I have some questions about a problem we are having with snakes in our
area. My husband and I are relatively new both to birding and to country
living. Last summer we bought a house in south central Pennsylvania, just
north of Emmitsburg, Maryland. This is a hilly area with mixed deciduous
woods and open lawns and fields. In the 10 months since we moved in, we
never saw or even thought about snakes, although we have greatly enjoyed
the abundance of birds. In April, a pair of bluebirds built a nest in a
bluebird house we had placed on a slender tree about 10 feet from the edge
of the woods. In late May, about 2 days before the nestlings should have
fledged, I came home early from work to see a large, black snake partially
in the bluebird house. I was able to get him out (after some struggle and
admittedly some terror!), but much to my chagrin, three nestlings were gone
and the remaining two were dead. Then, this weekend, my husband looked
inside our other bluebird house. This had a house wren's nest with five
nestlings. To our horror, he found a snake inside. When he got the snake
out, there were no nestlings left. This nest was located on the other side
of our property (also about 10 feet from woods, also on a slender tree).

I have several questions about this problem:

1. How common is this in this part of the country?

2. What kind of snakes are they, and what is their m.o.? The first snake
was about 3-1/2 feet long, about 1-1/4 inches in diameter (he seemed to
barely fit through the hole in the blue bird house), and was black on the
top and gray on the bottom half. The second snake was much smaller - maybe
2 or 2-1/2 feet long and 3/4 inch or less in diameter. It was black on top
and gray on the bottom, and had fine yellow markings in portions of the
black areas.

3. Most importantly, what can we do to prevent this from happening? I am
aware that snakes are part of nature and that, to some extent, we have to
live with their presence, but I don't want to make our home into a
fast-food restaurant for snakes. We have moved our blue bird boxes off the
trees and onto poles, and we've put inverted-dome squirrel baffles on each
pole. Both of the poles are further from the woods, but there is really
nowhere entirely removed from trees and woods. Will these steps work?
Zeleny's book on bluebirds suggests that metal baffles are somewhat
effective. Have bird chatters found any other solutions? Our baffles are
plastic - is this as effective as metal? We already have a different
bluebird pair building a nest in one of the relocated houses (they started
before we found the snake in the wren nest), and we are very anxious to
make sure snakes don't destroy their family. (Regarding the bluebird
question on a recent thread, we put the house in its new location on
Wednesday, and the new bluebirds arrived and began to build on Friday.)

I'd be grateful for any advice that birdchatters can give us. If you send
messages to me personally, I will summarize the advice for the list.

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Kathleen M. Cain (717) 337-6198
Department of Psychology Internet: kcain at gettysburg.edu
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325

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From: "WHITLOCK. PETER L." <WHIT0522 at VARNEY.IDBSU.EDU>

The snakes Kathleen Cain asked about raiding bird boxes this
morning sound like Black Racers. Racers are all black, get up to
about 6' long, kind of a lighter gray underneath. Young ones
sometimes have a little bit of color here and there - like your snake
with spots of yellow. I associate them with areas that have water
nearby, but I imagine that they probably occur in several types of
habitats. Racers will eat small birds, and I have seen a few raiding
Red-winged Blackbird and Catbird nests. In my case, those were just
exciting moments of getting to watch predators at work. However, I
sympathize with the feelings of responsibility one has when you place
a nest box and encourage birds to nest there. You want the box to be
safe. Especially when the nesting bird is something somewhat
uncommon - like a bluebird. The only idea that came to mind for me
is the squirrel baffles you suggested. They should work. I've seen
racers on Cape Cod in a number of situations that did not involve
birds, but I've never seen them jump. They must actually be climbing
the poles that the boxes are on. Also, one of the most informed
people I know concerning accessories for attracting birds is Mike
O'Connor, the owner of the Birdwatcher's General Store in Orleans,
MA. I don't have a phone number handy, but if you called information
in the (508) area code they should be able to give you the store
number. If there's anything else to try, I bet Mike would know. I
don't think he has an e-mail address.

Another all-black snake that comes to mind is the Black
Watersnake. If I remember right, the Watersnake has keeled scales on
his back, and the Racer has smooth scales on hers. There's probably
also some difference in belly color. I'll check tonight. Tom
Tyning's Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in the Stokes Guide Series
is a fantastic book; I highly recommend it.

Peter Whitlock
Raptor Research Center
Boise State University