Photography Kevin Fleming on 04 Jul 2008 04:59 pm
copperhead surprise
Growing up in Delaware I was taught we don’t have poisonous snakes in the state. Turns out that’s not true. In fact, we have copperheads in southwestern Sussex county and the Piedmont region in the northern part of the state along the Pennsylvania border. This copperhead is from Frankford in Sussex County. According to Jim White at the Delaware Nature Society our two small populations of this pit viper may be two variants of the southern copperhead. I was able to get very close for this portrait but if you see a snake with these reddish-brown coppery markings I recommend keeping a wide berth to avoid these fangs and a painful and possibly fatal bite.
on 05 Jul 2008 at 3:08 pm 1.Pat said …
Oh, please don’t tell me we have poisonous snakes here. My biggest fear is snakes!
Pat (2/1000)
on 06 Jul 2008 at 8:38 am 2.Kevin Fleming said …
Hi Pat,
Only a few copperheads and they are in SW Sussex and along the PA border. None in Kent and Eastern Sussex…
Kevin
on 06 Jul 2008 at 4:02 pm 3.Pat said …
Whew….relieved to hear that. Your photo was a good one since you got such a close-up, but rather unsettling all the same!
Hope you had a good day at the show yesterday. It’s fun for me to work that show and I’m glad the weather held out for it.
on 07 Jul 2008 at 7:55 pm 4.Mona and Pete Mitchell said …
Hi Kevin, Just wanted to let you know that we saw the most amazing sight last week. The 2 adult Eagles that have been out behind our house,(you got pics. of the young ones). One of the Adults was having a fit,screaching, flying in circles. So we kept in eye on them. It was fighting with one of the Falcons, and all of a sudden it went into a barrel roll and was dive bombing the falcon! Was the most amazing thing!!..And also, My brother in law just saw a copperhead in his yard this past weekend. They live on Rt.24 just west of Millsboro,and it was confirmed a copperhead.
I hope things are well with you and that you are having a great summer. The pictures are awesome as always!!
Mona & Pete Mitchell
on 08 Jul 2008 at 8:35 am 5.Kevin Fleming said …
Hello Mona and Pat,
I saw a similar scene there one day when the falcon was chasing an adult eagle and then the eagle turned and chased the falcon. It was too far away for a good photograph but it was quite an air show.
As for the copperhead, they are there and best avoided. Their bites can be painful at the least and possibly fatal.
Thanks for watching Wild Delaware, the book goes to the printer in August and will be here by November 1st.
Kevin