Day 5: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Blair Audubon Centre

6^th March 2014

Location: 26.4179° N, 81.5384° W, Temperature: 23⁰C, cloudy and windy, day ended with heavy thunderstorm and rain.

Today we visited the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Southwest Florida. The sanctuary was established in 1954 and represents south Florida's major upland and freshwater wetland ecosystems.The  Sanctuary covers an area of 13,000 acres. The Sanctuary, which is a part of the western Everglades, hosts the world’s largest cypress swamp boardwalk of 2.25 miles. Currently, the Corkscrew swamp sanctuary provides habitat to around 34 mammal species, 200 bird species, 64 reptiles and amphibian species.

Boardwalk 

Wet prairie

From a boardwalk, it was an excellent experience to see wet prairie and cypress swamp with a rich avian, floral and faunal diversity. Along with birds, I was fascinated by the diversity of ferns within the sanctuary. However, we were able to recognize only few species including Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), Giant leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium) and Resurrection fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides). At the same time, it was a good experience to observe "knees structures" in the cypress swamp knees. Knees are woody vertical projections from the roots. It is believed that the knees provide oxygen to the roots of trees growing in swamps like pneumatophores in mangroves. Yet, their actual function is not fully known. Other plant species observed include Red maple (Acer rubrum), Strangler fig (Ficus aurea), Oak (quercus), Pine, Cull leaf, lanced leaf arrowhead (Sagittaria lancifolia) and Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendens).

Wood stroke

Bird watching at the sanctuary was very interesting because  nobody in our group was expert to identify birds. However, Florida bird book provided a thorough guide to recognize many birds including Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) and Woodpecker. Beside birds, I got excited while seeing a Raccoon (Procyon lotor), a cute mammal. At the same time, it was an excellent experience to see big eighteen-landmark Cypress trees and many alligators. When we were about to complete our boardwalk, we encountered to a heavy rain, which reminded us of Wales. 

Various efforts from the concerned authorities for the restoration of  wetlands habitat and management of the sanctuary were highly appreciable. Restoration activities mainly included balancing hydrology and eradication of invasive species through controlled fire. Activities targeted to balance hydrology included diversion of water, drainage and refill of wetlands. It was interesting to see enthusiastic school children  and seniors visiting the reserve. After completing boardwalk, we had lunch in canteen of Corkscrew swamp sanctuary. Afterwards, we went for shopping and returned to the Vester Marine Field Station.

Busy in collecting mangroves soil

Even though we were tired due to whole day's activities, Dr. Christian Dunn and three friends of mine went to nearby mangrove swamps for soil sample collection of my research. I am really thankful to them for their support. It was our first experience of collecting soil sample from mangroves. Kayaking skill learned previous day was helpful for us to reach the mangrove island. I experienced that, it is  really tough to go deep inside mangroves island. However, we managed to go about 20 m inside and we collected samples from three areas in the distance of 100 meters. After sample collection, we came back with the feel like of a victory.