hey that is an interesting observation. I have not heard of this but there are several other biologists/naturalists in that region that may also have insight. i wonder if this is showing up in any census studies. That would be good news. Biologist struggle with these sorts of phenomenon because they can be difficult to quantify. We always worry that the numbers may represent a false trend as in the observer changed jobs and now they are traveling through habitat at a different time of day, etc and having more encounters, or maybe you have gotten better at finding them so there are not more animals but more frequent encounters? I remember conducting surveys for particular species and thinking, " I know I could find more animals if I didn't use this pesky survey protocol". but of course it isn't about how many I can find but how repeatable the survey techniques are for accurately measuring trends over time.... Sorting out all the potentially confounding variables can be a [bleep].



With that said, maybe some of the habitat conservation measures, educational programs, land use changes, etc. are actually working and local populations are increasing.



Are you seeing an increase in all age classes or an increase in the numbers of yearlings or 3 year olds, or adults?



Post that observation on the FB Pituophis page and see if any of the many Florida folks have a shared experience. That would be great news.

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