Camouflaged Okefenokee Brown Watersnake

While the prairies of the eastern side of the Okefenokee Swamp are wide open and sunlit, much of the western side – especially the portions along the Suwannee River East Fork – is shaded by the tall cypress and the tangle of vegetation. Only the small lakes and the canoe trails maintained by the Fish and Wildlife Service are open to the sun. In the shady areas, many of the snakes stretch themselves out along the branches that overhang the canoe trails in order to get some sun.

As my eyes get heavy from paddling in the afternoon heat, every branch looks like a snake, and every snake looks like a branch. But my daughter has a knack for picking out the snakes hidden in the dense vegetation. This particularly well-hidden Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota) was barely visible along the thick branches. She spotted it while we were enjoying a slow paddle just north of Minnie’s Lake.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. Sunday, April 16, 2023.

• Location: north of Minnie’s Lake between canoe mile markers 24 and 25; N30.88296° W82.29563°
• Partly cloudy with high 83, low 52.
• Sunrise 7:00 AM; Sunset 7:58 PM
• Daylight hours: 12 hours 57 minute (+1m 48s)