This was my third encounter with a Red-bellied Black Snake in three months! And that after never seeing one before.

The snake was lying in the sun on the side of the walking track. I stopped to wait for it to move away. It was a big snake!

Red-bellied Black Snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus) are quite large in comparison with other snakes I’ve seen. They’re a dark, shiny black on top, with a glowing red tinge underneath. You can see a bit of the red under-belly in this close-up of the snake’s head:

This snake was at Manly Dam (location on the map) where I often walk. My first encounter with a red belly happened near the Turon River, quite a way from my usual haunts. I posted a photo and video of that snake in another blog post. My second encounter was just a couple of weeks ago, a few hundred metres away from today’s snake at Manly Dam. It might have been the same snake.

Evidently the venom of Red-bellied Black Snakes isn’t as harmful to humans as some of the other snakes in these parts, but it can still make you quite ill. So it’s a good thing to give the snake its space. This one just watched me carefully. When I moved back, it slowly crossed the path in front of me and took shelter in the undergrowth. As I passed, I could see its head and flickering tongue as it watched me go.