Water snakes:
The easiest access to Fakahatchee
strand is via a nice boardwalk entered from Tamiami highway. You get
a nice exposure to the plants and wildlife, without getting too close
(if this sort of thing gets you nervous). You'll see lots of alligators
(the intoxicating effect on tourists was, of course, immediately obvious as
always--"Hey everybody! Gators!!"). I spotted one
fake-Australian tour guide.
There are lots of snakes in Fakahatchee. Shown above are harmless
Florida water snakes
(Nerodia fasciata subsp. pictiventris). The
smaller one (a male) kept stroking his head on the scales of the
larger female, making
it difficult for me to freeze him in this several second exposure.
The tableau got
me all misty-eyed for my lovely wife, back in California.
(Thanks to Mike Howlett for the identification of this snake. He also
informed me that my genders were switched when I originally thought the
male was the larger specimen. Oops.)
