Eastern Hognose Snakes are one of the most fascinating snake species in our area. The come in a exhibit a variety of color patterns from nearly all black to combnations of black yellow orange and gray. They are most famous not for their variable color patterns but for their interesting behavior when one encounters them (Watch the videos).

So far I have encountered three hognose snakes this year. Unofrtunately one was a roadkill and the other suffered what appeared to be a mortal wound from a car and most likey died not long after I picked it up from the road. The only living one I found was an adult black variant on July 5th in a stream valley while I was out looking for Wood turtles.

I remember leaving the wood turlte site with the feeling that I was going to see a hognose today. Well it happened but not in the way I expected. When I initially saw the snake I thought it was a black racer. The animal had the upper quarter of his body perched up on a log and the rest of his body streeched on the ground behind it. I could se from a distance that it had a white throat and all other indications pointed our to me that this was a one of our common black snakes. So I carefully stretched out my monopod to take some film of the “racer”. Knowing too well that the snake already spotted and would flee if I tried to get closer and capture it. So instead I decided to film it using my monopod and my point n shoot attatched at the end to get a cloe up shot of the animal. Expecting the snake to bolt I stretched the monopod as far as it would go, turned on the video and proceeded to stick the camera as clsoe to the snake as possible. Instead of fleeing as I expected would happen the snake just stayed put. So I took a chance to move in closer and try to catch it. As I moved closer I could see the upturned snout then realized I had found a hognose!!