It was a late March evening, and Jake and I were out looking for spotted skunks to photograph.

Our locale was south-central Florida, and we were driving slowly along a white sand road, stopping here and there to photo some bird or an ever-changing sunset. Darkness was gathering, and by the time we turned and retraced our path, owls were active.

As we got to a short stretch of road that was bordered on both sides by marshland, Florida banded water snakes, Nerodia fasciata pictiventris, began crossing. Most were yearlings, some were quite thin, but others were of robust build.



Many were somberly patterned with dark bands against a somewhat lighter ground color but a few bore pretty, dark edged bands of red against a paler gray ground.

And then there was the one that was of noticeably brighter color than the others and, as always, it was the one that got away while, fumbling in the darkness, I failed to get the camera activated.

As quickly as it had begun, the crossing event was over. Although we drove that short stretch of road several more times that night we saw only one other water snake. And although we smelled them, we saw no spotted skunks at all. Right time, right place for the snakes and exactly the opposite for little black and white mephitines.

More photos under the jump...