Reddish Garter Snake

The pre and post-survey meetings for the Northern Worcester County butterfly count were held at Wachusett Meadow. While I waited for the morning meeting to start I discovered a small group of Garter Snakes basking on one of the stone steps near the main office. It was pretty obvious that the rock wall was their summer "home" if not their hibernaculum. Several of the snakes slithered backbards into the wall once I got too close.

But one of the snakes was different. Instead of being yellow or tan with black stripes, it had a reddish caste. I'm not sure if this is a genetic abnormality or if it was environmental in nature(maybe it just squeezed thru some reddish soil) but I'd never seen it before.