11/29 Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

This is one of my favorite places in Florida. A lot of people think of a swamp as a mosquito-ridden, smelly and ugly place, but this one should convince anyone how beautiful they can be.  This one is the largest remaining tract of old-growth bald cypress trees and is full of huge ferns, orchids and other air plants depending on when you visit, birds, and alligators.  This one has a 2.5 mile boardwalk, and is best visited on a cooler day, as you can get really hot on such a long walk.  I took along a frozen bottle of ice that slowly melted and lasted me the almost three hours I was there. 

Here are some photos.  And surprisingly, it was not busy today, as I feared it would be, so the parking lots were almost empty.  Nice to be there on a day when there were not a lot of noisy visitors scaring the birds away.  Below is the entrance. 

 

 

I had the whole RV and bus parking area to myself.  Even had some shade!

 

 

A really nice visitor center with a good store if you are looking for shirts or other stuff.  I got a shirt with owls and one with baby swimming alligators.  

There is a very nice visitor center with a gift shop, rest rooms, and a snack machine.  Don't forget that this is a long boardwalk, so bring a bottle or two of water with you. 

 

This chalkboard is at the start of the boardwalk, and people enter the birds they have seen on that day, as they exit after their walk.  

  

This is the start of the boardwalk, just outside the visitor center.  If you want to see birds, you need to wear shoes with rubber soles and walk as quietly as you can, stopping occasionally to look and listen.  And please control screaming kids who run and make noise!   

 

 

It is hard to show how tall some of these trees are.  

 

 

This is an American white ibis.  You can distinguish an ibis from the white great egret because its bill is curved down, while the egret has a straight, pointed bill.  

 

This boardwalk was built in the late 1980s, so this tree had time for its trunk to grow around it.

 

You know those little Boston ferns you buy in the store?  This scene shows some of them and a lot of other ferns.  Also, almost every tree with have air plants growing on it.  

There is a variety of small changes in the height of areas inside the sanctuary that occur when there is more or less rain in Florida.  Just a few inches deeper or more shallow can cause different kinds of trees and plants to grow.  The water level also varies by the time of year, which affects plant growth and whether or not specific birds can find a meal in an area.  

 

 

Love this swampy view below!  And by the way, there are very few mosquitos most of the year in a healthy swamp because of natural predators.  I am very susceptible to mosquito bites, and I have never been bitten in the Corkscrew!

 

 

This photo shows a tree with many branches of a strangler fig growing on it.  What is interesting about this plant is that its seed germinates in the top of trees.  It lives as an air plant until it can send shoots down to the ground, at which point, it becomes a free-standing tree.  At that point, its shoots encircle the host tree, and it dies.  

 

 

Two enormous and ancient cypress trees!!  

 

 

More photos of the boardwalk.  There are benches and places to sit in the shade, by the way, just in case the day is hot.   

 

 

The tree has a strangler fig that has fallen over and is now helping to hold the host tree up.  

 

 

 

 

 

The photo above shows a great egret fishing and hiding behind a plant.  Finally, I was able to get a better photo as it walked out where I could see it better.  Note the straight beak.  It's also a little bigger than an ibis.

 

 

The stuff floating on this section of the sanctuary is duckweek, NOT slime.  Tiny fish live in the water of this swamp, and they eat the larva of mosquitos.   

 

 

This is the tail end of a little blue heron, but he refused to face the camera, so this was the best I could do! 

 

 

And this is a great blue heron in breeding plumage.  

This is an anhinga, He is also called a snakebird because he his long neck makes him look like a snake when he swims.  

 

 

And this is an alligator on a log.  Some people said they saw teeth, which would make him a crocodile, but I cannot see teeth, and generally crocodiles live in brackish water much farther south in the Everglades. 

 

 

Two more trees growing around the boardwalk!  Their bark looks like it puddled on the boards.  

 

 

Almost back to the visitor center.  This area is swampy but full of grass, and deer hang around here.  

I plan on coming back here in January or late February.  There will be different birds and possibly some flowers in bloom then. 

 

11/14 Marie Selby Botanical Garden, Downton Sarasota, FL

I've added the word "Downtown" to this posting because there is also another Marie Selby Botanical Garden a few miles south of this one.  I have been here several times in the past years, but they have been expanding and remodeling the entire place, so I wanted to see the new stuff.  

Below is the new garage and ticket area, plus a map of the place.  Only problem with the garage is that i cannot fit my motorhome into it.  Luckily, I have a rental car this week.  

 

 

   

This is a wonderful place to visit on a warm and sunny day because while it is within a couple of blocks of downtown Sarasota and its big high-rise hotels and office building, it is also directly on the bay and gets wonderful breezes all year round!  Lots of benches and places to just sit and enjoy the plants and also the views of the bay.  This botanical garden has always focused on orchids and other air plants, which they do very well.  

The biggest change to the gardens is that originally there was a road separating the garden from a couple of dirt parking lots.  They have built a new four-story parking garage and completely closed the street, making it into a brick walkway.  There is a new ticket purchase area, and a new gift shop on the first floor of the garage. There is also a new restaurant with inside and outside service under garage and closer to the main street.  I did not check it out, but it is apparently a full-service restaurant.   

So, here goes with some photos of the incredible variety of orchids on display:  

 

 

After seeing all the orchids, I headed outside to walk around the rest of the property, and found these growing on a fence.  I don't know how many plants this was, but it was incredible. 

A close-up of the individual flowers.

The rest of the botanic garden includes plant and trees planted by Mrs. Selby's gardener and newer ones planted in the 70s after it became a non-profit facility.  

Some views of the very old trees planted in about 1920.  Hard to get one entirely in a single photo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Views of the point of land this garden is on and the bay along with downtown Sarasota. 

 

 

Employees were setting up butterflies and other displays for an upcoming exhibit.   

This is part of a new children's play area.  

There is also a little ice cream and hot and cold sandwich cafe in the house that Marie Selby lived in, and you can eat inside or outside on the patio.  I grabbed an ice cream bar and a cup of ice water, and just sat at an empty table inside for a few minutes to rest my feet and back.  

 

 

This year I happened to visit about a month earlier than two years ago.  This was very lucky, because it meant I was able to visit the annual orchid show, whereas two years ago I missed it entirely.  Much nicer if you can get in during that special show because the orchids, which I will be showing below were fantastic! Unfortunately, the display of carnivorous plants was closed because they are working on Phase 2 of their remodeling, and that part is now fenced off as under construction.  Will be completely finished in two years!