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Found this big bright orange copperhead under tin today. Its characters seem to match those of an osage, but I'm not even going to hazard a guess as to whether or not that subspecies is valid.
Also saw this eastern garter foraging around a rockline.
Van
beautiful copperhead
the majority of the ones we see here are concidered Osage/Southern Integrades....some look Southern and some take on a more Osage lean-- The color variations are found everywhere, and it doesnt seem to be related to locale. I've seen greenish ones, Rust colored ones even darker than yours...and ash grey in addition to the tan like most. To be honest, I dont even know how to tell the difference.
According to Gloyd and Conant, the major characters are white edging along the darker crossbands (this one has), wider crossbanding at midbody (this one has pretty narrow bands), and a single row of scales separating the crossbands from the ventrals (you can see this in the second photo).
I'm unconvinced that there really is a subspecific difference between northerns, southerns, and osage, but the coloration of this snake was breathtaking. I've never seen such an orange/rusty copperhead before. Interestingly, I also saw a second copperhead at the same site today that looked virtually identical, but about 3/4 the size. Unfortunately, it got away into tall and thick grass before I could get a pic. Shoulda brought the tongs lol
Van
Interestingly, the one we caught a glimpse of last year as it darted across the road in the headlight beams was so rusty orange colored that you could barely distingquish banding at all. Too bad we didnt see it close up- I've heard stories though, from people living in the area that they see them frequently.
I really like them--- course Copperheads are one of our favorites so we're kind of biased.
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