Watch for copperheads on roads in the fall

A small copperhead residing in an outlying building at Falls Lake State Recreation Area in Wake County, at Sandling Beach or Woodpecker Ridge, [~] May 1, 2011; I moved it but it came back and a seasonal employee killed it with a rock not long after this photo was taken.  If things had gone differently maybe a permanent State employee would have killed it [©].

This is an article from 15 years ago; I haven't re-edited extensively or re-checked the information.  It has been relatively cool recently and I haven't seen any copperheads and few snakes of any kind so far this year.  It was cold and wet when Tropical Storm Ophelia came through, but in the evening on I think the 23rd I saw a large, very dark toad, maybe an American toad.  It was very warm on the 25th and copperheads were probably out on roads that night.  It was cool and dreary again on the 26th, but a Carolina anole was out and I most often see them in fall, winter, and spring, and I suspect that they are an important sign of the times; a future article.  Copperheads have probably been around all along, but suddenly around 2015 I started finding several in my neighborhood each summer, mostly at night.  I came across them rarely, and usually in more rural locations and in the fall, before that point.  Maybe they aren't literally going to hibernation sites when they get on roads now, such as old Alston bordering RTP.  It might have been last year or sometime recently that I saw the first garter snake I have come across here in many years and I think that was the largest snake I saw that year.  Occasionally there are large black rat snakes, but copperheads are often the largest snake I find in my neighborhood.   There are probably more snake species, reaching larger sizes, in rural areas - Falls Lake State Recreation Area has many terrestrial reptile species - but it is probably also likely that many snakes go unnoticed in more built up areas, and some species are small and often relatively subterranean.  Traffic and persecution are probably major factors if reptile diversity does decrease close to cities, though there are also factors like predation by cats and dogs and lack of habitat or prey.

On early fall evenings the summer constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer or snakehandler is still visible, standing in the southwest above Scorpius and near Hercules, Aquila, and Lyra.  Ophiuchus holds Serpens, divided into Serpens Cauda, the tail, in the east and Serpens Caput, the head, in the west.  Note that handling even a dead venomous snake can be dangerous in reality.  The last supernova in our Galaxy definitely seen by human witnesses, sometimes called Kepler's Supernova, was noticed in Ophiuchus October 10, 1604.  Barnard's Star, one of the closest stars, is also in Ophiuchus, but it is only visible with a telescope.

[The Draconid meteor shower, very weak, might be visible around October 8th:  amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/2020-meteor-shower-list/ 

Non-native zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, were found in a quarry in Iredell County, in the Statesville area, near Charlotte, September 21st, the first time they have been found in the wild in North Carolina:  www.ncwildlife.org/Connect-With-Us/invasive-zebra-mussels-now-confirmed-in-north-carolina

The dwarf waterdog, Necturus punctatus, a relatively small mudpuppy salamander 4.5 to 7.5 inches long, was documented in New Hope Creek in an Orange County section of Duke Forest, north of Chapel Hill, in October 1954 and again in 1966-69, marking the westernmost extension of its range in North Carolina, but they are at risk from excessive silt runoff and other pollution, so it was unknown if they were still present.  I missed this news earlier, but March 29, 2022 it was announced that dwarf waterdogs had been captured in Duke Forest.  Several animal and plant species reach their westernmost known location from the coastal plain or their easternmost known location from the mountains in Duke Forest or nearby areas in Orange or Durham counties.  Duke Forest is closed September 25th to December 15th, except around Thanksgiving, for its 16th annual deer cull; excessive browsing by deer can probably still be seen at the nearby Fews Ford section of Eno River State Park.  For more information see:  dukeforest.duke.edu/2022/03/30/gills-on-a-puppy-dogs-face-in-the-duke-forest/ , reposted from:  naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/gills-on-a-puppy-dogs-face-in-the-duke-forest/  On deer herd reduction:  dukeforest.duke.edu/management/deer-management/ 

It was warm enough that I might have heard a parting call from a gray treefrog up in a tree around October 2nd or 3rd late in the day.  Males usually start calling by themselves up in the trees during the day around April, but don't actually start breeding until the gather at night around bodies of water in the summer.  I think it was five years ago on the 4th that I saw a relatively large snapping turtle killed trying to cross NC 751 in northern Chatham County, though I don't think the road was very busy at the time and the turtle was barely on the road.

The New Hope Audubon Society sent out an alert regarding US FWS proposals to manage water quality problems in Lake Mattamuskeet, in Hyde County, very close to Pamlico Sound, mentioned in an earlier calendar post here.  I'm reposting this, though I don't know the details:

Background Information: The US Fish & Wildlife Service is proposing to allow the dumping of an algaecide with an EPA label warning THIS PESTICIDE IS TOXIC TO BIRDS into Lake Mattamuskeet, which is a National Wildlife Refuge. As many birders know, Mattamuskeet is one of the most important waterfowl refuges on the Atlantic Coast, harboring tens of thousands of ducks, geese, swans and other migratory birds during the winter, and some year round.

FWS is seeking public input now on the proposal. There is still an opportunity to change course!
 

Key points: All approved activities and actions affecting a national wildlife refuge must be compatible with the purpose of the refuge.  Congress established Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge as an inviolate sanctuary for migratory waterfowl.  Use of a pesticide that EPA has determined and warned is TOXIC TO BIRDS is incompatible with the purpose of the refuge as an inviolate waterfowl sanctuary, especially when it is not a long-term solution to the problem it is intended to address.

New Hope Audubon Society has significant concerns about the proposed use of Lake Guard® Oxy, in Lake Mattamuskeet at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. If you are interested in helping us reverse this action, please email Fish & Wildlife Service at the address below and tell them you strongly urge them to implement “Option A: No Action” instead of “Option B" using the following script: 

"I (insert your name here) use and enjoy the Lake Mattamuskeet wildlife refuge and it is an important sanctuary for migratory waterfowl. Use of pesticide that is toxic to birds is incompatible with the purpose of the refuge and could have significant adverse impacts. Use of the pesticide is not a long-term solution to the water quality problems in the lake. Funding to address the water quality problems should be used to support the plan to address reduction of nutrients entering the lake and removal of carp which are the real cause of the problem. I strongly urge you to implement Option A - No action taken and not Option B - use of cyanobacteria."

The deadline for your comment is October 15. 

Send your comments to this email address:   mattamuskeet [at] fws [period gov]

There will be an NC Wildlife Resources Commission event, Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Public Forum, October 10th 7-9pm at the Yadkinville Extension Center at 2051 Agricultural Way, in or near the Surry Community College-Yadkin Center.  CWD is a prion disease of deer similar to other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or TSEs like BSE/mad cow disease, CJD/Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and scrapie; CWD was found recently in wild deer in North Carolina. 

The NC WRC has been seeking sightings of:  Eastern chipmunks east of I-95 (they are supposed to be found over much of central and western NC, but I only remember having seen them on the UNC campus during warm seasons and maybe other chipmunks outside of NC); nine-banded armadillos, expanding their range north across the country; American alligators; hellbenders and other mudpuppies in Western NC; birds that might have been killed by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza/HPAI; and rabbits that might have been killed by Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus-Type 2.]

Don’t tread on me: Copperheads

With one or two exceptions, now is the only time I ever see copperheads, most smashed by traffic as they migrate to communal winter dens. I see them where roads cross streams and railroads, in rural areas and subdivisions. Copperheads are slow, heavy-bodied, coppery, peanut butter brown, or pinkish and grayish serpents, occasionally almost black, with hourglass or X-shaped dark bands over their backs. Like other vipers, they have clearly triangular heads, and this is a general way to recognize venomous snakes. They also have heat-sensing pits between their nostrils and eyes. Their back scales are keeled, giving them a rough look, and most of their belly scales extend from one side to the other.

There are several subspecies of copperheads, Agkistrodon contortrix, and two mix here, A. contortrix contortrix, the southern copperhead, and A. contortrix mokasen, the northern copperhead. Southern copperheads are lighter, with narrower dark bands, while the northern subspecies can have dark spots in the lighter bands. Their bands sometimes don’t match up perfectly right to left, and southern copperheads tend to be most asymmetric. Northern copperheads in the mountains are smallest, while mixed individuals tend to be the longest, and copperheads can grow to 45 inches long. Agkistrodon means fishhook tooth and contortrix means twisted or intricate.

Several species of snakes have venom, but very few are dangerous. Most venomous snake bites come from copperheads who were stepped on or molested. Exceedingly few people die; there are two reports from NC, and the clearest case was a one-year old in Wilkes County. Copperheads actually have more potent venom than the most dangerous Carolina Agkistrodon, cottonmouths, A. piscivorous, but cottonmouths inject a larger dose, which can cause the loss of digits and extremities, or death. According to the comprehensive Reptiles of NC, the closest genuine sightings are from eastern Wake County. The first one I saw was posing under a cottonmouth warning sign at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse [There was a warning sign near a trailhead in the maritime forest near the Lighthouse, but in 2023 I don't remember which Agkistrodon was curled up underneath, and I might not have developed an analog photo back then]. Several brown patterned and fierce Nerodia water snakes are confused with cottonmouths, often with fatal results for the snakes. Cottonmouths are mottled dark brown to blackish with a dark strip behind their eyes, above a paler strip. They aren’t very arboreal and float high in the water, with their heads up, unlike water snakes. Generally cottonmouths try to escape, or they rattle their tails against the ground like a copperhead and harmless species like black racers, then expose their cottony white mouths to warn that they will bite. Cottonmouths and copperheads can release a smelly musk if bothered, and copperhead musk is said to smell like cucumbers.

Another viper, the canebrake or timber rattlesnake is found around Butner and in Randolph County. They are dangerous, but rare and rattle out warnings. Two other rattlers live in southeast NC. Eastern coral snakes, colorful, very venomous, and subterranean relatives of cobras and mambas, are found in Harnett County.

Copperheads are more nocturnal in the summer, thus their pupils are vertical slits, instead of round. They are supposed to like rock piles, ruins, trash, boards, and especially piles of old sawdust. In the summer copperheads move to cool swamps and shaded ravines. They have been seen in NC every month except January. Copperheads have been seen basking together and pregnant females and females and young can be found together hidden together. Hunting predominantly on the ground, copperheads eat a variety of animals, such as caterpillars and other invertebrates, small mammals and birds, other snakes, lizards, and turtles, and they are fond of cicadas, for which they climb trees.

Copperheads breed around April and September, mating for up to eight hours. Male copperheads are largest, and there are some general differences – for example male southern copperheads are more likely to have spots between the bands. Newborn males tend to have longer tails, and the sex ratio is skewed to males. Size probably increases a male’s chance of winning fights, by pressing his opponent’s head to the ground.

In NC, there are records of litters of 2 to 18, usually 8, usually born in August and September, but also in October. Newborns have a temporary egg tooth to slice their membranous wrappings. Young copperheads (like cottonmouths) have bright yellow or green tails, used to lure prey.

Copperheads hibernate, often with other species, in places such as outcroppings, especially facing south or east. Unfortunately adults rest on warm roads in late September. Since they are slow [or don't try to escape] and because roads don’t seem to give snakes enough traction, they get killed, and I have firsthand experience with this. September 24th, 2005 I was hurrying to catch a bus to Washington before dawn and in my haste and tiredness I didn’t react in time after recognizing a large copperhead. It felt like running over a wire, but I hoped it was not a snake. I was afraid I would miss the bus, so I kept going [and didn't verify that I had hit it]. When I returned I saw that the snake was dead [and moved it to a woods]. Mercifully it is the largest animal I have hit [Unfortunately I have hit other animals since then]. I have persuaded other copperheads off of roads. Copperheads seemed like a pressing topic after I saw two dead and one alive on [September?] 28th. A study in Illinois found that 2.6 amphibians and reptiles were killed on every kilometer of road, day in, day out. Another study estimated that 1 million vertebrates were killed on roads in the US every day, and that is probably a low estimate. Worse, a Canadian study found that 2.7% of drivers aim for reptiles. These are inoffensive and beautiful snakes that avoid people and control pests, so please join me in watching out for snakes this fall.