I was a bit surprised recently to spot an Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) with blue eyes at Huntley Meadows Park. Normally, a garter snake’s eyes are clear and bright and if I can get close enough, I can sometimes see my own reflection.
As I moved closer, I could see that the bluish covering over the eyes was somewhere between translucent and opaque, looking a little like cataracts. The snake was aware of my presence and flicked its tongue when I got too close, but did not try to slither away. A search on the internet revealed that the eyes turn this blue color when the snake is getting ready to shed its skin, a process that generally takes about a week.
When my macro lens is on my camera I feel drawn to move closer and closer to my subject, as you can see in the first image. This shot gives a good view of the blue eye, but doesn’t give you much a sense of the snake’s environment. When I pulled back to include the snake’s entire body, you get a look at the sinuous curves of the body, but the eye is almost lost. The final image here was a mid-range shot that was a kind of compromise—some of the body shows, but the eye has greater prominence than in the second image.
Which image do I like the most? It’s hard for me to decide, but I think it was a good idea to photograph the snake at different distances to give myself some options. I’m going to have to try that approach more often.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great shots Mike. I agree, different angles add different perspectives. I always make sure I get my first pictures before moving in closer, risking the animal to bolt or fly away.
Thanks. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to take a shot almost as soon as I see a subject. Sometimes that shot will be enough to spook the subject, but at least it helps to get a record shot. It’s especially tricky though, when I have a non-zoom lens on my camera, and I have to be particularly stealthy to move in closer.
Ha, know what you mean; you should see me crawling!
Fascinating, as these creatures fascinate and terrify me and I CAN picture you crawling for the shots….terrifyingly so (my imagination, that is).
It helps to get as close to eye level as possible with my subjects, and with snakes that means I have to get really low.
Great photos. The first is my favorite.
Thanks, Victor. My instincts draw me to that one too–I love to shot macro shots.
Wow, the shot of the eye is magnificent! Wouldn’t dare getting that close!
Thanks. I have a 180mm macro lens that helps me get close-up shots without being quite as close as it seems.
That’s a nice lens!
It’s a third-party lens (from Tamron). The Canon equivalent is a lot more expensive. I shot with a friend’s Nikon with the equivalent lens and I was hooked.
Thanks for letting me know. I shoot with a 70-200 Canon lens. Really happy with it although a bit heavy on multiple day hikes and this is the one without the stabilizer 🙂
Everyone learns something new via your camera lens. I would be lucky enough if I even saw a snake let alone see it had blue eyes that look like turquoise stones! Thank you. I did have a 3ft. Milk snake in my yard in NJ. It looked like a python.
Yikes. I probably would not have wanted to get very close to anything that looked like a python, no matter how harmless it might be.
Great shots, Mike! I have seen pet snakes have that milky eye thing before but it was cool to see it on a wild snake. We have started encountering snakes on our rambles too, a welcome sign that it is warming up. My kids and I actually rescued a garter snake a couple of weekends ago. It was the first time, since moving to the US, that I felt so confident in my snake identification that I picked a snake up (it had been hit by a car and was at risk of being hit by more) and I credit you with improving my snake ID abilities.
Thanks, Laura. I didn’t really know much about wildlife until I started taking photos and my mentor convinced me there was value in identifying the subjects when I posted photos. I am glad to hear that you’re spotting snakes. It pays to be cautious with them, but it was definitely a good deed to help rescue one.
I’ve seen the milky pre-shedding eye membranes too, but haven’t been fortunate enough to be ready with a camera. Good series; I agree that the different degrees of proximity add a welcome sense of your experience.
I never know for sure what I am going to see when I go out wandering and am surprised at the number of amazing things that I stumble upon.
I’ve seen a lot of garter snakes but never one in this stage, so I’m glad you caught it. Now if I see one with cloudy blue eyes I’ll know what’s happening.
I like the fist shot but they’re all good.
I suspect that snakes usually choose secluded locations when they are shedding their skin, so it’s pretty surprising that I stumbled upon this one. I am not surprised that you liked the first shot–you and I are both drawn to close-in details.
It’s a beautiful creature. I can only imagine the patience needed to get these shots…
Thanks. It does require patience and persistence. I observe all kinds of interesting things but suspect that I miss a lot of what is going on.
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I definitely appreciate all three shots in this series, to give the whole picture. Very interesting about the blue-eye stage. And what a beautiful creature. Stunning series, my friend.
Nice Mike! Seems to be the season for them right now. We have seen quite a few around our gardens and see them on our walks. My favorite is the head image with the blue eye!
Thanks, Reed. Was this a posting suggested by WordPress? I am just curious, because this posting, which I did in May 2016, is currently my most popular posting of 2020, with 241 views, and has 895 lifetime views, making it #5 on my all time list. 🙂
[…] an interesting coincidence, my most viewed posting of 2020 has been a May 2016 posting that also featured a snake with a blue eye. That posting, entitled Blue-eyed garter snake, has had […]
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