hurt the little gaffer so I let him go and he was gone in a blink down a hole in some roots.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/field%20herpin/vihabitat1.jpg

[Spankenstyne]

Bonus points if anyone can figure out why I'm wearing the glove ;)

[guidofatherof5]

That Puget had a very close all. As close as I've ever seen if that's its cloaca right at the end.
I'm guessing the glove were because of thorns?

Great photos. It looks like it was a fun trip.

[ssssnakeluvr]

nice pics!!!!

[d_virginiana]

Nice pics! I wish I had that sort of luck or skill finding wild ones. Those northwesterns are very nice.

[ConcinusMan]

OMG you hit the holy grail with that melanistic northwestern. I found two in the same area near me years ago and didn't think much of it at the time and I let them go. Now that area has been destroyed and I've been searching for a melanistic one ever since. What a lucky find!

Not surprising your pugets don't look like the ones found in the hobby. As I've been saying all along, the stunning blue ones only occur at the southern extreme of the Puget sound. (Olympia, Ft. Lewis area) Go north toward seattle and they turn sort of greenish/white. Everywhere else they look like yours, or are red phase pugets.

Your habitat pics are exactly the kind of places I find northwesterns and alligator lizards, and if it's very close to water, also find T.s. concinnus'.

Sounds like a great day of herping. Great pics!

[RedSidedSPR]

WOW I love that melanistic!! I would have kept it!! Who cares If it's illegal?! :D (kidding I wouldn't)

Awesome finds man. I never find snakes, let alone all that.

[Spankenstyne]

Yeah the melanistic ones were a highlight. There were a few that my buddy spotted and never caught, but the only one I saw I managed to get for the pics.

The glove was for these, another highlight :D:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/PK%20Birds/IslandVacation2011420.jpg

Needless to say it made things a lot more difficult to get decent pics while having to pay close attention to the hawks. It was tricky but no snakes were harmed by the birds thankfully, but I wasn't able to get as many pics as I wanted. Several snakes went without pics. The raptors are well trained by my buddy who uses them for work, it was truly a treat to be able to fly them.

[RedSidedSPR]

Awesome! I love that photo.

[Spankenstyne]

Here's another for ya
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/PK%20Birds/IslandVacation2011355.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Wow.
My son will want to see that.

[katach]

Beautiful birds, and Gorgeous snakes!!

[RedSidedSPR]

Holycrapthatisfreakingawesome! Ive always wanted to do that!!

[guidofatherof5]

Chris, Would you ID the bird for me?

[Spankenstyne]

Steve, no problem. That one is a Harris Hawk named "Paddy-Cakes".

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks Chris.
My son wants to work with raptors as a career someday.

[Spankenstyne]

That's awesome. He should look into apprenticing with falconry. I don't know the regs where you are but there are many clubs out there where you can learn what's required to get involved. It's quite time consuming & can be expensive to maintain. I can't think of a more rewarding career than working with animals though, I'm hoping to do the same.

[guidofatherof5]

Best of luck with your career.
I'm hoping a few of my kids will make their studies in animals.
My daughter Gabby wants to be a herpetologist working mainly with snakes.
She's only 11 but has been tagged by some big snake but keeps coming back for more. She's my snake buddy.

[Jeff B]

That mel was incredible, the Harris hawk as well, thanks for sharing.

[charles parenteau]

Very nice my pictures my friend thanks for sharing with us!!At first I wonder why the glove now I know why !!

[jitami]

Very cool! Love the melanistic, of course, and also love hawk.

Steve, not sure what the kiddo's grades or other ambitions are, but the Air Force Academy has a nice falconry program ;)

[guidofatherof5]

Steve, not sure what the kiddo's grades or other ambitions are, but the Air Force Academy has a nice falconry program ;)

Grades are near the top of his class, Avg 3.85
I'll pass that info. along. Thanks.