Rattlesnake sightings create a buzz in SE. Minnesota bluff country

They live deep in the ground most of the year until the summer heat draws them out onto the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

But this year, the timber rattlesnake has become the talk of Winona in southeastern Minnesota. Wildlife experts are now having to answer the question: "What's up with all the rattlesnakes?"

People like Jaime Edwards, who supervises the Whitewater Management Area for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, who will meet Monday with residents who have concerns and fears about the timber rattlesnakes that share their territory.

"We've had a pretty significant increase in rattlesnake calls this summer compared to previous years," said a post on the Winona County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.

Sheriff Ron Ganrude said Friday that he wasn't familiar with the post, but added that he knows of three calls about snakes to his department in the past two days.

Winona police have received at least 15 reports of snake sightings, Edwards said. Only about half of those turned out to be rattlesnakes.

"That's about average for the year," she said. But several of the reports came from one Winona neighborhood — the Wincrest area, she said.

The thick-bodied, fanged rattlesnake with its distinctive triangular head spends most of the year in its winter den. Southeastern Minnesota is in the northern limits of the coldblooded reptile's range.

"When things get hot in the summer, that's when they really move around," Winter said. "They're looking for food and they're looking for mating opportunities."

Sometimes, it gets too hot for them.

"They have to move off the bluff," Edwards said. "The temps on the bluffs can be well over 100 degrees."

Trouble is, they sometimes move closer to humans. The snakes find their way into people's yards, where birdfeeders also draw chipmunks and mice — a nice meal for a rattler.

Many longtime residents of the area have made peace with the timber rattlesnake, content to coexist. Others, not so much.

"I think some of the movies have made snakes out to be vicious and that they'll come after you and attack," Edwards said. "People then are afraid of snakes and they overreact."

She understands, even though she's perfectly OK with snakes. It's spiders with their "creepy legs" that make her shudder.

On Monday, in a community meeting that will be livestreamed, Edwards will try to allay fears about snakes and squelch rumors about the timber rattlesnake, which can be found in Fillmore, Houston and south Winona counties. It once was found as far north as the Twin Cities, but there haven't been any sightings north of Red Wing in at least 20 years, Edwards said.

"The chance of seeing a rattlesnake is slim," she said. "More people have more encounters with bee stings, dog bites and spider bites than negative encounters with rattlesnakes."

And the last recorded death, she said, was in 1890. "Back then they didn't have the same medical care that we do," she said.

The timber rattlesnake, which once was hunted for bounties, has been listed as a threatened species in Minnesota since 1996.

Oftentimes, people mistake other snakes for the timber rattler. Snakes like the fox, bull, milk and hognose are bigger snakes and can shake their tails to intimidate those they encounter, trying to convince the unsuspecting that they're rattlesnakes, Edwards said.

Winter, who has responded to five snake calls this year, contends that there are far more aggressive snakes than the more docile timber rattler, which just wants to be left alone.

When he answers a call regarding a rattlesnake, his job is to find it and move it.

"Timber rattlesnakes and people can coexist," he said. "The snakes are there. A lot of people are working in their yards and they don't know there's a snake under the bush. I think they're doing a really good job of laying low and staying out of trouble."

Mary Lynn Smith • 612-673-4788