The Great Moccasin Migration (continued)

The leading actor.

An impostor, the Yellowbelly.

Green Water Snake.

A typical Shawnee Copperhead.

Timber Rattler, a big Shawnee female.

"Snakes are where you find them" 

How exactly does one find a Cottonmouth here?  "You don't find Moccasins on the Snake Road, they find you", someone once said.  The Snake Road, cutting through the very margin of where bluffs meet bog, serves as a long narrow meeting place for snake and human. The Cottonmouths must cross if they are to reach winter quarters.  Where it passes through the low, wet places, the road also offers the snakes an elevated, dry place where they can bask in the vegetation on either side, and so are good places to look for serpents of all kinds.  The Snake Road is three miles in length, and snakes of all species are likely to cross at any point on it, high or low.

For those not familiar with the looks of the Cottonmouth, there are a number of other snake species here that can be confused with them.  The Yellow-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster flavisgaster), sometimes shares the same dark colors that adult Cottonmouths have, although they are much thinner and the the head is much less distinct from the neck. Another snake  with potential for mix-up is the Green Water Snake (Nerodia cyclopion cyclopion), a somewhat rare (and protected) species in the lowlands of southern Illinois.  This is as far north as the species comes, and it is much more common further south in the Mississippi delta.

The Copperhead, closely related and another member of the Agkistrodon genus, can also be mistaken for a Cottonmouth, and vice-versa.  Many times young cottonmouths are thought to be Copperheads, a potentially serious mistake. While Copperheads are venomous and should be taken seriously, their venom has nowhere near the potency of Cottonmouth venom.  Chances are, a bite from a Copperhead will not prove fatal or produce widespread, permanent tissue damage, both of which are serious possibilities with a Cottonmouth bite.  Many people who have been bitten by Copperheads report that it is an extremely painful experience nonetheless.

Another venomous snake you have a chance of observing here is the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), although it is nowhere near as common as the Cottonmouth.  There are other places within the vast Shawnee National Forest where the Timber is much more common (although 'common' is a relative term - Crotalus horridus is protected in Illinois and is in big trouble from human encroachment throughout much of its range).