Another Day on the Snake River

[snopes]

Comment: Here is an email I have received a couple of times. Would like to know if it is true or false.

When Googled the stories report this happened in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Texas or Australia. The person wearing sandals and shorts with November time stamps in photos rules out Washington, Idaho and Utah. Also, photo of snake escaping into the river looks like it may have been Photo-shopped. If you look closely it appears to be a picture of a snake escaping with it's head pointed towards the water and a picture of an open snake's mouth pasted over the original head but facing back towards the camera. This is not typical snake behavior. No matter how deadly or bad tempered the snake if there is a clear path of escape, especially when it has already started its escape, a snake will not turn around to "give a parting shot". This is a much more human behavior, which lends to the emotional impact of the story, a very urban legend type of thing to do.

http://www.utahbirds.org/ThisAndThat/SnakeRiver.htm

[iskinner]

I can not say much about photography trickery. But my take is that the snake wasn't escaping, just yet, in the picture you are referencing. That may be a bit of a perspective confusion. It looked more like the snake was raised up to strike from the concrete berm next to the river. Not actually in the water.

I was mostly interested because I used to live in the vicinity of the Snake river which does run through Wyoming, Idaho and Washington.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

For one, the man is wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals in eastern Washington in late November, which is unlikely.

Snerk. Clearly he's not from hereabouts.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

And if the average maximum temperature is 50 deg F, that means that to balance out those days that only get to the 20s or 30s, you are going to have some days that are in the 70s or 80s.

And short pants don't prove anything - I know plenty of guys that wear short pants in literally ANY weather whatsoever.

[DemonWolf]

I know that bird's don't really have facial expressions like humans, but through the whole series the birds loOks like, "WFT! getitoffgetitoff! OWOWOWOW!!!"
And in the last shot he has this kind of shell-shocked look.

[Gayle]

Other sources say it’s a red tailed hawk and a Texas rat snake and the incident took place on the Comal River. I’m prone to agree that it’s a red tailed hawk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_Hawk

And a rat snake:
http://www.austinreptileservice.net/blotches.html

And for my money, google Prince Solms Park in New Braunfels, TX. Go to the map. Look at the river across from the tennis courts. The concrete edge and three bar railing look right to me.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

The page cited in snopes's OP debunks the Snake River theory and ids the snake as a rat snake.

Having grown up not far from the river, I can say that sandals in November by the river is perfectly plausible in some places. Where the canyon is narrow, and if the day is sunny so that the rocks absorb heat, you could easily be comfortable in shorts and sandals during November. Provided, that is, there is no wind.

Seaboe