Friday, January 29, 2010

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Yesterday, we drove south to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, located on the tip of the Florida Everglades.We were met there by Jayne and Tom, who are spending the week in the Palm Springs area.



The sanctuary is an incredible natural attraction. It features a 2.25 mile boardwalk that takes one through four habitats:


pine upland, wet prairie, cypress forest and a marshland.  We had great opportunities to view wildlife.  Here is a red shouldered hawk keeping a watchful eye on us. 


We could not have asked for a more beautiful day, sunny with a light breeze and 77ºF.


The sanctuary features an old growth cypress forest, one of the few remaining in the country. Some of the trees are estimated to be over 500 years old.


We stood and watched a black crowned night heron.


Even the lichens on the fence were pretty!


Paul and I hope to go back for another visit in March to view the sanctuary in the spring.


If you are ever in this part of Florida, make sure you put this place on your agenda. You won't be disappointed!


I need to get ready for our kayaking adventure this afternoon.  Talk to you soon!

6 comments:

Freely Living Life said...

What a beautiful area you are in! We decided on Texas this year to escape the cold in the North. We are looking forward to seeing Florida again!

We have finally decided to break down and start to blog about our journey. It's about time since we have been fultiming for awhile now! I just thought I would send you our link http://freelylivinglife.blogspot.com/ in case you wanted to follow along and also let you know that you have made it to our "Cream of the Crop" blogroll! We love to follow your blog. :)

Freely Living Life said...

P.S. I wanted to send you that message via E-mail but I couldn't find one on here. I hope you don't mind that I posted it in the comments section!

qwerkyqook said...

a swamp sanctuary? hmmm. looks warm there. its been a wee bit chilly in mn. and ice storms have brought too many head lacerations my way. (to be stapled, not personally obtained by me thank goodness) emergency room needs to come to an end, like yesterday. Wish I was kayaking with you. miss you!!!!

Marlys said...

Wow, your blogging is bringing attention! Great job, Barb! We so wish we could be someplace warmer. Both Paul & I are struggling with "emptiness" this week, but know that time heals. Thanks for providing a little get away for me! I love it!

Abby said...

That is so beautiful! Everything is so natural!

The area you are in reminds me of "Loggers". I don't know if you have heard seen this, and you proably haven't--I don't think anyone in their right mind would sit and watch this show....
.
..but one evening we fell upon the show "Loggers" on the Discovery Channel. They had some DEEP southerners pulling extremely old logs out of swamps that were thousands of years old! It was very interesting!

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

I toured the Everglades of Australia when I was studying abroad - your pics remind me of that! What beautiful sights. 77 sounds fabulous. It was freakishly cold in Grand Forks - no surprise there! But it sure made it feel warm when I came back to Minneapolis today!