Black Racers

Yesterday afternoon, I was lucky enough to discover three Black Racer snakes basking in a bit of late day sunshine.  All were nice mature specimens between three and four feet long.

I was starting down the south side of a hill when I encountered the first snake.  I had just been thinking that the snakes should be active when I caught sight of this one in the grass.

This individual had its head pointed towards me when I saw it, so I assume it saw me first.  That seems typical of my normal snake encounters.  They always appear to be staring at me at the moment I become aware of their presence.  This individual appeared to be quite healthy, but was still wearing some mud that probably came from its hibernation site.  After admiring the snake for a short while, I backed away and began circling around.  I didn’t want to interrupt the sunbath.

About 10 feet away, I found a second snake.  This one was a little larger than the first and was in a thicker area of Indian Grass.

Like the first snake, this one had seen me coming.  I once again backed off and chose another path around the snakes.

About 15 feet farther off, I scared a third snake from the tall grass.  The Indian Grass here was too thick for me to see the ground or resting snakes, but the sound of the snake was easy to track through the dry grass stalks.  Fortunately, the snake headed out of the field and into a tangle of small trees.  This specimen was the largest of the three.

No dried mud on this snake.  The scales are nice and clean, but not as shiny black as snake number two.

The side view of the head is one of my favorite snake poses.  The eye peering through the vegetation reminds me of the Velociraptor preparing to attack in the Jurassic Park movie.  I also enjoy seeing my reflection in the snake’s eye.  That dark spot to left center in the eye is me taking this photo.  You can’t really see it in the reflection, but finding three snakes within a few minutes always makes me smile.

Northern Black Racer

I’m sure that a few of you have already identified the above photo of a Northern Black Racer as one that has been hanging on my office wall for the past two years. Others of you are probably not aware of the fact that I have an office. I’ve posted about 3,000 photos to this blog so far and this is only the second that was not taken within a week of the post date. It was taken by me at Blue Jay Barrens and there are two reasons why I’ve chosen to use it today. First, I wanted to use the following photos that were taken a few of days ago, but I failed to get a head shot and if you’re going to talk about snakes, I think you really need a close-up photo at the start. Second, I love this shot and will probably never encounter another wild Black Racer that is willing to pose as well as this individual.

There’s one place at Blue Jay Barrens that seems to attract Black Racers and I specifically went there with an eye to finding snakes. Even when you’re expecting it, a snake in the grass is hard to see.

It was early enough in the day that I thought the snakes would be rather chilly and lethargic. This snake didn’t move at all as I approached. The first sign that you’ve come too close to a Black Racer is a rapid vibration of the tail, but this individual seemed frozen. Since the snake was perfectly still, I thought I could crawl up and get some close-up shots.

Still no movement on the snake’s part. The snake’s head and body were streaked with dried mud and I could imagine it recently emerging from some cold, wet pocket in the soil. I leaned in a little closer and the snake was suddenly absent. The speed of its departure assured me that it had become sufficiently warmed by the sun. About ten feet to my right, I caught sight of a second racer heading for cover. No close-up, hence my decision to use the older photo.

Here’s where the snakes like to call home. I spend all this time trying to create a natural ecosystem at Blue Jay Barrens and they prefer to live in an old junk pile. Excuse me, I don’t have any junk piles, I meant to say historical site.