Ames Nowell in April: Garter Snake Yes, Tree Swallows No

Hoping to see some Tree Swallows for the first time this year, I headed out to Ames Nowell State Park this past Saturday. Tree Swallows and Tyrant Flycatchers were the main birds I was hoping to see. I'm also now starting to be on the lookup for the early butterflies around here, especially the various elfin species. So I trekked over to the northern area of the pond where 8 Wood Duck nest boxes were set up 2 autumns ago. I didn't see any ducks use the nest boxes last year, however, a pair of Tree Swallows nested in one last year, and I figured this would be a good place to see my first Tree Swallows of the year. On the way to the nest box area, I stumbled across a Common Garter Snake right next to the pond. Because he was pinned against the pond with no where to retreat to, I was able to get a few decent pictures of him/her:

Close up of Common Garter Snake, Click picture for a bigger version

When I got to the nest box area, there were no Tree Swallows in sight, however there were 3 Bufflehead, 2 males 1 female, as well as a pair of Mute Swans. This was the first time I've seen Bufflehead at Ames Nowell in 2 years of birdwatching there. Surprisingly, there were also no Red-Winged Blackbirds calling in the marshes near the nest boxes yet.

Hoping to see a butterfly or Tyrant Flycatcher before the day was out (I slept in far later than I would have liked and so only went out around 1 pm), I journeyed back around to the western side of the pond, where unfortunately I did not see much. I'll have to check back in a week or two...