Yellow Ribbon with three Red stripes

This morning, Henry and I took a walk along a creek in the wooded hills of West Austin. It was an overcast morning, but as we walked, the sun began to peak through the clouds. The first thing of interest that I noticed was a large, dead snake lying on its back on the opposite creek bank. Judging from its plain, cream colored belly and the orange-tipped underside of its tail, I was fairly certain it was a blotched water snake. This is one of the two water snake species in the area, and the blotched water snake, in my experience, is by far the most common. In fact, they are probably one of the most common snakes in the area. If you see a large snake in or near a body of water in the Austin area, there’s a very good chance it’s a blotched water snake. While I’ve seen two (and possibly three) of these snakes already this year, they have all escaped before I could get a picture. This one, being dead, couldn’t escape.

While I was taking pictures of this snake, Henry was busy chasing after whiptails. There were plenty of these, as well as several Texas spiny lizards, along the trail. As we walked further along and the clouds began to break up and give way to the sun, I stopped by a pile of brush and dead branches near the creek. A familiar red stripe caught my eye. Draped across some branches and a dead cedar was a snake that I haven’t seen enough of this year, a red-striped ribbon snake. I used to see them quite regularly near creeks in the past couple years, but had only seen one very small one this year. I had wondered if it was just bad luck, or if the drought had taken a toll on the population. This was a full grown, plump (for a ribbon snake) individual, looking to be in good condition, and it was nice to see. It either did not feel very threatened by my presence or was lethargic after a meal, because it stayed very still while I took pictures.

Ribbon snakes are closely related to garter snakes and belong to the same genus (Thamnophis). Ribbon snakes are more slender, with longer, tapering tails, and they are more strictly tied to aquatic habitats. They are usually found along the grassy margins of streams and rivers, where they hunt frogs, toads, and their tadpoles. The small cricket frog is a particular favorite of this snake. The red-striped ribbon snake is a subspecies of the western ribbon snake, which is found from the Mississippi River westward through the plains states and most of Texas, along the Gulf Coast of Mexico and into Central America. The red-striped subspecies, however, is endemic to Central Texas and is unique with its bright red dorsal stripe, compared to the yellow or orange stripe of other subspecies.