Eastern Mud Snake

On the morning of 2017-12-05, as I was coming back from feeding the livestock guardian dogs and tending to the sheep, this eastern mud snake crossed the farm road in front of me.  This is where the road passes through a bottomland area, over a culvert with small ponding areas in the bottomland drainage that stay wet year round.

The mud snake came up out of ponding area on the south side of the culvet shown below, 

went directly across the road as if it knew where it was going, down the bank, and into the water of the ponding area on the north side of the culvert, shown below.  I watched for a while, but the mud snake never resurfaced. 

I took the mud snake habitat pictures today, in the spring, hence the greenery starting to come up.
The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory at the University of Georgia provides a synopsis of the mud snake (Farancia abacura).  Mud snakes are highly aquatic and seldom seen; due to their secretive behaviour not much is known about their ecology.  They are known to feed on salamanders, other amphibians and tadpoles.  I feel privileged to have seen this one and am pleased to know of this farm resident.