Out on a Limb

Gosh...this handsome little fellow was tough to shoot!  Flitting from limb to limb, it barely sat still for two seconds. I could have spent hours chasing it!  Not 100 percent sure, but I believe it's a prairie warbler. Spotted at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary -- with all kinds of other songbirds zipping through the trees.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Quintessential Florida

Alligator reposing on a small island at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  This is quintessential old Florida at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

 

  Look at those long, sharp claws. And menacing teeth! 

Fun to observe gators in the wild...but always from a safe, healthy distance.

Strangler Fig

Back at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary! This photo has a very interesting backstory. The sanctuary was hit hard by Hurricane Irma and was closed for 3 months while crews cleared out downed trees. One of the downed trees was this cypress. When it was sawed for removal, it was revealed that a strangler fig was growing inside!  Amazing! Typically, you'll see a strangler fig growing like a thick vine around a tree. But, I've never heard -- or seen -- one growing inside a tree. A sanctuary volunteer theorized that a bird probably ate a strangler fig seed and left it behind in some scat, which made its way into a hole within the cypress trunk....and then, voila! Nature truly is amazing. More pics from the swamp to come!