Controlled Burn and another Hog-nosed Snake

On March 28th, a controlled burn was held at a site near Turkey Point in order to maintain some open clearings and to improve habitat for several species at risk. Due to the warm weather we have had recently, several volunteers including myself swept the area looking for reptiles. As soon as we started looking we came across a basking Hog-nosed Snake. Very cool snake, and a "lifer" for some of the volunteers. This particular individual was very dark showing no pattern at all.

Above is the habitat to be burned, and opened up.

Above is the basking Hog-nosed Snake.

 Superficially, the colour of this Hog-nosed Snake looks similar to a Black Ratsnake, an extremely rare snake in the Long Point area. Notice, the upturned "snout", a great feature that readily identifies this species regardless of colour. Hog-nosed Snakes also have keeled scales (ridges), whereas a Black Ratsnake is basically smooth scaled.

 Below are some shots of the burning process.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay until the end of the day, so I didn't get any shots of what it looked like after the burn, but I'm sure I'll be back to this site soon.