DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — While it'll be rather chilly Saturday morning, Mother's Day weekend will be warmer across central Illinois and some hot weather is expected late next week.
This is great for those of you ready for spring planting and exploring area lakes and rivers.
In Decatur, we had three 80-degree-plus days in March and three more in April.
Recent sunshine and warmth brought out this large snake along Lake Decatur. Luckily, I saw it first. Pug Xanadu almost stepped on it, but didn't even see it.
Growing up in the South, I instantly thought it was a cottonmouth, which is a poisonous snake. However, while doing my research on native central Illinois snakes, I concluded it was a common watersnake.
However, after posting the photo on Facebook, someone replied that it was a cottonmouth, too, so I contacted the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).
IDNR Education Specialist Joe Bauer agreed with me about it being a common watersnake, adding that, "Coloration on snakes can be highly variable, but the general pattern fits the watersnake and not the northern cottonmouth."
He added that the common watersnake is found across all of Illinois and the cottonmouth is most likely found only in extreme southern Illinois.
Areas where the northern cottonmouth snake is found.
But, Bauer concluded that it doesn't mean someone, "didn’t capture one and release it here, but that would be a longshot".
Meteorologist Anthony Peoples
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