Sparrow, warbler, and a snake = good day

Came to school for a meeting today, and then I went behind the building to take some photos while eat my lunch.

Red leaves.

A sparrow hiding behind a buckthorn tree.  It looks like a White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).

A bumble bee trying to hold onto the plastic surface.


A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) showed up while I was photographing the flowers below.

Bumble bee visiting a white cosmos flower.

While I was walking back to the building, I almost stepped on a slithering critter at my feet.  Looking down, I initially thought it was a worm but turned out to be a small snake.

It has a pale ring-like marking on the neck, which suggests it as a juvenile Dekay’s Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi).  Ring-necked snakes and Red-bellied snakes are two similar species, but the former have smooth scales and a yellow or orange belly and no patterning on the back, while the latter have a bright red or sometimes red-orange or pink belly and thin stripes down the back rather than spots.  From the photos, this individual does have two faint dark lines (or connected spots) running down its back.

Definitely the most species-diverse day I had in a while.