This young watersnake was the seventy-first and final snake I saw on our nearly four-month trip from California to Florida and back.

As dusk approached, our group of snake-seeking enthusiasts drove slowly along a gravel road adjacent to wetlands, as one does. We were rewarded with a handful of snakes, including this baby Nerodia rhombifer.

Here are four of the five Diamond-backed Watersnakes that Matt Cage and I encountered in a couple of hours of driving slowly along a gravel road adjacent to a wetlands. The first one, the only adult, is missing the end of its tail, perhaps due to some earlier car not driving slowly enough.