two pine snakes

[woodjin]

I've been a fishing maniac these past two weeks. I went out early this morning and saw a very girthy 4.5' long pine snake crossing the red road in Penn SF. Very healthy. When I got to the lake I was fishing, I went to load in my kayak and saw a pine snake just floating on the surface of the water. He was in a S shape and wasn't treading water, but just floating there, kind of odd. I rarely see a pine snake in the water, and I don't think I've ever seen a snake just float. He was looking at me like "sup?" Interesting.

Jeff

 

[bobpbx]

Sure he wasn't rubber?

Ha! Thats odd Jeff. I have never seen a pine snake in the water.

 

[uuglypher]

Neat observation. Jeff !

Although I never saw a pine snake IN the water, I did see a smallish-to-middling one in the talons of an osprey just after being snatched from the surface of Wading River. The Osprey didn't know what he'd gotten himself into. Any self-respecting osprey should have handled that snake's dead weight with no problem. However, because the snake (I'd estimate between two and two-and-a-half feet in length) was gripped somewhere in the lower third or quarter of the body, it swung beneath the bird in a pendulum-like manner. The pendulum's swing, combined with a bit of understandable writhing combined to so unbalance the poor fish hawk such that, although it it had gained maybe 50 feet of altitude, it slowly lost height and made a decidedly inelegant crash landing in a pine at the edge of the bog I was working in. That was one of the old Pomona Fruit bogs. The snake was clearly and boldly marked black and white, so was certainly a pinesnake, and it was dropped by the osprey during the "landing," but I couldn't find it when I got to the region of the tree. The osprey had finally gained a perch on a branch and was just sitting there, winded and pooped! Didn't even think of flying off even with me walking around looking at him (her?) from less than 20 feet away! Understandable, as it was a God-awful hot and humid day - had to be close to 100 with humidity in the high 80's or 90's. You know, I'm sure, of the sort of day of which I speak!

Thanks, Jeff, for calling that episode to mind. I'd really be curious as to other sightings of any aquatic tendencies in the pinesnake. Come to think of it, I did see a big bull snake (same species as the pine snake, different subspecies) in the shallow Little Missouri river in Harding County, South Dakota, in the early 70's. I agree; it's pretty unusual!

Best t'y'all,
Dave

 

[bobpbx]

Neat observation. Jeff !

Understandable, as it was a God-awful hot and humid day - had to be close to 100 with humidity in the high 80's or 90's. You know, I'm sure, of the sort of day of which I speak!

Best t'y'all,
Dave

Yeah, we know Dave. You just described today exactly in the Barrens of NJ.

 

[Teegate]

Tomorrow and Sunday looks the same way. I think I will have a short day tomorrow.

Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

I may venture out on Sunday. Not quite sure where, though.

 

[woodjin]

That's a great story Dave, I would have loved to have witnessed that. I stated that I rarely see pine snakes in water and I said that because I recall seeing a pine snake make a run through a flooded spong to get away from me once. This is really the first time I have seen a pine snake in an established body of water. Although, I have frequently spotted them hunting the banks. While only about 2' from the shore he was in 4.5 feet of water. I checked the depth later with the paddle from my kayak.

I have a theory as to what happend: he was on a small peninsula. As I approached he had no choice but to escape via the water. As I came around the bend he saw me and I saw him so he chose to remain motionless so I wouldn't detect him, instead of swimming to safety. So I strongly suspect his presence in the water was the result of an escape rather than free will.

What was most interesting was that he was completely motionless on the surface, almost like he was lying on ice or glass. No part of his body was submerged. I had no idea they had that kind of buoyancy. When I see common watersnakes, they usually just have their heads above water. Generally speaking, I guess keeping your whole body exposed to birds of prey like that on waters' surface would not be a good idea. It was a very odd sight. I wish I had my camera.

Jeff

 

[uuglypher]

Jeff wrtote:
"What was most interesting was that he was completely motionless on the surface, almost like he was lying on ice or glass. No part of his body was submerged. I had no idea they had that kind of buoyancy. When I see common watersnakes, they usually just have their heads above water. Generally speaking, I guess keeping your whole body exposed to birds of prey like that on waters' surface would not be a good idea. It was a very odd sight. I wish I had my camera."

Jeff-
That's a really interesting observation, and now that you mention it, I'll have to admit that I've observed the same about watersnakes ( and other commoly aquatic or semiaquatic species like mocassins, massasaugas, and copperheads) riding "low in the water" and typically dryland snakes (racers, ratsnakes, the bigger rattlers, etc...) riding high when they are in the water - but I'd never put two-and-two together like you did.

All snakes have great potential buoyancy due to a large region of the rear portion of their lung that is merely a thin-walled air sac. And the airsac of a watersnake is not significantly different in potential volume than that of a rattler of similar mass. Now that you bring the fact to my attention it makes sense that species that frequent water would have evolved the habit of evacuating most of their airsac air - and its buoyancy - for exactly the reason you mention - make themselves less obvious to predators above the water's surface. And the "landlubber" species, when they do make the rare, unaccustomed visit to the aquatic realm, are probably like the nervous kid being taught to swim who is a'feard to exhale for fear he'll sink ! O.K. Maybe that's a bit too much anthropomorphism, but you get my drift. Thanks, Jeff, for making me think about it more than I had heretofore.

Dave