2/20/23. Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 We got up early this morning for our 2.5 hour trek to Corkscrew.  It was a lovely morning - 71 degrees and sunny - a perfect day for birding.  On the way we stopped in Big Cypress for a break and looked around the boardwalk.  The baby anhingas were still there and we also saw a green heron.  We continued on and when we got to Hwy. 29 going north, we saw 3 panther warning signs lit up.  Unfortunately we didn't see one.  When we got onto the back roads we passed a pond where there were about 100 American egrets either perched in trees or wading in the pond.  Unfortunately there was no place to safely pull over to take a picture, but it was a sight to see!  We got to Corkscrew in time for our tickets and started out on the boardwalk.  The main walk is 2.5 miles, but I figure we did 3+ as we took most of the spur walks as we came to them.  Dave spotted a caracara, but was not able to get a pic of it.  We also saw three downy woodpeckers who were also camera-shy.  I did take a pic of an unknown heron.  I thought it was a night heron, but when I looked at it on the computer, I was not so sure.  I did catch a pic of a little blue heron and a green anole (native) and a brown anole (an import from the Caribbean).  There is also a picture of a red-bellied woodpecker and a lovely white swamp flower.  At the farthest part of the boardwalk we saw a white ibis and two juveniles - one in the water and the other perched in a tree.  There is also a pic of an unknown little brown bird - some type of wren?

I also took a pic of a small butterfly on the flower of a pickerel weed, an American egret, a black vulture, a gator, an anhinga drying his wings and finally a cardinal silhouetted in the sun near the visitor center.

As we were nearing the end of our walk we ran into a volunteer ranger who told us that when he was out earlier in the morning, he came upon a 10 foot gator trying to eat a rather large turtle.  He had in in his jaws and bit down and the ranger heard the shell crack.  He worked it a while, but finally let the turtle go as it was too big to eat.  Lucky turtle!  We were quite hot as we finished our walk.  When we got to the car we saw that the temperature had risen to 87.  Thankfully we had our water bottles with us.  We headed back and had a late lunch at our favorite restaurant in Everglades City.  We both had the shrimp again and it was just as good as it was the last time.  I bought a piece of key lime pie for takeout. I will try it tonight.  Hopefully it will be better than the last one I tried.   All in all, we had a wonderful day.   Dave got a snooze on the way home.  We stopped at our favorite gas station a mile up the road ($3.17 a gallon) so we will be ready for drives the rest of this week.  We will have lunch for dinner tonight as we are still stuffed.