Philippine Whipsnake

Description:

Colubridae; Dryophiops philippina Boulanger, 1914. I posted a spotting of another specimen of this species, a few days ago - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/70... and in that spotting, I mentioned that this snake is on the IUCN endangered list. So, there are certain steps which may be taken by Project Noah to hide the location of the spotting. I completely agree with that and, to try and help further, I will not write anything here which might disclose information which could benefit the illegal pet trade or any other such despicable people. So, back to my spotting of this snake. I was out on a little bug-hunting expedition when I saw the snake ahead of me on the track. From several metres away, it looked motionless and I thought perhaps it had been run over by a motor cycle or some small vehicle (nothing bigger could drive on this small road). However, when I reached it, I could see that it appeared to be warming itself in the morning sunshine. I had a macro lens on my camera which is not ideal for anything bigger than a bug or butterfly, but I managed to get some photos and then I got a little scare. The snake obviously was in no mood to pose for pictures and took off at some speed and disappeared into the undergrowth at the roadside. What shook me was the way it moved. It was side-winding at some speed and although it was going away from me, I realised that I had been standing very close to a "side-winder" and I thought that side-winders were deadly venomous. Of course, I learned that I was wrong (and had worried unnecessarily) when I checked on Wikipedia an hour or two later.

Habitat:

This snake was spotted in the middle of a narrow unsurfaced road (more of a track), which runs between rice fields.

Notes:

Picture#1. in this spotting looks just like the first picture in my other spotting. So, we can see that we are looking at the same species. Picture # 2. Shows the whole snake. So we can see how long and slim it is (about 6 feet was my estimation). Wikipedia mentions the yellowish patterned section going from the neck about half-way along the body, then becoming brown for the rest of its length (but there is some variance). This snake is whitish and patterned for less than one third of its body length and then becomes brown all the way to its tail. Picture #3. Is a close-up to show this difference in colour and markings more clearly. Picture #4. Is the poorest quality shot because that was the moment when it started side-winding and I got shocked. The snake went one way very fast, and I went the opposite way just as fast.