Photographer: Ed Finney, Sarasota, Fla.

Summer in the South NEXT | START OVER | PREVIOUS Southern Black Racer, Coluber constrictor priapus, hunting through the upper branches of Surinam Cherry, Eugenia uniflora. I was throwing a few handfuls of fertilizer into my flower beds and when the pellets would fall into the mulch, this snake would come flying out of the hedge, on the ground, to the location of the falling pellets. I suppose it hunts partially by vibrations and movement and thought that the falling pellets were an anole or something good to eat. Less than 10 minutes later I saw the same snake hunting through the topmost branches of the cherry hedge. It was about 4 feet long but very thin. Submit a picture. Copyright © 2005 Consolidated Publishing Co.