As the only rattlesnake species in New Jersey, timber rattlesnakes are struggling to survive in our densely populated state.  The endangered timber rattlesnake has seen its range shrink due to sprawl and overdevelopment, and is now restricted to disparate areas in the northwest mountains and the Pine Barrens.  And despite its reputation as a fearsome, poisonous snake, the timber rattlesnake is actually docile and reclusive.

 

Wild New Jersey's David Wheeler joined State Fish & Wildlife's Kris Schantz and Gretchen Fowles on a recent radio telemetry event, tracking a male rattler in the mountainous wilds of northern Passaic County.  The team had scarcely gotten on the trail when two young black bears ran off ahead of them.  Underfoot, the red efts of red-spotted newts - gorgeously colored in bright orange, standing out amidst the greens of the moss and browns of the leaf litter - scampered across the rock-strewn trails two and three at a time.

 

On this cool morning, the snake was huddled under a shelter rock with two other timber rattlers - an exciting find, especially knowing that without the radio tracking, they would have gone unnoticed.  The timber rattlesnakes face a number of threats, but the work of Schantz, Fowles, and N.J. Fish & Wildlife is helping to clarify knowledge of the snake's den locations, habitat needs, and range.