A Visit to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Spring

Always a highlight of the trip to Ft. Myers is a visit to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and a walk along the 2 1/2 mile boardwalk.  This is an Audubon sanctuary and you always see something different and many times not a lot but the walk is beautiful.  This visit from the raccoons was definitely the most fun  part of the trip this year.  There were five or six raccoons dashing from the woods into literally a largish mud puddle. It is very dry this time of the year and could hardly be called a swamp so this was one of the few areas we saw any water at all.  These critters were amazing.  They would dig their paws down in the mud and consistently come up with fish about five or six inches long -- one right after another.  There was a little fussing as some among the raccoons felt they didn't have to work for their food!  It was hard to believe there were any fish here, much less the number we watched them catch!!  We thought the one in front was particularly handsome.

This is a Swallow Tailed Kite and a beautiful bird although a nasty aggressor according to the Audubon volunteer.  We saw evidence of this almost immediately in the next picture where he is attacking a Red Shouldered Hawk who was minding his own business.

Hard to disentangle the bodies here but there is an attack going on!!

One of the reasons for venturing down this time of year was to see the mating plumage of my favorite shorebirds as well as see babies whenever we could.  This was a baby Red Shouldered Hawk -- one of two that was in this nest.  Now I am sure one of my previous pictures was a Merlin -- some had thought it was a young Red Shouldered Hawk.

We saw more alligators than we had ever seen there before as well and they were BIG!

You need to really stare at this to see the piles of baby alligators!  Mama was off to the right but very nearby.  These were all quite small and hard to see.

This was a Little Blue Heron in the front with an immature Black Capped Night Heron in the rear.  The Little Blue is really BLUE this time of year with a bright blue beak!

A bigger picture of my favorite among the raccoons as he had more color than the others.

This was not one of the Orb Weavers I usually see as it had a perfectly round spider web.  There were two orange or red dots on its back.  Don't know what it is though but it didn't eat us like the "swamp flies" did -- something else you don't see in the winter months!!

This was the Red Shouldered Hawk before he was attacked!

Of course I always see new flowers and I just have not been able to identify this one at all but loved the picture!!

On the way home, we drove through Ft. Myers Beach and passed the Edgewater Inn where we have always stayed.  They certainly have dressed up the front -- no wonder the rates went up so much this year!!