Interesting Information: July 17, 2022
Northern Water Snake
This snake is a new one for me.
Friend Betsy Maislen was spending some time at Squam Lake in New Hampshire, where she also sent me a picture of the area from the top of ”Rattlesnake Mountain.”
She said the snake was ”very curious.”
Being mostly raised in the south—which included a lot of fishing around local ponds, I would have had an instant panic attack while thinking cottonmouth moccasin or a swimming??? rattlesnake.
I’m not sure I would have slowed down to process the shape of the head, which is clearly not a viper head.
If you are more curious—as I was. Here’s more information. These snakes can get fairly long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_watersnake
Louisa Enright's Blog 
These snakes are common here in local streams. We call them black water snakes. The round pupils are very prominent, clearly denoted a non-venomous species.