This one is from today, was pretty stoked to see it, after being pretty spooked to see it. Seen on the Petrified Forest Loop trail at Teddy Roosevelt NP. Was watching a bird that had taken iff and the next thing I knew it was giving me the heads up.
Another shot of the Prairie Rattlesnake still raised up but calming down.
Got a little to the side of the Rattlesnake as it calmed even more but remained partially raised up.
Another shot of the Prarie Rattlesnake moving along the trail. shortly thereafter it went to setup just off the trail and I moved along well off trail on the other side.
Couple videos on the Bluesky post of it slithering away along the trail.
Great photos! I’m going to crosspost them to the reptiles community once I get access to a desktop
Awesome! Certainly go right ahead, I worry about spamming stuff so personally just leave it to this one post but I think it works great if others say this would be cool on __ and help spread it around.
Great shot! What a beautiful creature, I love snakes.
You’re extremely fortunate. Gorgeous shots.
Jealous! I’ve never seen anything but cotton mouths around here. They always run away before I have presence of mind and opportunity to snap a pic. Same with the gators. :(
I used to work at a catfish hatchery in NC back in the day. After emptying a pond for stocking we’d have a pile of bluegill/sunfish that had made it in and we would toss them in the creek leading out of the hatchhouse. The cottonmouths and banded watersnakes which thrived there would wait for the free meal. Cool and creepy.
Oh I love TRNP. Spent a summer working for the foundation in Medora and got a lot of great hikes in. Never saw a snake though. I’ll throw some fun pics up in a minute.
Hell yeah, this park is great, I’m a huge sucker for badlands so I’m all for it. Came through here about 4 years ago, but I think all I had time for was the scenic drive and a couple of the overlook type short strolls. Got in the petrified forest loop today and probably only going to get in painted canyon tomorrow depending on the weather before I need to move on again though.
Hey that’s still a good trip through! Yeah I got that picture by climbing the cliff behind the employee housing. Easier than it sounds and a righteous view.
NP
Non-parity? (Please define acronyms the first time you use them in a piece)
National Park, apologies I’m usually pretty good about using the full one in the title. Got a little excited with that post. It’s also in North Dakota and I’ve updated the title now.
