Thursday, September 4, 2008

Timber Rattlesnake at Shawnee

Thursday, September 4, 2008
7 comments


Today I went out into Shawnee State Forest in southernmost Ohio, with a group lead by Doug Wynn. Doug is a high school teacher from Columbus, who is also a longtime rattlesnake researcher and recognized expert. He uses radio telemetry to track timber rattlesnakes. Shawnee is the last Ohio stronghold of this poisonous snake.

I'll tell the entire story about our snake hunt in a post in the near future. For now, I'll share with you a short video of one of the snakes Doug recently caught and marked with an embedded microchip. This female is set to be re-released into the wild soon.

Even though I was a good six feet away from the snake, it still gave me chills to see it rattling in a coiled pose.

7 comments:

On September 4, 2008 at 6:31 AM Jayne said...

I'm less frightened of them than I used to be, but still... an angry one is a different story.

On September 4, 2008 at 7:09 AM Kathi said...

No. Don't want no poisonous snakes. Going away now until the nice birdies come back.

~Kat, sulking in the corner

On September 4, 2008 at 10:14 AM Jana said...

I got goosebumps just from watching the video.

On September 4, 2008 at 2:55 PM Rondeau Ric said...

Sounds like a cicada on the ground instead of up a tree.

We have the Massassuga Rattler up here but not in our Park.

On September 4, 2008 at 3:39 PM Anonymous said...

Beautiful animal! I've seen Western Rattlesnake and Western Massasauga, but Timber would be a lovely lifer.

On September 5, 2008 at 10:24 AM Eva Matthews said...

Nice rattle video Bill. I also have a Timber video up on my blog this week. I ran into the biggest Timber of my life while visiting my family in SC.

On September 13, 2008 at 3:06 AM Unknown said...

very beautiful snake . I am frightened of them but I like to see them in photo and on TV.

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brianna

A.H. Infosource</a


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