Beach Blanket Bull Snake.

Sometimes you can find a big surprise in the water. Minnesota is not known as a place where you find large snakes but while out shooting in William O'brien State Park I found this approximately 8' bull snake crossing the river. The scary thing was that I was right on the other side of the parking lot for the Lake Alice beach. Imagine swimming at the beach and running into one of these crossing the water. While bull snakes are considered to be bad tempered they are not poisonous and would most likely try some posturing and then try to escape when confronting a large predator like a human.

Bull Snake

The largest snake that we have in Minnesota is the bull snake. These large non-venomous snakes, they can grow up to over eight feet long, are a subspecies of the gopher snake and are found through out the central portions of North America. They eat a variety of prey including rodents, frogs, lizards, large insects and birds. They have a reputation for having a bad temper and will often imitate a rattle snake if cornered by a large predator, such as a person. Even though they are not a water snake I found that they can swim quite well when I spotted this one crossing the St Croix River near Lake Alice.

Sandrock Cliff on the St Croix

Photographing nature can be very unpredictable. Most of the time when I go out I have an idea of where I want to go and what I expect to see but sometimes mother nature throws you a bit of a curve. Back in August (8-16) I made a trip up to Crex Meadows. It was high summer so there was not a lot to photograph so I decided to take a bit of a side trip.
As you cross the St Croix River, on the way to Crex, there are signs for the Sandrock Cliff Campground. Since the campground is on the St Croix River I decided to go and check it out. I was hoping to find one of the rare clubtail type dragonflies that are typically only found around the St Croix River and its tributaries. As soon as I started down a trail leading to the river I found a dragon but unfortunately it was just a female common whitetail.

Undaunted I pressed on until I came across a clubtail dragon. I was pretty excited, as I was able to get in close enough to get some good shots. I identified it as a black-shouldered snipeylegs, which is a fairly common clubtail.
You can tell that it is a black-shouldered spineylegs by the numerous spines on the hind legs, which are clearly visible on the first pic. The spines are used by the dragon to catch and hold its prey. Encouraged by adding a new dragon to my life list I pressed on down the path in search of a rare clubtail.
And that is when I got a big surprise. As I walked down the path I heard a loud hissing coming from in front of me. I followed the sound and found a six foot bull snake in the brush next to the path in front of me.
Growing up in Minnesota I do not have much experience with snakes, other then garter snakes, so when I saw this very large and very thick snake hissing on the ground in front of me I decided that it was time to turn around, not before getting a couple of pics of course. When I got home I took a look at the pics and was able to identify it as a bull snake. According to the Wisconsin DNR, the bull snakes are the largest snake in the upper Midwest. It likes to live in sandy locations usually adjacent to limestone cliffs. It eats rodents, primarily mice, rats, and gophers, which it kills by constriction. The bull snake is a protected wild animal in Wisconsin.