Today we spotted a 5- or 6-foot-long black rat snake just a few minutes after setting out for a walk on Roosevelt Island. We spent almost an hour following it around through the woods, mesmerized. It was very docile and let us get very close, but when Matt tried to touch it, it seemed to sense him and slip away just before he actually made contact. It crawled through the ivy, through old logs, and finally up into some shrubs -- on branches so thin you'd never think they could hold such a big creature.