Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

As usual, we were up between 5:30 and 6 am, had tea and did our German lessons before a breakfast of oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, blueberries and some brown sugar that we brought back for The Fish House. While we ate, we explored options for the day and later in the trip.

Great Egret

We left for Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary a little before 9 am arriving before 10 am. When we arrived, we saw a sign announcing that admission was by reservation and that walk-ins would not be accepted. We had not seen anything like this in visits here on previous visits, so Mary donned her mask and went inside to ask. As expected, this is a Covid-19 policy to assure that there would not be large groups congregating in the area. She was able to pay the $17 per person admission and get us in.

Barred Owl

As we walked along the boardwalk in the nature preserve, we noticed that we were seeing far fewer birds than we recalled seeing when we were here in 2016 and 2019. Perhaps it is just our perception, but we have heard that bird populations in many areas of the country have declined in the past few years. Several friendly volunteers from the local chapter of the National Audubon Society were along the boardwalk, pointing out things of interest and identifying birds. In two of the areas holding standing water, we saw alligators although none were very large. We had been hearing an owl for much of the day as we walked through the park, and Cindy was determined to spot the bird. I blew across my thumbs to make a hooting sound. Of course, the owl didn’t reply, so I made an owl call by cupping my hands. 

We saw several types of woodpeckers, warblers, nuthatches, anhingas and other birds. Mark used his Merlin app to help identify many of them. We also refreshed our memories with many of the native plants in the area. While we learn to identify several of Florida’s common plants every year, we forget most by the time we return the next January. 

About midway around the boardwalk, we were stopped by a volunteer who told us that a barred owl was sitting on a branch near the boardwalk ahead. Another volunteer further up the trail pointed to the owl posing on a branch. We all enjoyed seeing the owl, but it made Cindy’s day. The volunteer told us that the barred owl had been in that spot for over an hour and had called several times. She said that another owl had responded to the call and pointed to the direction where we had been when I made the owl call. Mary and Cindy shot me a look and ushered me out of the area while tried to not laugh.

Cuban Anole displaying dewlap

After returning to the visitor center, it was nearly 3 o’clock which was closing time for the park. We stopped by the gift shop then found a picnic table outside for our lunch of peanut butter, crackers, nuts, apples and trail mix. We left the park around 4 pm and drove back stopping at CVS for more sunscreen. We made it back to the rental house before 5 pm.

It was nice to have a less active day. We cycled 15 miles on Wednesday then kayaked 5 miles on Thursday in addition to walking a lot both days, so we were glad to have some time to kick back. Mary and Cindy sat in the lawn chairs in the back yard and read, while Mark and I occupied the sofas in the living room. We ate leftover chicken and seafood from earlier in the week along with a bagged salad mix. It was very good and filling. We plugged a USB stick into the television and watched Daddy and Them as while we ate, followed by mojitos or Larceny bourbon on the rocks. Unlike other evenings this week, we managed to stay awake until 10 pm before going back to our bedrooms.

Tomorrow we would pack up and move to the east coast of Florida.