Something about the month of May brought out the garter snakes, both in the wild and even at home.
While I thought seeing what could have been either a California Red-sided Gartersnake or a Coast Gartersnake (frustratingly hard to identify, especially if you only get a quick look) at Tilden Regional Park was fortuitous, our neighbor brought over one that he had found crossing a decently large street next to our house in Pleasanton.
California Red-sided Gartersnake found crossing a nearby street
We were able to get some pretty nice looks at it – and are somewhat hesitatingly identifying this one as a California Red-sided Gartersnake – before releasing it safely into the nearby hills.