It's hard to say from that picture. Are those stripes behind the head, or spots blurred together by the photo quality? Is the color in the pic true to life, or is it grayed out by poor lighting? Is the head wider than it appears here, or is it held at an angle that makes it appear narrow? Do you remember what its eyes looked like?
At any rate, I -think- it's some kind of rat snake. Rat snakes are harmless. Unfortunately, I can't tell for sure and I'm not totally confident of that, so if you run into another one I'd treat it as if it may be venomous, just to be safe.

Denna

Probably a pine or oak snake.

I beleive that Wildflower must have put that snake in your yard because it was over at her house last week. (scroll down to Snake ID post below)

It's either a small Pine Snake or a common Browm snake. Either way it's benneficial to your garden and totally harmless.

That picture is good enough for a definitive identification. Your snake is a juvenile black rat snake or juvenile gray rat snake. Oak snake is the common local name for gray rat snakes. Juvenile black rat snakes and gray rat snakes both look like gray rat snakes and the gray rat snake maintains its pattern throughout its life while black rat snakes lose their distinctive patterning and become all black with a white underside as they age and get larger.

Given your location in northeast Georgia it is more likely to be a juvenile black rat snake or an intergrade between the black and gray rat snake.

In any rate it is most definitely a rat snake. They are harmless.

Thanks for popping into GA to identify snakes for us Wayne MO.

I haven't seen any yet this year in my yard - they usually take roost in the sweet autumn clematic vines that pool at the base of the trellis.

I have no clue but Wayne correctly identified my snake so I'd go with whatever he says.

Vroomp is also right about me putting that snake in your yard...I have loads of them here in my little yard so all of you better watch out since I may sneak out at night and relocate some of them!

Thank you so much for the ID! I've seen lots of rat snakes around here. I've lived here all my life, but I've never seen one with those markings before. It scared the bejesus out of me. All I could think was RATTLESNAKE! but it didn't have any rattles that I could see or hear. I was trying to identify it with the help of a site from UGA, but the closest I could see was a pygmy rattlesnake, which they claim is uncommon. So, thank you very much for relieving me of THAT worry!
LOL, wildflower, please come retrieve your snake. Thank you very much!

I never even heard of a Grey Rat snake until Wayne ID'ed this one. I would guess Wayne is some kind of Snake Expert! When I looked it up the markings sure do match. WTG Wayne.

I can ID that snake. It's an "Icky Snake." -Ha, ha!

Ok, so I'm joking...but I think you're brave to get that close to the thing...I usually fall all over myself to get away from a snake- squealing like a stuck pig all the way!

I haven't seen any snakes in my yard yet, but I'm sure that I will soon...I always do. (Just looking at the picture of YOUR snake gave me the willies!) I know that snakes are beneficial, but I can't help the pathetic reaction that I have to them...my neighbors always enjoy the show though!

Good luck.

Yes, it's definitely a juvenile black rat snake. I have seen plenty of them around my house and looked them up in my snake book. When they grow up, they will be all black. Harmless.