Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

I'm going to start off saying it was absolutely beautiful! I loved seeing nature without having to hear cars or the sounds of civilization. I also loved the fact it was on a boardwalk so I didn't have to worry about getting my shoes all filthy, even though myself and one of my other classmates who I went with almost stepped in scat quite a few times. The day we went, it was a bit rainy out and unfortunately didn't get to see (any) animals, but we did hear them.

We walked through three primary environments. First, we walked through the pine flat woods, as you can see behind me in the picture. Some plants we saw were Palmettos, Cabbage Palms, Air plants, Slash Pines, and Poisen Ivy. There were some paths through the area behind me that could have indicated deer, bears, or bobcats have been through there. We did see a butterfly in that area, but that was the best luck we had.

The second one we went through was the Hardwood Hammock. Here we spotted Button Bushes, Cypress Trees, Elderberry Bushes, Sawgrass, and Pepper Vines. I loved walking through here and listening to the trees and the sounds. We saw another animal here, the Pine Warbler and we would have liked to have seen the Blue Iris, it was listed on the boardwalk as an animal that could be spotted here. I thought the roots in the Cypress were so interesting. I could see how it would be helpful for them to be elevated during floods. The roots are also very helpful during draughts because they are long and spread out, so it's easier to find water in the soil.

The last and my favorite environment we saw were the Wetlands. I loved how diverse the plants and animals were, as well as all the sounds I could hear. It had just rained and since a lot of amphibeans inhabit that, it was quite noisy. We saw Cattails, Water Lilies, Common Duckweed, Ghost Orchid, and Alligator Leaf. I actually think I got a picture of the Ghost Orchid below. I would like to saw I saw a lot animal, but I didn't. I think we might have seen some areas in the mud where Alligators were. Other animals that live there are Otters, Blue Tree Frog, Marsh Rabbit, and Apple Snails. I noticed a lot of the plants in this environment had a waxy covering, and that's so during draught, plants keep more water from leaving due to evaporation. And during rainy season, it can keep rain out.

Again, very interesting field and it was such a great surprise for a trip! I'm looking forward to the next one!