Taxispilota

Brown watersnake.
Nerodia taxispilota.
June 10th, 2005.
Palm Island Park; Mt. Dora, Florida.
Nikon D70S.
~~~~~

I'm notorious for basically taking this same composition a few hundred times. I'll catch the snake and hold him/her in my left hand and shoot with the right. Sometimes, the shot comes out more intersting. I try to play around with different compositions, but I almost always take this basic shot during each 'session'. It helps to study skull proportions/patternations over the long haul. But again, sometimes the shot comes out a bit more keenly than a basic reference shot. I do like this one, despite its relative darkness.

Brown waternakes are non-venomous. They are genetically most-closely related to the Diamondback waternsnake (Nerodia rhombifer) found throughout the American mid-west (I used to catch them in Oklahoma all the time). They're not nearly as attitude-ridden as the Diamondback waternakes, but can pack quite a punch if and when they do bite in self-defense. Brown watersnakes are also considered the "most-arboreal" of the Nerodia watersnakes. They will actually climb quite high above a shoreline to bask. Rather than simply watching the shore, it helps to look in the palms that line the shore. I've found many coiled up three or four feet above the waterline, bunkered down in a palm.

~ janson