Florida Green Water Snake

This water snake made great efforts to stay out of the water.  I suspect he was hunting green tree frogs that are commonly found on the stems of the reeds and grass growing along the shoreline.  I managed to come almost eye to eye with this one.  I got within 3 feet of him and he never did move, that's focus on the job at hand.

Corn Snake

My wife found this corn snake (aka Red Rat Snake) on our deck directly below our wren's nest.  The snake had no bulges indicating it had recently eaten so I suspect she intercepted it prior to it's getting to the young wrens.  I relocated it to one of our red oaks in our front yard where I took this photo.  I guess I'll have to undertake putting snake guards on all of our nest boxes.

Yellow Rat Snake

There is nothing like almost stepping on a snake to get the heart beating.  My wife and I were out on our morning walk on the Ocklawaha River dike in the Sunnyhill Preserve.  I was so busy scanning the trees for raptors and watching the far shore for gators that I came within 2 feet of stepping on this 4 foot long Yellow Rat Snake.  He stayed very calm and stretched out full length until I touched his tail to try and entice him to leave the trail as there was another hiker coming and I don't trust people with snakes.  He put on his threat display and it was impressive.  When we backed away he immediately chose to flee into the high grass.  It was awesome!

Corn Snake

I'm always looking in trees for birds but this time I got surprised.  This corn snake, also known as a red rat snake, was relaxing on a low limb in a red oak tree on my property.  These snakes spend a lot of time in trees raiding birds nests.  This is the first and only time I've seen one on my property although they are quite common in the nearby Ocala National Forest.

Brown Water Snake

This snake is frequently mistaken for a cottonmouth, probably for no better reason than it's a snake and it lives near the water. 

Florida Cottonmouth on La Chua Trail.

Taken on the La Chua Trail at Payne's Prairie State Park.