Recovery strategyĪ recovery strategy advises the ministry on ways to ensure healthy numbers of the species return to Ontario. Action we are takingĮndangered Species and their general habitat are automatically protected.

The most significant threats to the Blue Racer are habitat loss or degradation, loss of overwintering sites, human persecution, and road mortality.Īlthough Blue Racers can be found in old farm fields, they are relatively intolerant of human disturbance. View a larger version of this map ( PDF) What threatens it Ontario’s Blue Racers range over a wide area - the average is 111 hectares for females and 201 hectares for males. The population appears to have declined since 1995, when there were about 205 adult Blue Racers on Pelee Island. In Ontario, the Blue Racer is currently found only on Pelee Island in western Lake Erie. In winter, the Blue Racer hibernates below the frost line in rock crevices. It also lives in pastures and abandoned farm fields where it can find a plentiful bounty of rodents, its primary food source.įemales lay their eggs in rotting logs or compost piles that serve as incubators until the eggs hatch.

The Blue Racer prefers open habitat with abundant cover such as prairie, savanna, alvar and open woodlands. The belly is usually a lighter blue-green or whitish hue. It is named for its speed and distinctive grayish-blue or blue-green body colour. The Blue Racer is a large, non-venomous snake that grows to 1.5 meters in length. The Blue racer was already assessed as endangered when the Endangered Species Act took effect in 2008. Date added to the Species at Risk in Ontario List “Endangered” means the species lives in the wild in Ontario but is facing imminent extinction or extirpation. Cover photo credit: Michael Oldham Status Endangered

Coluber constrictor foxii care