Rarely do we see Giant Garter Snakes this time of year. “Hibernating” is the word usually used to describe them these days.
But it is in the upper 70s today temperature-wise, and surprise of all surprises, today I saw a beautiful specimen of this NBHCP-Covered Species (see nearby photo). My guess that it was about 40 inches long, which is a “big-un” in our world. Importantly, this specimen was basking on sandy soil at about 1:30 p.m., so it is likely it was trying to turn its cold blood into warmer blood. It was mobile, so much so that when it saw me, it moved fairly quickly to the grassy area photo’d here. It was about 50 feet from the nearest water on the Conservancy’s BKS tract in north Sacramento County.