Blue Water / Snakes Mating

Monday evening, we were hanging out at home, revisiting our first swim. Some girl may have been raving about her happiness with her new red swimsuit. Just maybe. And then my husband said, Why don't we go swimming to Black Moshannon tomorrow? I said, Why not!?

So Tuesday found us driving to Port Matilda for hoagies for our lunch. We stopped at the Julian Wetland to eat them. I hopped out of the car afterwards and walked over to the viewing blind. Looked for birds. Didn't see any red-winged blackbirds. But I looked down in the water, and I saw a snake.

Or rather, two snakes. At LEAST two snakes. There was snake wound around snake, and the pile was twitching and moving. Sort of thrumming. I took pictures, a few short videos. As it turns out, it was northern water snakes mating, which is a thing I have never seen before. So here you go - there's a photo in the extras.

Female northern water snakes (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) are much larger in size than the males. Water snakes mate in April through June and give birth to LIVE YOUNG from August through October. My friend Debbi (dbifulco) has also seen this mating phenomenon; she told me she once observed seven males winding around a single female, which must have been amazing.

I stood and watched the snakes for about two and a half minutes. Then there was a quick flash of motion. The tails slithered around, and then suddenly, they parted, and everybody was gone! No more snakes! I wasn't even sure what I'd seen!

We continued on to Black Moshannon, where we saw big yellow and black butterflies puddling on the beach, and had a very nice swim. The water was not quite as cold as Whipple Dam the day before, and the water is dark with tannin, so I didn't wear my new suit; in fact, I advise against wearing ANYTHING but a very dark color such as black in those waters.

We'd parked our car near a pavilion where we usually go sit in the shade after swimming. But the park staff was busy getting the park ready for Memorial Day weekend. As we finished our swim, we noted they were mowing and spraying poison (!!!) all around that pavilion. So we moved the car to the other side of the lake and put up our chairs and sat in the shade by boat launch #3. The tale goes that Moss-Hanne means Moose Stream. So I got my Moose out and let him howl with his pals!

I eventually walked part of the Bog Trail, which is short and flat and lovely. A very nice wooden boardwalk runs along that side of the lake, and there are carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants, to make things even more interesting.

There was a glorious view of the lake from the dock (note: no fishing from dock), and I just had to take the shot above. It looked like such a beautiful world, just blue water and green trees, with the occasional canoer or kayaker or stand-up paddle-boarder in the distance. The breezes were fantastic, and the temperature up there (elevation is 1900 feet) was comfortable. What a lovely day at Black Moshannon!

I've got two photos, so let's have two songs. First, for the image above, here is Stevie Nicks at the piano, with Blue Water. Second, for the pile of snakes mating in the extras, I've got Jack Black, from the film High Fidelity, singing Let's Get It On. The film is among my favorite pairings of John and Joan Cusack (another personal favorite is Grosse Pointe Blank).