I was down at the river this morning. It was beautiful:

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I kept hearing an osprey, but it wouldn't show itself. I did see it in a tree, but it was too far in to get a picture.

So I killed time waiting hopefully, by just shooting river stuff. I found a great rock to sit on:

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As I sat shooting pictures of leaves:

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I heard a rustling in the long grasses around me. I thought "ooh, a chipmunk! I hope I can get a shot of it!" I figured it's a foraging time of year, right?

So I keep shooting leaves and moths and such and finally see something to match the rustling. It wasn't a chipmunk:

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Well, I jumped up pretty darn quick, which I'm sure amused the guy fishing not too far away (the reason I had no birds, I'm sure). I didn't scream, though, LOL.

I got a few shots of the garter (really, that better be a garter) snake:

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and then he left:

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So, as I'm turning away (and believe me, I kept looking down at my feet to make sure I was the only one on this particular rock!), my eyes go back to my rock. Remember? Look closely!:

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Let's zoom in a bit:

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a little more?

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Oh geez. I was about two feet from a snaky hidey hole...

and let me finish with one more. Blurry, because by that time I was pretty sure I was in a snake pit and these were all cobras, LOL:

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I packed up and came home after that. Figured that was enough excitement today! All that time I've spent down there and today was the first time I saw snakes. At least they weren't big fat hairy spiders. I would've screamed at that, LOL.

Jeanne