May 24,
2020, a Facebook friend who is wintering in Southern Florida, posts a photo of
a black snake she sees in her yard. That
same morning, I come upon a Southern black racer snake (aka Eastern racer) among
the pine straw bales on the north side of the house. I take a photo – look up and it’s gone. This non-venomous snake is aptly named, for
how fast it moves, usually away from you.
However, if they are
cornered and feel threatened, they may vigorously shake their tail (making a
rattling sound on the floor or dry leaves) and may release a foul-smelling
"musk" on their captor or even strike if handled.
This is
actually my second encounter with a black racer. Back in August 2019, a black racer
snake (over 2' long, non-venomous, still scary) evidently chased a mouse into
my garage - both stuck in the glue trap! Thank heavens Terry from Creative
Garden Structures [Creative Garden Structures] was here working on my yard! He removed the glue trap from
the black racer's head & "released it into the wild"! The mouse
was a "goner".
My neighbor mentioned that just this previous week, he observed a black snake crossing an open area on his lawn, and being attacked by mockingbirds. The mockingbirds were dive-bombing the snake until the snake made it to cover of shrubbery by the house. No doubt there is a mockingbird nest nearby, that the birds were protecting.
Racer
snakes are generally welcomed by gardeners.
Their diet consists of lizards, insects, moles, rodents, birds, eggs,
small snakes, and frogs. Their natural
enemies are birds of prey such as hawks.
A hawk with its keen eyesight and ability to drop down from above,
catching this snake, negating the snake’s acute awareness of what is going on
at ground level. Dwindling natural
habitat and human interference are contributing factors in the demise of these
snakes which are really beneficial to the environment.
VIDEO LINK from YOUTUBE of mockingbird attacking black snake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LflgPbQJm_o
RESOURCES:
Black Racer Snake over 2' long among the bales of pine straw in my yard
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