Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)
Today is World Snake Day, intended to draw attention to the plight of snakes worldwide and to celebrate how incredibly fascinating they are. I thought I’d share one of our local species whose classic case of mistaken identity often has it end up on the wrong end of a shovel. Throughout its extensive distribution range Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon) are regularly mistaken for venomous Water Mocassins or Copperheads – even in areas where these two venomous snakes don’t even occur! Water snakes tend to show their unease with an approaching human by pretending to be...
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