northeast-flora-and-fauna

I'm surprised I haven't shown one of these Dekay's Brownsnakes  (aka Northern Brown Snake) before; let's remedy that today. These are small non-venomous snakes that are generally light brown or grayish-brown. They tend to have lighter coloring along the top of the back bordered by darker spots. They're usually about a foot long but slender enough that you won't think of it as big. Because of their small size they are frequently misidentified as a young version of our larger snakes. Though they have a southern relative called the Florida Brown Snake , they also have a fairly close relative here in NJ: the Northern Redbelly Snake . Unfortunately I have yet to meet a Northern Redbelly Snake (though I routinely meet Northern Red-bellied Cooters .) The Northern Redbelly Snake has a red/orange belly and is otherwise darker than the Dekay's Brownsnake, but otherwise these are pretty similar snakes. Though they're said to be secretive, on cool spring or autumn d...