Favoritos de vulturine

LIFER! literally no words, this has to be the rarest snake in the piedmont of North Carolina. Yep! This sighting was in the piedmont of NC! went herping with a buddy, hiked many long hours inside a huge marsh/swamp habitat, not a single snake. We reached the edge of an agricultural field with a nice slow water marsh, and we found this mudsnake at the surface of the water just chilling near the base of a half submerged fallen tree.

this is not what I expected to find at all, not only that but this snake was massive! 3+ feet. I would have never guessed to have found a mudsnake today and a true “lemon head”.

This snake proved to be the hardest to photograph I’ve ever encountered! They cannot sit still and any cover placed on them they will push until it is moved. I also noticed an unusual defense mechanism where this snake used its tails to move as if the tail was its head. Its head sat still while the tail “creeped” around the ground imitating a snake searching the ground/water. I’m not sure if they are known to do this, either way I am super happy with only one snake this week and it’s the rarest around here!

Vultures killed sick/weak fawn? I heard crying from behind the trees of a deer but I didn’t think much of it. 30 minutes later when I checked I found about 10 vultures eating a fresh and limp carcass of a deer fawn. Note in this picture there aren’t even any flies on it yet