Clovis' 2025 images

[Hatchdog]

I appreciate the pictures and marvel at the detail you capture of the birds. My wife keeps a feeder in the back yard just off the patio and the hummers keep us entertained continuously.

It’s great seeing your stills to appreciate the F-16’s we have flying past us.

[clovishound]

I've had a couple buzz me when I was taking pictures. Not sure how close they actually got, but it seemed like fractions of an inch. They sound like a piece of soft cloth caught up in a spinning drill bit.

[clovishound]

I shot a copperhead today.

DSC_3688-topaz-rawdenoise.jpg

DSC_3676-topaz-rawdenoise.jpg

[CT_Shooter]

Wonderful, colorful photos of its face in profile. The shallow depth of field makes it pop. Nice.

[clovishound]

I didn't realize how nearly identical these two images were until I had posted them.

[Vaquero]

There are a couple slight differences. Very nice.
It's been a good while since I've actually seen one around, and that is fine by me.

RP

[Hatchdog]

Nice, glad I’m seeing it in your picture and not at my feet. Not that we have Copperheads around here.

[clovishound]

The good news about copperheads is that they are the least potent venomous snake in North America. Well, if you don't count the hog nose snake, which is technically venomous. I don't really count them as they have a very mild venom in their saliva, and if they bite and break the skin, it can put a very small amount in your system. Not really much of a threat, as I understand.

The bad news is that they are the most common venomous snakebite in the US. I had a possible bite from one a couple years ago. Hand swelled very quickly after I had my hand on some leaf litter, and began bruising in a matter of minutes. Went to the ER, and their final verdict, was they weren't sure it was a snake bite, but couldn't think of any other explanation. Fortunately, the swelling began to subside after a few hours, and hand was mostly back to normal after a few days, although the bruising lasted a couple weeks. I did buy some snake boots a few days after the incident.

[Vaquero]

I've never seen a Hog-nose except at the zoo.
Copperheads and the cottonmouth are the only two here locally.
The rattlesnakes are more common down closer to the TN river.
And, as a fact, I've never seen a copperhead around the house or even on the 300+ acre farm next to us that I use regularly.

RP

[clovishound]

I rarely see copperheads in my area. The most common venomous snake I see are moccasins. I suspect the reason I don't see more copperheads is that their camouflage is so good. Moccasins are not as concerned about hiding. Another reason may be that I spend more time near water than I do pine savannas.