{"id":127566,"date":"2024-04-15T03:00:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=127566"},"modified":"2024-04-17T03:27:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T08:27:40","slug":"my-lifer-northern-cottonmouth-water-moccasin-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/15\/my-lifer-northern-cottonmouth-water-moccasin-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"My Lifer Northern Cottonmouth\/Water Moccasin Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, I took photos of my lifer adult Northern Cottonmouth, aka Water Moccasin, on one of the roads there.<\/p>\n

\"CottonmouthCottonmouth in the road at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge – Nikon D810, hand held, f9, 1\/5000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I was looking for birds on the other side of the road when my dear friend and wildlife photographer, Steve Creek<\/span><\/a>, spotted the snake and pointed it out to me.<\/p>\n

I grabbed my backup camera, a Nikon D810 with a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens attached, to photograph the cottonmouth. My bird and wildlife camera had way too much glass on it.<\/p>\n

After getting out of Steve’s pickup, I knelt down in the road to get a low angle of the snake in front of me.<\/p>\n

\"WaterWater Moccasin showing their cottonmouth – Nikon D810, hand held, f9, 1\/5000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was so excited to photograph the Water Moccasin that a few of my images were basically destined for the delete bin; I was shaking with excitement. I’d seen this snake species before, but these are my first photos of them and that is why I called this snake a lifer. I need a photo or photos to call a lifer a lifer.<\/p>\n

I kept my distance from this snake and these images were all taken at 200mm and cropped.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Northern Cottonmouth on the road – Nikon D810, hand held, f9, 1\/4000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither Steve nor I had ever seen a cottonmouth this color before. Any guidance on which subspecies this cottonmouth is would be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Cottonmouth\/Water Moccasin close up – Nikon D810, hand held, f9, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time with this fascinating Northern Cottonmouth because a vehicle was coming up the road behind us. I would have liked to have gotten more photos of this lifer snake than I did, but I am thrilled that I took the photos of it that I did.<\/p>\n

Snakes are awesome and I am not freaked out by them. Giving venomous snakes the respect and room they need helps them and me stay safe.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

See Steve’s photos of this snake and his thoughts on the odd color of it here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my reptile and amphibian photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, I took photos of my lifer adult Northern Cottonmouth, aka Water Moccasin, on one of the roads there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14888,13973,13974],"tags":[14889,13985,4142,14900,14901,5370,14902,14903,14890,4046,4449,13136,2326,5785,7145,165,14891],"class_list":["post-127566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-northern-cottonmouths-water-moccasins","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-agkistrodon-piscivorus","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-close-up","tag-cottonmouth","tag-cottonmouths","tag-forest","tag-moccasin","tag-moccasins","tag-northern-cottonmouth","tag-portrait","tag-reptile","tag-reptiles","tag-road","tag-snake","tag-snakes","tag-spring","tag-water-moccasin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t