Take time to smell the flowers

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Take time to smell the flowers

April 22, 2015 by Mike Powell

The forest floor is carpeted with tiny wildflowers at this time of the year and even this large black snake seemed to be taking time to appreciate their beauty.

The little flowers are Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) and I think the snake may be a Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor), though I must confess that I grow a bit confused when reading the descriptions about how to distinguish Black Racers from Eastern Ratsnakes.

Unlike an earlier shot this spring of another black snake, which I photographed with my telephoto zoom lens, I took this shot with my 180mm macro lens, getting as low as I could and as close as I dared.

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Claytonia virginica, Coluber constrictor constrictor, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Black Racer, Spring Beauty, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on April 22, 2015 at 6:27 am | Reply rennydiokno2015

Reblogged this on rennydiokno.com.
on April 22, 2015 at 7:26 am | Reply Ben Rowe Aperturef64

Beautiful portrait of the snake. I have been known to use a 300mm if I am photographing them in the wild just to give each other a bit of space. The benefits of a macro lens with sharpness and DOF does look like it is worth it.
- on April 23, 2015 at 6:08 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ben. There is a definite benefit to using a macro lens for a shot like this. I really like my Tamron 180mm macro, because it lets me capture action like this without getting super close to the subject. With my crop sensor camera, the lens combines some of the advantage of a telephoto and a macro lens.
on April 22, 2015 at 8:39 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Nice shot!
- on April 23, 2015 at 4:39 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Allen.
on April 22, 2015 at 8:55 am | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Great snake portrait. Having come from a country with only two snake species, I’m having to learn all about snakes here. We encountered a garter snake this past weekend actually and it stayed long enough for me to get a few shots of it and for my kids to have a good look at it so they could all identify a garter snake in future. It’s good to be seeing reptiles around as its a sure sign of Warner temperatures.
- on April 23, 2015 at 4:38 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. I’m glad you liked the snake portrait. Snakes are one of those subjects that some people just don’t like seeing. I find them fascinating, thought I am cautious. Even when they are non-poisonous, like this one, they can still bite if they feel threatened.
on April 22, 2015 at 11:28 am | Reply Lucy

What a beauty! Very beautiful picture and writing.Thank you for sharing.
- on April 23, 2015 at 4:36 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Lucy.
on April 23, 2015 at 5:52 pm | Reply Charlie@Seattle Trekker

Gorgeous photo, love the interesting detail.
on April 23, 2015 at 10:36 pm | Reply krikitarts

I too have had a snake fascination for as long as I can remember. I learned how to catch them without hurting them at a very early age, but am still very careful to avoid getting bitten. Even with the non-venomous ones, there are some rather serious bacteria that can routinely inhabit their mouths. Some of these may be resident in the snake, but others (I hope this is not too much information) can result from of the intestinal contents of their prey. The species include Pseudomonas, Proteus, Salmonella, Aeromonas, Vibrio, and Clostridium. Watchword: Observe with caution; handle with extreme care.
- on April 24, 2015 at 5:20 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I really like snakes, but fortunately have no desire to handle them. One of the water snakes here administers a nasty bite and has saliva that contains an anti-coagulant, yet another justification for my hands-off policy.