A Review of My Time at Corkscrew

Despite being familiar with the temporary job process, 6 months never seems as long at the end of a job as it seemed from the beginning. This month is my last here at Corkscrew, with my last day falling on February 1^st.

My internship has flown by, and over the 5 months I have lived and worked here, my appreciation for the sanctuary and its history has grown. As I type this, I can see a Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) on a tree just outside, searching for its fill of insects. In just the second month of my internship, I briefly looked to the side out a window while processing fish in the lab, and saw nothing other than… a Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi)!! It walked right between the lab and the intern housing, at 9 in the morning. Another intern and I ran outside for a longer look and saw it crouch in front of some bushes for about 20 seconds before chasing an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) out! Both the rabbit and the panther disappeared back into the bushes, and 2 seconds later, you would have never known they were there.

Experiences like these are inevitable at Corkscrew Swamp, and I can’t overstate how lucky we are that people in the past recognized its worth enough to protect it from development. I have enjoyed every second of my internship, from fish sampling to herp surveys! It’s hard to pick a favorite experience because I love every moment I’m out in the field. There’s always something new to see because the environment is always changing – increasing or decreasing water levels in particular determine what you might see.

The wildlife here make this place special in an ecological sense, but the people I’ve met and worked with made this place home. The friendships I made are friendships I hope last much longer than my internship. I feel incredibly lucky to have worked here with the people I’ve worked with, as all of us share a passion to preserve and protect natural areas for the benefit of future generations. Time spent in the field and lab is truly enhanced by the people that time is spent with, and I will miss working with all the wonderful people here. I have no doubt that Corkscrew will continue to flourish through their dedicated, passionate work.

As for me, I’ll be moving up to the panhandle in February to work at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory as a research technician. I will be working with Dr. Sandra Brooke, who will become my graduate school advisor in the fall if everything goes to plan! My intention is to study coral ecology, particularly with respect to anthropogenic impacts such as climate change. I am incredibly excited to see what changes the next year brings, but I will always be grateful for the time I spent at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary as an intern. J

- Randi Bowman, Research Intern