Northern Water Snake

(Nerodia sipedon) 

Common throughout its vast range of central and eastern North America, this non-poisonous snake is found in bodies of water or basking on the shore close by. Its coloration is highly variable, though usually it shows a banding pattern that often leads it to be misidentified as the venomous Water Moccasin, and needlessly killed. Individuals darken with age, and the banding becomes indistinct as it is with the snake in this photo; very faint, darker, wide bands can just be made out here, along the part of the body wound around the rock. (This frog, taking advantage of its indigestibility, seems to think it’s quite clever to look down on its predator.)