NYFalls.com Talk

A couple years ago I was camping near Shinhopple NY - which is near Downsville. It's on the western side of Catskill State Park. While tubing down the river I came to a shallow area. Just as I was getting out of the water I came face to face with a snake. It was literally 'standing' about a foot out of the water. The water must have been about 4 inches deep at the most and this snake was sticking straight up out of the water - like a cobra would stand... Once I got up, it submerged itself and swam away. Does anyone know what type of snake would do this? And is it poisonous? It looked similar to the picture of the ribbon snake on this site, but I remember seeing more reddish colors on it. It's been bugging me for quite a while. Thanks.

Sounds to me like you encountered a Northern Copperhead. Venomous snakes swim vertical, non-venomous swim horizontal. Good to know he wanted away from you, more than you wanted away from him! Also, the pit-viper shape to its head (sort of a heart shaped) should give him away that it is venomous, along with vertical pupils, instead of round. Though, best hope you're never that near to see its pupils!

hopefully it was just a common garter, which can have yellow or orange stripes like the ribbon snake, and they are both comfortable in water. But a pit viper certainly makes for a better story.

For the vertical posturing (though only in four inches deep of water) along with reddish color mentioned.... Hmm, too bad a camera wasn't right there, right then! The milk snake is often confused with the Copperhead. Though, a pit viper's head is so distinct, along with the pupils. A rhyme for the Coral snake goes like this: When red meets black it's a friend of Jack, when red meets yellow, kill the fellow. I use this for ID, only. I do not wish for any snake to be killed.

It didn't really look like a Copperhead - it didn't have that type of pattern.
It also wasn't as thick as the Copperheads in the images I've seen.

Would a ribbon snake be able to hold itself up in the vertical posture that I mentioned?
It was literally about a foot out of the water.

I think most snakes can hold that posture.

I'm at a loss. Most important is ID-ing venomous to non-venomous. Neat sighting, whatever the specie.

I saw this today at Holley Falls. I'm thinking it was a Northern Water Snake? It was about 3 feet long.