After Work Ritual

 In a couple of days it will be my two month anniversary here at Corkscrew, it's crazy how time flies! These two months at Corkscrew have been incredible, and I am enjoying my time being an intern here. I have been blessed with incredible roommates, and they have made my experience at the swamp delightful. Hayden left this past Saturday, we were all very sad at the gator hole, but he will definitely do great things in Hot Springs.

I have also realized how lucky I am to have the boardwalk in my back yard, and am taking full advantage by walking on the boardwalk every evening after work. At this time of the year we have a lot of lab work that needs to be done, thus our time in the field is limited. However, every day I am at work I look forward to my precious walks before sunset. What makes these evening walks through the swamp so eventful and special to me is that you never know what you will find when you are on the boardwalk, and that unknown excites me. When I go out on the boardwalk every evening it is usually after boardwalk check, this is when Corkscrew has closed for the day, and I am out there alone. In the silence I find that I have some incredible moments with the wildlife of the swamp. During my walks I find that there are some reoccurring events every evening like when I hear the first hoots of the barred owl which just echoes through the silent boardwalk, a reminder that night is coming. Another experience I am certain to have is as I am walking I will randomly start to hear loud pecks. I then follow the pecks to a tree, and look for the culprit which is always a woodpecker. I have noticed that the red-bellied woodpeckers become quite chatty at this time of day, and their chatter fills up the vicinity of that section of the boardwalk. The pileated woodpeckers also fill up the quiet air with their loud calls and hard pecking, however, I catch myself laughing every time I see them because they are so goofy.

My favorite woodpecker has been the downy woodpecker who is so quiet that I almost walked by it. I was walking one evening when I hear these really quiet pecks on a tree, and I thought to myself "what is that?". I was thinking that maybe it was a songbird or an anole messing about until I eventually found the small downy woodpecker quietly searching for food. I then spent about 30 minutes just watching the downy do its thing and I got some photos and videos of it. I do not have a professional camera, so I have been using my binoculars to take photos which I consider to be a skill of mine now.






Recently one of our volunteers Tom reported seeing a young panther by the observation deck so that has been one of my pit stops every evening just in case I will get lucky enough to see one some day. Once I hit the lettuce lakes I know I am bound to see some gems. Recently there has been a yellow-crowned night heron hanging out after the South Lettuce Lake, and he gave me quite the show one evening. I was walking towards the North Lettuce Lakes when I heard something get spooked underneath my feet. All of a sudden a yellow-crowned night heron flies up from underneath the boardwalk, and lands on the fallen cypress tree to my right, only about five feet away from me. It curiously stared at me while I did the same, I got to snap some photos of it too. Once it saw that I meant no harm, it flew to the ground to continue its foraging.

There has also been a little blue heron foraging by the boardwalk as well, and after seeing it multiple days in a row so close to the boardwalk, I have been able to study its foraging tactics. I noticed that when little blue herons stalk their prey, they start moving their neck side to side really quickly. Apparently little blue herons sway their necks when they focus on prey because it improves depth perception, and keeps their muscles moving so that they can have a quick reaction when striking their prey.



These are a few stories from my after work ritual, but I have plenty more. I still have 4 months here so I look forward to seeing what I find when I am out on the boardwalk for my after-work ritual.

Until next time,
Intern Melissa

A Reflection

This weekend as we shed some tears and said farewell to Hayden, our roommate and friend, I found myself reflecting on my time spent here so far. I am just about to hit my 4th month here at Corkscrew, and the time is flying - especially when there are adventures happening every day.

I was lucky enough to see my first wild Florida panther last Wednesday, along with one of our staff members and everyone on our swamp buggy tour. I always love doing guided tours on the swamp buggy through our backcountry because you never know what you are going to see, and this day was no exception. Within the first 20 minutes of the three-hour tour, I see something brown and large trotting through the cypress trees, only about 20-30 feet to the left of the buggy. My first thought was- bobcat? But as it continued to run, the long tail presented itself and then the entire body. Panther! We all cheered from the top of the buggy - what an amazing sight! I consider myself so lucky to be able to see one of our panthers finally. I have spent a considerable amount of time out in our backcountry and have never had such luck until now. We joked that we could just end the tour there, because how could we ever top that? But we continued on.

Later on, I found out that a guest had also seen a panther from the boardwalk, and even one of our volunteers saw a panther sitting on the boardwalk on the observation platform last week! Perhaps since we are seeing more wild boar movement, this could be why we are seeing more panthers. Panthers generally eat white-tailed deer, but additionally will eat boar as well. 

Seeing this panther was certainly a moment that I will take with me forever, As well as other beautiful moments that I have certainly blessed with such as: sitting on the porch of our home away from home, the "Gator Hole" listening to whip-poor-wills call in the evening with Hayden, seeing one lone firefly on the boardwalk with Kelsie (which was almost as exciting and magical to me as seeing the panther since I haven't seen a firefly since I was 11 years old in Washington D.C.), and finding out that I got into grad school, celebrating with my fellow teaching crew all around me in our office. 

My last two months will go fast, this I know. However, I am determined to soak in every minute that I can while I am here. I realize now that working a seasonal job is very exciting, but can also be very anxiety-inducing as you really don't know where you're going to end up in just a few short months. I am learning to take it slow, catch a wave, and ride it out over the next couple months. 

Until next time, 

Shelby