Corkscrew Swamp

Red-shoulder hawk

We awoke around 5:30 and walked down to breakfast at 6:30 with the two dozen or so Mexican roofing contractors who were in the hotel’s small breakfast room.  Although the hotel is fine and the location is convenient, the breakfast is pretty meager.  We usually have a bowl of Raisin Bran and a cup of fruit yogurt along with a couple of cups of tea.  We found that the clientele in the breakfast center at 6:30 is entirely Mexican contractors but a little after 7 am they are all gone.  Around 7:30 the area is dominated by seniors.  If we are there between 7 and 7:30 we will have the place to ourselves.

Bracket fungi

Mark and Cindy came down at 8 am and we took the short drive to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  We really enjoyed this place when we were here a few years ago.  It is operated by the Audubon Society and is staffed mostly by local volunteers.  We arrived a little after 9 am and Mark paid our $14 per person admission fee.  As we walked around the boardwalk that is about 2.5 miles in length we saw a huge variety of birds and Everglades plants.  The signage is very helpful since it is placed and removed every day.  There are also many volunteers positioned along the boardwalk to assist visitors and answer questions.  Even regular guests who live nearby gave a lot of good information on the best times to see different birds or other animals. We even admired the construction of the boardwalk which uses a rot resistant wood from the Amazon basin that is harvested through sustainable means.  

Swamp lily

The temperatures were in the upper 70s so I was glad that I wore shorts and a T-shirt.  We are sure happy to be here this week since the entire Mid Atlantic is in the “Polar Vortex” with subzero temperatures.  

We hoped to see the painted buntings at the feeders but they were not being seen with any regularity this week. Since the boardwalk winds through several Everglades ecosystems, we saw lots of varieties of birds and plants.  We especially enjoyed watching a pair of red shouldered hawks who were at the intersection of two trails.  

Reddish heron

We learned that the area was frequented by bird hunters in the early 20th century.  These hunters were shooting birds like herons and egrets for their plumage to make ladies hats.  The Audubon Society purchased tracts of lands in prime hunting areas and placed armed guards to resist illegal killing of the birds.  In the roughly 100 years since protections have been in place in this area the populations of many species of wading birds have increased steadily.

Mary and Cindy walked with the plant and animal guides to assist then in identifying and learning more about each one we saw.  We saw a young raccoon foraging for food but did not see the otters that have been sighted in the area.  We stayed on the boardwalk until 2 pm when we headed for the rental car to drive to our next hike.

Large cypress trees

We ate our lunch of crackers with peanut butter, bananas, jerky and peanuts as we drove south to Sanibel Island.  We arrived at the J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge around 3 pm and met briefly with a helpful volunteer at the ranger station before driving into the park.  Our National Park pass got us in to the facility at no charge.  There is a one way driving trail through the sanctuary and visitors can renter the facility as many times as they wish until the gates close at 5:30. 

We slowly drove around the loop stopping frequently for sightings of groups of birds.  We hadn’t seen roseate spoonbills clearly earlier in the week but there were huge flocks feeding in the shallow brackish water.  There were a few reddish herons doing their feeding dance in the marsh.  Black crowned and yellow crowned night herons were there as well as many pelicans, ospreys and other waterfowl and wading birds.  We left the area a little after 5 pm but looped back into the facility before the gates closed at 5:30.  We drove to the trail surrounding a shell midden dating back thousands of years.  It was difficult is see much since the mound was covered in an overgrowth of vegetation.  There was interpretative signage telling how the natives lived and used the mound as their garbage dump.

Sunset at Bowman Beach

After leaving the sanctuary for the second time we drive across the narrow island to Bowman Beach for sunset.  The temperatures were still in the upper 70s and was perfect for walking along the beach as the sun went down.  By the time we were finished with our walk the sun was fully down as we made our way back to the parking area.

We drove the short distance to Fort Myers Beach for dinner.  We had been here a few years ago and remembered that there were some good seafood places.  We parked a block from the beach ($10) and walked to the row of restaurants.  One place where we had eaten had closed and been replaced.  However, we found that “The Beached Whale” was highly rated in the area by TripAdvisor so we gave it a try.  Service was slow despite the restaurant not appearing to be busy.  A mediocre musician was singing and playing guitar to a mostly empty room.  Mary had a basket of grouper fingers with sweet potato fries and mixed vegetables.  I had grouper and chips.  Mark chose a salad with chicken and a bowl of seafood bisque.  Cindy’s chili lime shrimp looked especially good.  Everyone enjoyed our meal but we didn’t leave the restaurant until nearly 8:30.