In the middle of the road! I had to nudge him out of the way with a stick so he would not get run over. Tried to bite me TWICE.
Upstate NY.
Long shot, but I wonder if @Crotalus still checks the SDMB. He is a snake expert.
Last posted two and a half years ago.
I am also from Upstate NY. Don’t know what it is, but if you tell me where it is, I will stay the f**k away!
Looks like maybe an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake from what I can find on the intertoobs.
Looks like a northern water snake. Explains why it’s angry!
Well, i am not an expert, but i’d say it’s some sort of snake.
Definitely not anything venomous. Except for the brightly-colored coral snake (which is the wrong part of the continent anyway), all of the venomous snakes in North America are pit vipers, and have a head wider than their body.
Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you.
Compare:
~Max
I’d guess a rat snake, eats rodents.
I think we have the winner here 
. I concur and here’s a link for upstate NY.
Look at the pointy tail- clearly not a rattlesnake.
Agree 100% with the ID of Nerodia sipedon sipedon, especially with regard to the anger! When I was a kid, I rescued one from getting ground up in the recirculating pump in our backyard pond, and my reward was a solid bite on my right hand that bled freely for quite some time (their saliva has some mild anticoagulant properties).
Yes he sure was cranky! So pretty though.
Here is a much friendlier little guy from my yard. He stared at me and I stared at him for a good 30 seconds before he was like HUMAN! RUN!
Come back, snakie! Let me love you!
Yes, I’m pretty certain it is.
Wow, three poisonous snakes in NY? We only have one in New Hampshire. It’s easy for me to like wild snakes knowing that if it’s not a timber rattler, it’s not dangerous.
Rattlesnakes are only dangerous to idiots, anyway. They’ll warn you before attacking, and only an idiot would ignore that warning. They know you’re not good hunting, and venom is expensive: They really, sincerely mean it when they tell you that they don’t want to attack you.
In my experience. Never ever poke a mad snake with a stick.
Just walk away. (Or run)
YMMV