Coluber constrictor foxii conservation status in michigan download#

Learn more about black racers at this webpage from the University of New Hampshire Extension Service, a partner in the Young Forest Project.įor more detailed information, including references to scientific papers, download Under Cover: Wildlife of Shrublands and Young Forest. Conservationists recommend habitat management practices that restore and maintain large patches of young regrowing forest and sunny shrubland.Ĭlick on the map at left to see a larger image.īoth public and private landowners can make young forest habitat. They thrive in and along the edges of young forests, including those that are growing back following clearcut timber harvests or fires.

Coluber constrictor foxii conservation status in michigan how to#

How to Help Racers: Racers need grasslands, old fields, shrublands, and other habitats that lack tree-canopy cover and therefore grow plenty of thick low-level vegetation. Residential development, the maturing of forests, and the building of roads have reduced and fragmented their habitats. Their populations are declining in those regions, where they are considered Species of Greatest Conservation Need in most states. Status: The northern black racer ( Coluber constrictor constrictor) and the blue racer ( Coluber constrictor foxii) live in the East and the Upper Midwest, respectively. Racers are active during the day, when they hunt down and eat insects, lizards, small rodents, other snakes, and birds and their eggs. The Blue Racer has a global conservation rank of G5T5 with a rounded status of T5, indicating the subspecies is globally Secure. (Conant and Collins 1998 Willson and Cunnington 2012). Michigan, northeastern Ohio, eastern Iowa. They are usually found near water and can swim long distances.Racers are black or blue-black with a pale belly and measure 3 to 5 feet long. Coluber constrictor foxii COSEWIC Status: Endangered Reason for Designation. They also use farm fields, pastures, woodlots, vacant urban lots, rock riprap, ditches, dikes, and residential properties. They will live in drier habitats, such as dunes, beaches, old fields and open woodlands. They prefer habitats with vegetation such as cattails. They live in wetlands along Great Lakes shorelines and are associated with large rivers and impoundments. light brown to reddish brown and is usually unmarked except for a dark band between the eyes on the top of the head and a few dark bands extending from the eye down to the mouth. This snake’s underside is yellowish and checkered with dark squarish spots. They hae smaller, alternating blotches along the sides of their yellowish-to-light-brown bodies. They have bold patterns with large dark brown or black blotches down the middle of their back. The Eastern Fox Snake can grow up to 5.5 feet long. Cottonmouth snakes are not found in Michigan. The cottonmouth has a fatter body, a wedge-shaped head with prominent venom glands that are wider than the neck, cat-like pupils and heat-sensing pits between the eyes and nostrils.

They also have round pupils and no heat-sensing pits. A watersnake has a longer, more slender body and a flattened head the same width as their neck. Blue Racer Status As of 1971, The Blue Racer. People tend to kill these snakes out of fear if they mistake them for a cottonmouth. By Samantha Fleener & Synia Kopp :) Taxonomy Coluber Constrictor Foxii or otherwise known as a Blue racer. These snakes are nonvenomous and harmless to humans. Aulerich, Michigan State University, Ml Dr. Their bellies also vary in color and can be white, yellow or gray. Column Headers for Tables of Factors for Population Dynamics 1-26 Table 1-9. Some snakes become almost completely black. Because of their coloring, these snakes are often mistaken for the venomous cottonmouth.Īs they age, their color darkens and the pattern becomes obscure. They have dark crossbands on their necks and dark blotches on the rest of their bodies.

They can be brown, gray, reddish or brownish-black. Northern water snakes can grow up to 5 feet in total length.