Western Black-headed Snake vs. Ring-necked Snake

Both are small, slim snakes found under rocks in southern and central California; their records overlap widely. A: A flat black cap, at most a thin pale collar behind it in the Western Black-headed Snake; a bright orange or yellow ring on the neck, the head grey in the Ring-necked Snake. B: Plain tan, brown or pinkish in the Western Black-headed Snake; olive, grey or blue-grey in the Ring-necked Snake. Bellies differ too: the Black-headed has a thin orange-pink stripe down the middle (no open photo shows it); the Ring-necked is yellow to orange with black dots and red under the tail, which it curls up to flash.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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