By Mary Reid Barrow

Photo and video by Tiffany Froman

“I see ‘nake, Mommy! Mommy, I see ‘nake!” sang out the little voice of one of Tiffany Froman’s children.

The family was on their boat out on Back Bay when they came upon this beautiful, venomous cottonmouth moccasin. Tiffany snapped its photo.

Her photo tells a lot about Back Bay’s iconic snake that lives nowhere else in the state except here in southeastern Virginia.

For one, it shows how cottonmouths swim on top of the water, unless chasing fish or frogs. Other water snakes may swim with their heads out of the water, but with their bodies underneath.

The photo also shows how bold a cottonmouth is. See how this one has stopped to check out the boat rather than swim away.

And the photo shows the snake’s striking colors when it is glistening with water and lit by the sun.

The snake’s “cottonmouth” is one thing the photo doesn’t show. When a cottonmouth threatens, it flattens out its body, swishes its tail and opens its mouth wide to show its white-as-cotton mouth.

Jared Brandwein, director of Back Bay Restoration Foundation and a former Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge manager, remembers his first encounter with one:

“Just like it was yesterday, even though it was 40 years ago,” he said.

He had arrived at the refuge as a young trainee and was walking down the refuge’s dike road near the maintenance compound.

“There was one of the fattest snakes I’d ever seen, just catching the last sun before sunset,” Jared said. “I was surprised that he had obviously seen/heard me but hadn’t budged.”

“Feeling the confidence only a young biologist seems to have, I picked up a small rock and threw it at him to make him move off the dike road and into the marsh,” he continued. “To my alarm, the cottonmouth actually started moving towards me! I ended up turning around and going back to the maintenance compound!”

Jared added that the maintenance men there chuckled and explained how “cottonmouths are more curious than aggressive.”

I remember something similar on a kayak trip on West Neck Creek. Up ahead, we saw a cottonmouth swimming toward us. The trip leader said to stop paddling and stop, we did!

We had a few minutes stand-off before the snake decided to head toward shore instead of taking on a fleet of kayaks!

On the other hand, when confident cottonmouths are curled up napping on dry land, say, along a shrubby trail at the refuge, they haven’t appeared to be bothered when I’ve walked right past them. In fact, I have never known they were there unless a refuge employee told me. Those vibrant colors disappear when they are out of the water and camouflaged in the shade.

Still, I wouldn’t want to disturb a napping cottonmouth for love or money! Seeing Tiffany’s beautiful photos, hearing great stories and getting good looks at this beautiful snake from afar is just about perfect.

Check out a video of the children spotting the snake here.