The darker side of nature (Page 5): Oh my, I would have run the other way if I saw that, I do not do snakes!! The picture is enough to scare me, great job!

Skneemiller Loc: O'fallon, Mo

Oh my, I would have run the other way if I saw that, I do not do snakes!! The picture is enough to scare me, great job!

Ed Loc: Massachusetts

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Kingmapix Loc: Mesa, Arizona

One thing you have to respect about a Cottonmouth.
They do not back down if you happen to confront them.

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

Very nice shot JWT the only critique I have for you is, well, it's not a Water Moccasin. Because it is such a good shot, and really good on the download, I can tell you with a high degree of certainty, it's not a pit viper. No pit between nostril and eye. The pupil of the eye is also round not eliptical, and the head shape and jaw line are wrong. This is likely a Southern or Brown Watersnake. Nice shot though.

jwt wrote:

While on our short photo jaunt with Sylvia and Bob, we ran across one of the more dangerous denizens of the Florida Swamps. Although camouflaged with water plant seeds and weeds, this water moccasin was poised to grab any unsuspecting bird or mammal at the waters edge. He was a safe distance from us about 15 feet away. Please try the download.

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Looks great on the download, think I will stick with my corn snakes... :lol:

creativ simon Loc: Coulsdon, South London

jwt wrote:

While on our short photo jaunt with Sylvia and Bob, we ran across one of the more dangerous denizens of the Florida Swamps. Although camouflaged with water plant seeds and weeds, this water moccasin was poised to grab any unsuspecting bird or mammal at the waters edge. He was a safe distance from us about 15 feet away. Please try the download.

Good work Jim :thumbup:

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Skneemiller wrote:

Oh my, I would have run the other way if I saw that, I do not do snakes!! The picture is enough to scare me, great job!

Thanks Skneemiller; there was no need to run I was up on a bank a good 15 feet away. Having said that, he was one scary critter. Really appreciate your visit and comment. Thanks again. :-D

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Ed wrote:

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Thanks Ed for the thumbups. :-D :-D

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

northcoast42 wrote:

Very nice shot JWT the only critique I have for you is, well, it's not a Water Moccasin. Because it is such a good shot, and really good on the download, I can tell you with a high degree of certainty, it's not a pit viper. No pit between nostril and eye. The pupil of the eye is also round not eliptical, and the head shape and jaw line are wrong. This is likely a Southern or Brown Watersnake. Nice shot though.

Thanks Northcoast, you may be right maybe I should have just called it a Watersnake as I could not see the triangle head or pits either. Having said that I've seen literally thousands of water snakes and water moccasins where I grew up and the body shape and coloration lent more to the moccasin than the watersnake. Regardless I didn't try to get any closer. Thanks again for the visit and your input. Regards Jim

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

nanaval wrote:

Looks great on the download, think I will stick with my corn snakes... :lol:

Glad you enjoyed the shot Nanaval and corn snakes are a lot easier to understand for sure. :-D :-D

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

creativ simon wrote:

Good work Jim :thumbup:

Glad you liked it Simon, thanks for the visit, the comment & the thumbup. Much appreciated as always. :-D

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Kingmapix wrote:

One thing you have to respect about a Cottonmouth.
They do not back down if you happen to confront them.

Thanks Kingmapix; there seems to be some questions about its species whether Cottonmouth or water snake, but you're absolutely right the Cottonmouth will not back down and this one was not impressed by all the people gawking at it including me. Thanks for the visit and the input. :-D :-D

taylorzacre Loc: Cypress, TX

I've seen cottonmouths many times over the years, with colors running from almost black to mottled grey to brown, with distinctive stripes to no stripes at all, that just looks like a brown water snake to me...but better safe than sorry...

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

taylorzacre wrote:

I've seen cottonmouths many times over the years, with colors running from almost black to mottled grey to brown, with distinctive stripes to no stripes at all, that just looks like a brown water snake to me...but better safe than sorry...

I couldn't agree more Taylorzacre, these guys can be dangerous and whatever his pedigree I was just happy to be about 15 feet from him. Thanks for the visit and nice comment. Much appreciated.

relbugman Loc: MD/FL/CA/SC

So much fear of snakes! I'd say Don-RC got it right! I went to UF in Gainesville and always had live snakes as study specimens, as many as 10 at a time, many watersnakes (all the local species at some time). While I did see cottonmouths, they were extremely rare compared to water snakes. Once for a class I went night-innertubing down a river looking for water snakes to document the distribution of a species, and out of perhaps 100 seen at eye level, ONE was a cottonmouth! There are places they are more common, but not nearly so as watersnakes. I think this one was a dark phase banded watersnake, Nerodia something (scientific names have changed since I was there), the most common one. Some orangish-brown shows on the belly.