Checkered Keelback

[Prajwal J Ullal]

Spotted this while on a lookout for the freshly emerged beetles along the paddy fields. Almost had sat on it, before spotting some weird movement.
Turned out to be a small Checkered Keelback, which seemed nervous to see me so close to it. It was calm and moved cautiously, but tried to get away from me and hence tried the dense-est patch of the field to fend off. This is the best shot I could get

EXIF:
Canon 550D
Canon 100mm macro
F/2.8(had clicked some shots of Peacocks so couldnt update the aperture for this accidental encounter)
Shutterspeed 1/1600
ISO 400
Location: Udyawara, Northern Kerala

[Mrudul Godbole]

Close escape (for the snake :)). Nice low angle. The water drops on the paddy look nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

A very beautiful species that a lot of people ignore because it is common. Nicely done. I like the composition with the typical checkered keelback pose. This species tends to get nervous and defends itself fiercely if it feels threatened.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good that you could get its head in the clear. At times you also get cobras in the paddy fields. So one needs to be careful. When they see such a large frame like ours, the snakes tend to get nervous. In accidental encounters, one needs to make slow movements to not stress them further. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi