Northern Water Snake

Little photo shoot with a Northern Water snake today. The snakes pond is drying up due to the extensive drought. :/

Lost a lot of image quality during compression.. boooo

Yikes! Looks very similar to a water moccasin but doesn't have the elliptical pupils. Don't think I would get any closer!

I got pretty close. He/She was very calm and let me shoot her. Then we both went on our ways.

I like that shot, a lot!
Yeah, when an image is uploaded, it's really too bad about how the image quality is lost, I can imagine how you feel, I have the same problem with mine.

Close by me, there's a place that I call, "The Snake Pit", it's in a city park beside a river (Trinity) and is only water-filled after some good rains, like this Spring. It's only about 100'x130' or so... Now, it's all dried up, it makes me feel sad because I know what lives in there, all kinds of snakes, turtles, dragonflies, bullfrogs, fish, (somehow get in there fast) and on and on. I wish that the City would refill it by using a hose from the river to keep it as a place for critters the live, but... Cottontail rabbits are around, Blue Heron, Great Egrets, White Ibis, Green Herons, and the list goes on, I really, REALLY missed that place this Summer! We're getting some rain finally, but nowhere near enough to even partially fill it as it'd need, and that's too bad.
I bet you have the same stories too.

Oh yeah, "The Snake Pit" has Diamondback water snakes in there, (or, did) so it's almost the same, no Northerns that I have seen. I feel for you on the drying up part.

I lubs me some snakes!

Randy

i like it too, very nice, face to face...

That's a BIG snake!