Swamp Things
As I mentioned earlier, my family and I attempted to walk off our annual Thanksgiving Day feast yesterday with a hike through a primeval swamp located at the northwestern end of the Everglades. You won’t find this sort of scene on a postcard. But I think Florida’s marshlands and swamps have an austere beauty that could rival anything a Brontë sister could conjure:
This particular swamp features a cypress dome containing many ancient bald cypress specimens, so called because they shed most of their leaves in the winter:
We saw many different types of wading birds, including ibises, which are not very exotic to us since a flock or two per day troop through our front yard in search of bugs to eat. Still, it’s nice to see them in a more natural habitat:
My husband, who is a Certified Florida Master Naturalist (which does not mean he runs around naked), says these trees are related to California redwoods. Some of the larger ones in this cypress dome were likely around when Columbus arrived in the New World:
Cypress trees have cool knees:
We saw a little gator—about a foot long—sunning him or herself on a small log; it makes you wonder where mama gator is:
And this lovely butterfly:
We didn’t find any mark-down bins or get a jump on our holiday shopping. But we think it was a day well spent anyway.
Posted by Betty Cracker on 11/26/11 at 08:11 AM • Permalink
