SPRING ADDERS / HUGGORM

Mating adders (shot Akershus, Norway)

D800E, 200 mm Micro 4,0, f/11,0, 1/160, ISI 1000

Snakes are fascinating animals !! They are athletic creatures with complete body control, skillful hunting predators, there is a LOT of human superstition connected to these animals, many people simply detest them, and ... some species are dangerous, even extremely dangerous !! All this really appeals to me, and, yes, ... I`m a snake addict, I admit it ! I`ve been doing a lot of snake photography over the last 3 years (as some of you hopefully remember ??), and my main ambition this year was to document male adders fighting over a female in mating season. What happens is that the males raise their heads and necks towards each other and simply try to push the opponent down to the ground. With a little bit of luck and a low photo angle : this could be a great photo. I know it can be done and I`ve had this vision of the shot in my head all through last winter. Let me jump to the conclusion : Although I did witness mating behaviour, I did not succeed. The reason for this is as simple as it is merciless : Although I spent a lot of time out there crawling around in the grass I was not enough. I should invested more time waiting for a situation to occur. It will have to be next year !

I have recently invested in a new macro lens : AF Micro Nikkor 200 mm, 1:4D. With the Nikon D800E camera it`s a great snake combination. The lens is super-sharp, and the max aperture of f/4,0 is OK because with this lens you will have to shoot with at least f/6,3 or 8,0 to obtain sufficient depth of field. The only bad thing about this lens is : The autofocus is incredibly slow !! Why did they build this super lens with a useless autofocus ??? 

Anyway : Hope you like my adders from May & first part of June this year.

Mating adders (shot Akershus, Norway). The bigger brown is the female, the smaller grey s the male.

D4, 105 mm Macro 2,8, f/8,0, 1/400, ISO 2200

This black female adder gives a great "cobra-feeling" !! (shot Vaala, Mid Finland)

D4, 200-400 4,0, f/8,0, 1/1000, ISO 1600

Black adders occur more frequent the further north you get, probably to absorb the maximum of sun energy in colder climate (shot Vaala, Mid Finland)

D4, 200-400 4,0, f/8,0, 1/1000, ISO 1250

Female adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 200 4,0 Micro, f/11.0, 1/200, ISO 5600

Female adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 200 4,0 micro, F/8,0, 1/200, ISO 3200

Male adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D4, 200 4,0 micro, f/8,0, 1/800, ISO 3200 

Male adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D4, 200 4,0 micro, f/5,6, 1/200, ISO 320

Adder shells are keeled (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 200 4,0 micro, f/10,0, 1/400, ISO 3200

Male adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 200 4,0 micro, f/8,0, 1/250, ISO 1800

Before skin shedding the eyes gets blueish. Male adder (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 2004,0 micro, f/5,6, 17400, ISO 250 

A local cowboy riding his mare ! (shot Akershus Norway)

D800E, 200 4,0 micro, f/10,0, 1/400, ISO 900

The drama happened in the thick grass & bush, this is the ONLY picture I managed to shoot f the male adder swallowing a mouse (skogmus) (shot Akershus Norway)

D800#, 200 4,0 micro, f/8,0, 1/320, ISO 220  

Not the best picture maybe, but this is really HARD to do !! It shows the jaws & front fangs (huggtenner) of a striking adder. The fangs are surrounded by soft skin folds and these is pushed back as the snake injects it`s venom into it`s prey (shot Akershus Norway).