The black racer snake can grow to over five feet long, but even at that length they mostly move about unseen — from the plains of Katama to the low lying woods along Moshup Trail in Aquinnah.

As the Island prepared for Tropical Storm Hermine on Sunday, a black racer snake named Miss Audrey was seeking shelter of her own.

Carefully lifting up a panel of plywood near Oyster Pond in Edgartown on Monday, Liz Baldwin uncovered a rare sight: a black racer, the Island’s largest and least common snake species. It was her first encounter with the species, which has been in decline here since the 1970s.