Field Trip to Corkscrew Sanctuary

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary was a very cool experience for me. I went with my friend Jordan so I was able to talk about some of the things that we were seeing and had an extra pair of eyes so I could see things that I might have missed. The tour was designated by a boardwalk that went through out the entire swamp. The first habitat the we walked through was Pine Flatwood. Here I was able to observe several different animals and numerous plants. Some that I saw were wild coco orchids, narrow leaf sunflowers, bay lobelia, tilandsia (which actually grow on trees trunks), and some pine trees. The plants in this habitat are higher up that water level but are still able to withstand the occasional Florida flood because they grow tall. The wild life I was able to catch a glimps at was a mockingbird (could have been a differnt bird I saw it in flight), a lubber grasshopper, adn different types of butter flys. The next habitate I will talk about will be theWet Prarie. Here I was able to identify five more different types of plants; salt march mallow, sky flowers, floating heats (these grow either on or with lily pads), water lily, and cypress knees. It is moderatly lower in elevation than the Pine Flatwood, but a combination of nutrient poor soils, fire, and flooding prevent it from becoming a Pine Flatwood or a Cypress Swamp. Some wild life in this habitat included great egrates, deer, a blck racer, and this bug that after I did research was able to identify as a blue skimmer. The Pond Cypress was the next habitat I was able to explore and saw some new plants and animals. Some plants I saw were some more cypress knees, blue flag iris, nigh fragrant orchid, swamp lily, and pond cypress trees. The wild life that were seen were a cardinal, an aligator, some different frogs, and turtles. This is the buffer between the bald cypress forest and the pine flatwood. Here species from both habitats are able to survive in together.