Lowcountry outdoors: 2021 Beidler Forest

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

2021 Beidler Forest - Name That Snake

Two Water Moccasins go Head-To-Head about Swamp Matters

Despite some cooler temps in the Lowcountry over the final weekend of September, when my group visited Francis Beidler Forest on September 27, it was plenty warm enough for reptiles. While I was keen to look for migratory songbirds, other members of the group wanted to see reptiles, and they were blessed with lots of snakes laying in the sun. A few turtles were spotted on top of logs, and floating with the current of the blackwater swamp water. By far the most common snake we saw was the venomous water moccasin, and Four Holes Swamp has long been a stronghold for this species.

Brown Water Snake right after a BIG meal

This swamp is home to old growth forest including 1000-year old cypress trees. Old hardwood trees can sometimes be hollow in the middle, since the living part of the tree is on the outside under the bark. Lots of wildlife have learned to utilize these cases as a place to escape too. But plenty of trees die off and eventually fall down, but they remain a resource for years to come. These trees laying on the forest floor are the absolute favorite places for snakes and turtle to lay on.

The first snake we saw was actually a pair of water moccasins (also know as cottonmouths) laying close to each other on one of the these felled logs. We could observe the tongue of one snake actively going in and out, while the other snake seemed motionless. Were they family or friends? We made our photos from the safety of the boardwalk and left them to their own devices about who had top billing on that log. Just about ten paces down the boardwalk we saw a brown water snake on a partially submerged log, and it had a full stomach and we guessed that it just ate a small fish. About an hour later we saw a red-bellied water snake. To see a video of Tony Mills at Beidler talking about these snakes click Spring Island Trust.