Not a good photo, but I'm just not used to seeing snakes in trees around here...

[Adsos Letter]

...especially ones of this size hunting a rather large Pileated Woodpecker.

[IMG][/IMG]

This snake was between 5-6 feet long, so dark a green/brown as to be practically black. We were sitting on a bench in Congaree National Park when we noticed this guy/gal slowly slithering its way up toward a Pileated Woodpecker that was about a foot tall. The bird was keeping a watchful eye on the snake and would occasionally move up the tree when it got too close. After they were both about 20 feet up the bird took off, leaving what I assume was a disappointed snake.
I tried a tighter crop but the quality is still so poor that an identification by an of you who know about such things is probably impossible:

[IMG][/IMG]

I really wish I could have gotten shots of the snake/woodpecker dance of survival but we were both so fascinated by what we were seeing that I didn't even think of my camera, even though it was hanging 'round my neck. By the time I thought of it he was too high and my hands were too unsteady for a good, clear shot.

We just don't have swamps like Congaree in Northern California.




.

[NV Whino]

1. Probably a black snake

One of the good guys… unless they are going after Pilates woodpeckers.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Ah, thanks. I thought it might have been a rat snake.

We saw plenty of those on the trip and they're about the same size.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. down here that snake has several names, by the locals

Last edited Tue Jul 10, 2012, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)

rat snake is the most common...black snake is also used. If it was mottled, it was most likely the grey rat snake:
/'
the darn things are huge..6 feet or more
and once in a while, can make your heart stop when suddenly you walk up on one hanging down from a tree branch.
We have several on our property, often see them moving around in the garden, or on a trail in the woods. They are the only ones that climb trees around here.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Pilates woodpeckers have a hard time of it ...

they keep poking holes in the big ball.

[Adsos Letter]

6. LOL!

[NV Whino]

9. Damn that auto fill

[happyslug]

11. Possible, but unlikely

Frequently near water but also in brush, trash piles, roadsides, swamps, suburbia; it is the most common snake in residential neighborhoods in Florida. It spends most of its time on the ground, but it's a good tree climber and may be found in shrubs and trees where the calls of birds draw attention to it.
Most racers prefer open, grassland type habitat where their keen eyesight and speed can be readily used, but they are also found in light forest and even semi-arid regions. They are usually not far from an area of cover to hide in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coluber_constrictor

Thus this is most likely a rat snake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantherophis_obsoletus

{Rate Snakes} prefers heavily wooded areas and is known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches.

[handmade34]

3. aww snakes...

love that you got the photos, even if they aren't great... the photos we miss because we are lost in the moment probably wouldn't be worth trading for the thrill of what we are experiencing...

reminds me of the time I was geocaching in the woods near Laplace, Louisiana... so intent on looking down trying to find cache that upon looking up and finding myself staring face to face with a speckled kingsnake curled up in a tree, I was terrified! ...certainly not composed enough to get a photo

like this...

[tru]

8. beautiful

Must be tough being a snake. Not only no opposable thumbs, a lot of other handy parts missing.

[madmom]

5. My parents used to live in western MD. They had a house on a

mountain top, plenty of trees. One day my mom was setting at the picnic table and a big black snake (she said about 6-8 ft long) dropped out of the tree and landed on the table beside her. One of the perks of country living.

[Adsos Letter]

15. We've got buckets-full of rattlers around here, but they don't climb any higher than the low brush..

...at least, not that I'm aware of. Sometimes they'll crawl up into hedges and manzanita brush.

My wife and I wondered how many of these critters we had walked under without knowing it. If one had dropped on us we'd both have had heart attacks...

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. Coulda been a very big water moccasin.

They are mean sons of bitches. I used to go down some of the smaller creeks with my brother or cousins. You had to watch above as well as in front of you. They could drop on you and create quite a kerfuffle.


They have a poisonous and nasty bite. Their bites alone would be trouble because their mouths are so gross.

[happyslug]

10. I doubt it, wrong tactics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_piscivorus

The water Moccasin is a viper (i.e, poisonous snake). while it is know to hold on to frogs and small birds, most vipers bite then track what they had bitten till it dies. It is hard to do that in a tree, so most vipers are ground dweller (not exclusive, but mostly on the ground).

Now the constrictors (which are over 80% of the snakes in the world) do operate in trees, the reason is they pounce on their prey and hold on to it till the prey is ready to be digested.

Given the difference, it quickly become clear why the constrictors outnumber the vipers, a viper can kill its meal, but then the meal gets away before it is consumed (i.e. something else gets it, or it dies in a place the viper can get at it). Losing its meal is less a problem for the constrictors, they always have they body on the meal.

Through the location, Congaree National Park, is within the water moccasins area.

http://www.nps.gov/cong/index.htm

Please note at least one Viper does hunt from the trees, but it is in China and only eats for three months of the year (and then on migrating birds).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloydius_shedaoensis

[Adsos Letter]

13. Just from the general look of the thing I'm betting it was a Black Rat Snake.

We saw several on the drive through Virginia and the Carolina's. This guy didn't have that thick-in-the-midsection viper look that cottonmouth's have, and he looks a lot like the picture you linked to in your other thread. I didn't notice a white belly like the one in your photo but I couldn't really see it anyway, and perhaps there is some variation within the species. Or maybe he skipped his morning bath.

They seem to be ubiquitous in the Southeast. I almost stepped on one as I was wandering around the edge of the swamp/river at Mansfield Plantation. Darned thing almost gave me a heart attack when it snapped into motion.

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. I'm not saying that a tree is its preferred home.

However, I know they hang out there at times because I have seen it. I think they do it for the lulz.

[Duppers]

20. we have big moccasins at the back of our wooded lot

They live at the edge of the water on our little lake and I've certainly found them high on branches. One once surprised and scared the heck out of me as I almost walked a few inches right under him, not expecting a snake to be in the tree. A friend who spotted the snake yelled at me to stop.

I'm not particularly afraid of snakes, especially the great black snakes whom I like, but these big, fat moccasins really do frighten me.

[thesquanderer]

12. That's what Eve said (n/t)

[Adsos Letter]

14. LOL!

Good one.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Not bad, you are way too hard on yourself

(I've been told by hubby, so am I, so there)

[GTurck]

18. We lost 2 pullets...

to 2 different Texas Rat Snakes in 10 days. One was @6ft. and the other was closer to 4ft. They are known for their tree climbing ability which is how they probably got into the chicken yard and into the coop for the younger chickens. We learned too that "chicken wire" is just the right size to let them into the yard and coop but once the swallow the bird they cannot get out. We tried to return both to the wild but accidently killed the larger one for lack of experience in such things. The other survived and we have made the coop more secure. It is best to live with them because they are great at getting vermin like rats and baby rattlesnakes.

[canonfodder]

19. no kidding

I've seen a five footer climb a brick wall.
I was totally astounded by that.