Where the snakes crawl....

A while back, I fretted over a simple act of nature that played out here on the Bayou.  A friend of mine fell prey to an unlikely predator.  A sweet little Garter Snake became supper for a Blue Crab.  I know that this is something that occurs quite often in the wild.  The strong survive while the weaker become sustenance for others.  Still, this did make me a bit sad as I adore the Garter Snakes that inhabit the area of marsh near the pier.  I often see them and even will toss them a minnow or two from my bait pail.

This evening, I was overjoyed to see a small Garter Snake back on the mudflats.  It was trying to catch Bull Minnows for its supper.  I watched for a while as the snake would lie in wait for the minnows to draw close enough for it to dart out after them.  The snake had pretty good aim and was doing quite well at catching the quick minnows.  As I sat there watching the snake, I soon realized that there were three other Garter Snakes in the same area!  I had a whole family of the little critters!  Oh..did I mention that I adore these little guys?

I had never seen so many of the snakes in one area before.  This caused me to ponder if perhaps there was a lack of predators around or if there was just enough of a food source that other critters did not need to tackle a snake.  Whatever the case, I was a happy camper on the pier this evening!  I had lots of little friends to keep me company!