The blooms and leaves have confirmed the year’s progress towards the summer. The rising temperatures and lengthening days have been a boon to the birds and animals, too.
The return of actively growing and tender foliage is supporting the expanding bug population. Whether considered benign or malevolent, the terrestrial arthropods are progressing across the land scape.
The blossoms in panhandle Florida are popular with insects and arachnids for a variety of reasons. Some insects enjoy the nectar and pollen, using it to great effect.
Other insects and spiders consider the flowers an ideal ambush site for their prey. A group of reptiles has taken that tip and uses the colorful meal sites for hunting their avian quarry.
Rat snakes, serpents native to the north Florida area, are currently using the flush of greenery and flowers to camouflage their activities. Their genus, Pantherophis, includes three commonly encountered members which reside in both the wild and suburbia.
This rat snake has positioned itself near a hummingbird feeder in hope of taking one of the tiny avians. Only the alert and skillful will avoid certain death from the stealthy reptile.
These nonvenomous snakes are North America’s version of the universally known constrictors of Africa and south Asia. It is important to remember that while they do not inject venom as a means of defense, they will still bite if a threat comes within their range.
Their technique for securing a meal is the same as with other constrictors. They grasp a suitably sized animal and suffocate it by squeezing it with multiple coils. Their strong jaws and curved teeth maximize clutching and give rat snakes a decisive advantage.
Their best pursuit speeds are far inferior to most of their prey. As such, they must lay patiently in wait of an oblivious creature to blunder into grasping range.
As their name implies, they will eat rats and any other rodents within reach. In days past these snakes were valued for their pest control services in barns and grain bins.
Around homesites they were left unmolested by the human residents. Children learned early to leave this slinky species to its work as a mouse and rat catcher.
In contemporary neighborhoods the perception of these creatures has shifted from a tolerated necessity to problem wildlife. The rat snakes also have a taste for birds which are frequently fed in residential areas.
These cold-blooded hunters are quick to recognize the repeated frequency of feathered fowl in a landscape. Bird feeders quickly become a smorgasbord with the potential for a variety of choices.
If the bird feeder is on a pole, these snakes can shimmy up the tube. If there are branches near the feeder, the rat snakes will lay on a nearby branch and wait.
These serpents will even extend about a third of their bodies beyond the limb and wait for a bird to attempt a landing on the reptilian perch convenient to the free food. It will end badly for the birds.
For bird admirers, this once valued species must be thwarted in its efforts to have a feathery lunch. The most effective approach will be a shield installed on a pole supporting a feeder or birdhouse, and moving feeders away from plants which could conceal a snake.
If the birds remain out-of-reach, the rat snakes will move on to other snacks like rats. Even a few bugs will be on the menu, so let them do their job.
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