Where'd It Go?

Yesterday found us at the work swamp slogging around doing an inventory of a new piece of property. It's always good to know what's growing where and what's living there, too. We saw plenty of wildlife sign and even added several new plants to our list. One thing that cracked me up, though, was this northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor.

Initially, I thought the snake was dead. Its head was at an odd angle and when I touched it on the tail it didn't move. A closer look revealed that the racer was indeed alive. It was checking out a hole down under the leaf litter and when I tapped its tail a second time, zip, down the hole it went.