Order of the Garter

On today's bike ride along the Mon river rail trail, I saw lots of flowers and wildlife. I'm in the habit of watching where I place my feet, which was a good thing for me as well as this large garter snake.

I was going to shoot some spiderwort flowers -- the first that I'd seen this year. This snake decided to stay right where it was, however. It was a respectable twenty inches by my reckoning. In looking more closely at my pictures, I think I can see why it stayed put. That's a rather prominent bulge in its abdomen (see the area of large spots, below). Methinks this Fellow of the Garter may have recently dined.