#brown watersnake

[william-snekspeare]

taking a picture of my new friend I met (left)

[phostracks]

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Palm Island Park in Mount Dora, Lake county, Florida; 17 May 2015.

This past weekend, I ducked inland to spend the weekend with my parents in Mount Dora. It’s always a treat to visit my parents, of course, but I’ll freely admit that I love getting to Lake county for the reptiles too. I’m not sure there is a “bad” county in Florida to find snakes, but Lake county has always proven to be extra productive on the snake front. My parents grew up there, and we’ve had family in the area for as long as I can remember, so I’ve been visiting Lake county and its innumerable aquatic habitats my entire life.

On Sunday 17 May, I trekked down to Palm Island Park near downtown Mount Dora for a few hours. It’s a place I’ve written a lot about on both Dust Tracks and phosTracks. The park features a number of elevated boardwalk paths that trace the edge of Lake Dora. This is one of the few areas I know where you can somewhat-reliably find interior central Florida’s three “big” non-venomous watersnakes: the Brown watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota, featured on this post), the Florida banded watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris), and the Florida green watersnake (Nerodia floridana). Over the years, population densities of these three species have shifted back and forth. Right now, Palm Island features a large number of both Brown and Florida green watersnakes; they Bandeds seem to have moved away from the boardwalk trail somewhat.

Upon arriving at Palm Island, I immediately found this beauty bunkered out on a concrete slab near the boardwalk trail entrance:

That, my friends, is a rather large and likely-gravid (pregnant) female watersnake. I’ve seen many Brown watersnakes on this slab piling over the years, as well as a number of Florida bandeds and even Yellow rat snakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis). On this trip, however, the large female Brown had the slab all to herself.  Needless to say, I was quite gentle and careful with her for the photographs on this post.

A small crowd gathered while I worked with the snake on the boardwalk trail. As was the case with the Brown watersnake we visited in the Florida Everglades last month, the onlookers were quite cool. No shouts of terror, no demands to kill the snake, no flying sticks or rocks. Just questions of curiosity and lots of mobile phone pictures. One dude even knew exactly what kind of snake this was, a non-venomous Brown watersnake. It’s kind of sad that I’m so surprised when somebody actually knows what a watersnake species is and doesn’t simply assume it’s a cottonmouth. Heh.

I ended up snapping only the basic series of body angles I like to capture with each watersnake I come across. No fancy full-body shots or anything artsy. It was a rather hot and sunny day, and the temperature was a bit high for the pregnant snake to be exposed like that for very long. It didn’t take too long before I wanted to return the snake to her original nook, just to play it safe. No worries, though… As we’ll see in the next few posts, there was plenty of herp action that weekend — at both Palm Island Park and in my parents’ backyard!

The Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota), 17 May 2015 Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Palm Island Park in Mount Dora, Lake county, 

[phostracks]

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Manatee Springs State Park area in Levy county, Florida 30 October 2016, Nikon D7100

It seems we’re playing ping pong between the Brown watersnakes and the Loggerhead musk turtles this past week. Heh. Well, those were the two most-encountered species on our little October run to the Manatee Springs area last year.

As for this Brown watersnake, it had clearly seen some action in its day. I hate to think what this watersnake’s gone through in the past. If you check out the facial profile below, you’ll see that it suffered a rather significant head trauma at some point in the past. I’m not sure what caused this facial damage, but if I had to guess I’d probably assume it was somebody’s foot. People often confuse damn near any snake found near the water as being a venomous Cottonmouth/Water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus), and, for reasons beyond my comprehension, they also think that stepping on venomous snakes is a good idea. Well, that’s actually a really damn good way to get yourself bitten. Anyhow, this individual is clearly not a venomous Cottonmouth. This is a tried-and-true, classic-form, weathered-and-beaten Brown watersnake — and it’s got the scars to prove it.

Brown watersnakes do seem to be fairly hardly and resilient organisms, as do the other “big” watersnakes in our region (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris and Nerodia taxispilota in particular). I suspect they can push through through quite a bit of trauma — from environmental stresses, predators such as alligators, and, of course, big bad people with machismo to prove.

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

The Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota), 30 October 2016 Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Manatee Springs State Park area in Levy county, Florida…

[phostracks]

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Manatee Springs State Park area in Levy county, Florida 30 October 2016, Nikon D7100

Oh my my, oh hell yes… This was perhaps one of the most photogenic Brown waternsakes (Nerodia taxispilota) I’ve worked with — one of many such Browns we found in the Manatee Springs area of Levy county, Florida, last October. I can’t even begin to fathom how many Brown watersnakes I’ve worked with over the years, to be honest with you. Of our local local non-venomous watersnakes, this species is often more photogenic and cooperative than the others. I think the reason is two-fold. First, they like cypress-strewn habitats, which usually means you have some pretty cool, dark, and textured habitats working the background. Second, the Brown watersnake’s thick, deep, creamy, mocha-brown tones often play beautifully against those textured backgrounds. Direct sunlight can be quite nice, but sometimes an overcast sky can do wonders in bringing out a Brown watersnake’s tones.

We’ve seen plenty of Brown watersnakes on phosTracks, and we’ll see many, many more in the future, but this individual really sticks out for me. What an absolute beauty. It’s hard for me to understand why so many people are afraid of these gorgeous organisms.

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake; Levy county, Florida (30 October 2016, Nikon D7100).

The Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota), 30 October 2016 Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Manatee Springs State Park area in Levy county, Florida…

[tepcija]

Brown watersnake. Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Florida.

[phostracks]

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Not too far from Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier county, Florida 10 June 2016, Nikon D7100

Our current run of posts have featured a number of organisms spotted over the weekend of June 10th through the 12th in south Florida. For myself, this was the first time I’d gotten back down to south Florida since November of 2015. For my weekend-eco-warrior-compatriot, Eric, this was his very first trip to Big Cypress and Coral Gables. Eric previously made a run for the mid-Keys earlier this year, but he hadn’t really seen much of what south Florida has to offer on the wildlife front, so this was a weekend of many firsts for Eric.

Some background on this Eric guy: I’ve worked with Eric in Volusia county over the past year. He originally hails (mostly) from the Pacific Northwest and went to graduate school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. After graduating, he moved to central Florida to basically fish, explore, and experience new things. Truly, he’s got a deep passion for damn-near-anything natural and, with a dual-background in geology and art, this is a guy who likes to study and observe the systematics of life and then creatively express what he perceives through his art. He’s a solid example of those who juggles the Apollonian and Dionysian, the scientific and the naturalistic, the Spock and the Kirk.

From my end, it’s been awesome stomping around with Eric this past year. I’ve gotten to watch this guy see his first Cottonmouth, his first Banded watersnake, his first Cuban brown anole, and on and on and on. Heading down to south Florida proved to be, as you might imagine, a weekend of many additional firsts.

Featured on this post are a number of Brown watersnakes, Nerodia taxispilota, a non-venomous species ranging throughout most of the Florida peninsula. For me, this is an extremely common snake. It’s a snake I’ve studied, handled, and photographed innumerable times in central Florida. It’s also one of my most treasured species. For Eric, this was a snake he had not yet encountered until our South Florida run. And what a first-time-encounter this proved to be!

While in Collier county, heading south towards Big Cypress, we pulled over to the side of the road to check out an adjacent canal line that looked rather lush. As luck would have it, we found a rocky outcrop sporting a number of Brown watersnakes basking in the early afternoon sunshine. We quickly went from one snake to two, from two to three, and from three to four. Eric, I do believe, was beside himself with awesomeness:

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We ended up working with a whole heap of Brown watersnakes of varying sizes. The first one we pulled was a large, healthy adult:

And the second one? My god, she was massive. She was clearly a female, and I do believe she was likely very, very pregnant. It was difficult for me to take my standard reference shots with the 60mm. She was that friggin’ huge. Beefy.

Soon after the massive behemoth female, we pulled yet another decent sized adult from the same spot. At this point, we had a true heap of Nerodia chunkage.

Our fourth and final Brown watersnake was a much smaller, more modest, and mellow individual:

There were at least three or four other individuals in the same area that fled when I caught the very first individual. For reasons unknown to me, the three others we caught simply decided to chill out and stay in place. We kept checking the same rocky crop and finding more and more of these watersnakes. Heh. In Monopoly terms, this was the Boardwalk and Park Place of the canal line, clearly.

For Eric, this was his first introduction to the adorable chunkiness of Nerodia taxispilota. He’s seen more than a few Banded watersnakes already, and now he’s seen a healthy number of Browns. All in one big swoop.

After studying the snakes up close for a bit (and lots and lots of photographs), Eric did the honor of returning the snakes back to their rocky domain.

Not a bad way to start a weekend right? As we’ve already seen on phosTracks, we ultimately found a ton of awesome lizards later in the weekend (and much, much more we’ll get to soon enough). We’ve still got some awesome gator action to come, not to mention much, much more lizard mayhem. For Eric, this truly was his first romp throughout south Florida’s eco-wilds. For me, it may as well have been my first, too. Though I’ve been down there and done these circuits many, many times before, each and every trip feels like a brand new experience. My god, I love it down there. Truly.

The Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota), 10 June 2016 Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Not too far from Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier county…

[phostracks]

Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Near Palm Island Park in Lake county, Florida 10 April 2016, Nikon D7100

Shortly after my encounter with the hefty Florida green watersnake seen in our last post, I came across another gargantuan bucket of awesome: A chunky and robust Brown water snake, Nerodia taxispilota. As is the case with the Florida green watersnake and the Florida banded watersnake, the Brown watersnake is entirely non-venomous and poses no danger to mere mortal humans. Unfortunately, however, that doesn’t stop people from absolutely panicking and stomping on these snakes whenever they come across them. Far too many people simply assume that if there’s a snake near water, well, then it must be a dagnab Florida cottonmouth!

The Brown watersnake is perhaps the least variable of Florida’s non-venomous watersnake species. With few exceptions, a Brown watersnake usually looks pretty much like the one you see here. Sure, some older individuals can be quite dark and the colors can often be muted before they shed their scales, but you usually see the same strong dark patterns on both their backs and bellies. It’s a distinctly unique watersnake in the Floridian peninsula.

The Brown waternake can be considered the “most arboreal” of Florida’s watersnake species. They prefer to bask atop limbs overhanging calm water, which makes for an easy retreat when threatened; they just let gravity do the work as they fall into the water. In fact, when you hear stories about Cottonmouths falling into people’s boats in Florida, there’s a strong chance it was actually a not-too-bright Brown watersnake with really bad timing. Cypress strands seem to be particularly beloved to these snakes. As for this individual, I found it basking along the shoreline, which made it a fairly easy individual to study up close!

The Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota), 10 April 2016 Nerodia taxispilota, the Brown watersnake Near Palm Island Park in Lake county, Florida 10 April 2016, Nikon D7100…

[ghost-worldd]

Saw a bunch of five lined skinks and a brown watersnake and I'm rly happy（＾ω＾）