We were taking a hike along the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary when I saw this Eastern Ribbon snake on the side of the trail. I’m not sure who was more startled! But he stayed on the trail and just looked at me.
The Eastern Ribbon snake is a slender, blackish brown snake with 3 yellow stripes. It is found near water (Silver Spring) where it swims on the surface.
“Several of Nature’s People
I know, and they know me
I feel for them a transport
Of Cordiality
“But never met this Fellow
Attended or alone
Without a tighter Breathing
And Zero at the Bone.”
Emily Dickinson “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass (Woodchips?)”