Graver Arboretum ...

... garter snake. 

Even though the weekends are super busy for R he still wanted to get out this afternoon.  Graver Arboretum was our destination. And we ended up being there a lot longer than we anticipated!

We walked a different trail than we normally do and saw some very interesting things.  One of which was a male Red-breasted Woodpecker that we could hear but couldn't find for a while.  We finally located the tree in which he was nesting in a hollowed out hole and watched him for a bit. 

Continuing down the trail we spotted a pretty butterfly and I was getting some pictures of him/her when the ground right below me started moving! I then realized that I had almost stepped on this little garter snake!  He/she quickly darted away to a saver place but thankfully didn't go very far and we were both able to get some pictures of him/her!

I hope you aren't snake phobic .... I personally love snakes!

According to Wikipedia: Garter snakes were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed they do, in fact, produce a strong neurotoxic venom. Despite this, garter snakes still cannot kill humans with the small amounts of comparatively mild venom they produce, and they also lack an effective means of delivering it.