I was walking along a trail in the Texas Sabal Palm Sanctuary near Brownsville, Texas, when I saw about a 4 and a half ft long Speckled Racer on the edge of the trail, partially obscured by trail-side vegetation. The snake was holding its head upward from the grass, sort of like a periscope and seemingly looking at me, and was motionless. I was about 8 feet from the snake and slowly started to bring my camera up to get some shots. The snake started moving farther away into the thick vegetation. I was able to get a handful of images as the snake departed, but none showing the head as it was concealed by vegetation by the time I had the camera pointed at it. After it disappeared from view I carefully looked through the brush but was not able to see it again.

Speckled Racer is a rare resident of the very southern tip of Texas and occurs no where else in the U.S. It is widespread in parts of Mexico and farther south, but within the U.S., I believe, most of the observations are at this same location where I saw this one. I have been visiting this sanctuary, maybe once a year since 1977, usually on birding trips, but in those 38 years I have never seen this snake before though I have always been aware of its presence there. So, I was very pleased to see this animal, even if I did not get the sort of images I wish I could have. Still, I believe they are identifiable. Posted are three shots taken while this animal crawled away.