Wild Life

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The area around Bear Creek is full of
wildlife.  If you have wildlife photos or
stories to share send them to
bearcreekco@gmail.com.

See Photo Albums for more wildlife pictures!

 

 

A Helpful Visitor

This Western terrestrial garter snake,
(pleasingly, Thamnophis elegans)
showed up beside my porch one
mid-August afternoon.

Having already been rummaging
through some old wood piles, putting
some order to them for the season, I
had stirred up a frightening number of
mice (like, three in 15 minutes). So I
was glad to see this snake, which is
also known as a “wandering garter,” in the (apparently mistaken) belief that they travel farther from water than other kinds of garter snakes. The “snake lady,” Los Alamos resident Jan Macek, who rescues snakes and seems to know everything about them, told me that this one is probably several years old and will certainly be chowing down on those mice. Yay!!

These snakes are harmless and diurnal, and like “riparian habitats,” as they say, which would describe most of Bear Creek, especially as we develop more and more little streams and other water sources for critters.

Lots of people are freaked out by snakes, but don’t be — even the poisonous ones are benificent creatures that help us control rodents. And these garter snakes are not poisonous!

I hope to see this one again, doing his job around the woodpile before autumn sets in. The snake lady tells me that these snakes need a place to winter that’s above freezing. Under the house or next to the foundation, I’d bet, kept alive by my radiant heat, which stays on so I can come up in the winter. But here’s another reason to keep that furnace going, if ever so little.

[Photo and posting from a Bear Creek resident.]

Buck Crossing Conejos

This buck crossing the Conejos River
was spotted on a recent float down
the river.