Reader Pradeep Satyaprakash posted this photo on FB, but credited it to another:
The photo is by Reddit user Realistic_Ear_9378 and he/she writes:
“I took this picture while hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina [Asheville] in August. My shoe had come untied and when I bent down to tie it I saw the first copperhead I’ve ever seen about 16 inches in front of my face.”
Anyway, there’s an Eastern copperhead snake (Agkistrodon contortrix)in the picture. Can you spot it? The reveal will be up at 1 p.m. Chicago time. If you find it, say so in the comments, but please don’t reveal its location. You can click the photo to enlarge it.
Found it!
Spotted it. I’m sure it gave the photographer a fright. I’ve nearly stepped on copperheads but they never moved. A co-worker did step on one and his leather boot saved him from the snake’s fangs.
Easy, but only after enlarging.
Found it fairly easily.
Got it, and Yikes!
Got it pretty quickly.
Got it!
Egah…. for some reason, that’s making me … eesh…
Got it!
This one reminds me of something I was thinking about only this week. Over 30 years ago, I went on a trip around Africa and was on a pirougue being punted through the Okavango delta. We got off at a small island and at some point the guide went back to the boats to fetch something. When he returned, he told me that he saw a green mamba in my pirogue. “Are they dangerous?” I asked and he assured me that they were deadly. He then said that he thought it had left but he wasn’t certain. We returned to the pirogues later and I stared in horror at the long, green reeds lining the entire bottom of the boat, fully aware that it was the perfect hiding spot for a deadly snake and I had little choice but to get in.
Fortunately I am still alive to tell the tale.
Found it, this time easily. A brief web search says that Agkistrodon Contortrix, while having hemotoxic venom, causes localized swelling and necrosis that is rarely fatal.
Bet it hurts like hell, though. And it doesn’t look like this one is in any hurry to get out of one’s way.
Here in Southern California, all of the golf courses warn us to avoid the more lethal rattlesnake by taking a club with us whenever we stray from the fairway to locate a lost ball, and beating the bushes ahead of us. I’ve learned to do the same with my walking sticks when climbing the local mountains.
I have also come face to face with a copperhead on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The one in the photo was pretty easy to find. It was well-camouflaged though; if I hadn’t been cued to turn on my search image, it would have been easy to pass it by.
GCM
Yikes!
Found it. Took me a minute despite being a herpetologist and small pitviper enthusiast.