3/3 Six Mile Cypress Slough

This is one of three nature preserves owned by the city of Fort Myers.  It is right next to a busy highway and is surrounded by homes, but it is still a pleasant place to go, full of birds and other animals.  They have guided walks given by volunteers twice a day, and I made it in time for the 9:30 am walk.

This shows how this is almost in the middle of the city.

The preserve has a nice variety of ponds, pine hammocks, and cypress swamps.

While the volunteer was giving her talk on ferns, I saw this fellow fly in down the boardwalk, so I snuck off and took some photos before the many walkers scared him off.  He is a little green heron, and the first I have seen of his kind on this trip.  They tend to be shy and solitary, so they are hard to see.

And, this is a quill-leaf or wild pine air plant in bloom.  We saw a lot that were almost in bloom, but this one was especially large and ahead of the rest.  These air plants do not damage the trees they hang on, by the way.  This one is in the pineapple family, but does not produce anything that looks like an edible pineapple!