Eye of a snake

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Eye of a snake

October 19, 2014 by Mike Powell

It has often been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I’m not sure what I can say about the soul of this Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon), but I recently had a chance to take a long, close look into one of its eyes.

As I was walking in my local marshland park last week, one of my fellow photographers pointed out the snake to me in the low vegetation. Most of the time that I see this species, it is in the water, where it is almost impossible for me to get a close-up shot. The snake started to move several times as I got closer and closer to it, but then it would stop, thinking perhaps that it would be invisible if it remained motionless.

Most of the time, my view to the snake was obscured by the vegetation, so I waited and tried to anticipate where it would move next, hoping that it would move to a more open area. Finally, I was able to get a relatively clear shot of its eye in a head-and-shoulders portrait, though, of course, snakes don’t really have shoulders.

Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Nerodia sipedon, Northern Water Snake, Northern Watersnake, snake eye, snake eyes, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on October 19, 2014 at 8:17 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Reptile eyes look very different than mammal eyes. Nice shot.
- on October 19, 2014 at 8:18 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I totally agree, Allen. I don’t see anywhere near the expressiveness in reptile eyes that I see in the eyes of mammals.
on October 19, 2014 at 8:44 am | Reply Adam Hughes

Awesome 🙂
- on October 19, 2014 at 8:46 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Adam. Although this was a pretty close-up macro shot, I took it with a 180mm macro lens, so I wasn’t super close to the snake.
  - on October 19, 2014 at 8:48 am Adam Hughes
    
    Personally I admire anyone who gets even within 1 metre of such a creature. You captured the snake beautifully.
on October 19, 2014 at 10:18 am | Reply krikitarts

For some reason, the eye reminds me a frog’s eye! Nice, clear shot, Mike, and well worth waiting for.
on October 19, 2014 at 2:01 pm | Reply Charlie@Seattle Trekker

Not your typical subject matter, but I love the shot you got…Great detail demonstrated.
- on October 19, 2014 at 4:59 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Charlie.
on October 20, 2014 at 5:43 am | Reply centralohionature

One of our favorite critters. While apparently not nearly as common as most of our turtles, often seen along the shore when canoeing here in central Ohio.
- on October 20, 2014 at 6:41 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I am amazed to see how well and how fast these snakes can swim. They seem to love the frogs at the marshland park where I spend a lot of time and several times I have seen (and heard) them consuming a hapless victim.
on October 20, 2014 at 3:33 pm | Reply Sue

Nice shot, Mike. I like “head shots”.
on October 23, 2014 at 2:50 am | Reply Marie Keates

Well worth the effort.