Thursday, January 24

Today Sharon and I went to the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  First we took Betty over to visit with her cousin.  After dropping her off for an afternoon of chatting we headed east to the sanctuary.  Andy and I had been here 9 years ago when we visited Florida after his hip replacement.  There is a very nice visitor's center and they have added a small theater that was new since we had been there.  A 2.25 mile boardwalk meanders through the wetlands and woodland areas.  There were more people than I thought, most of which were birders.  We saw 19 bird species and heard 4 others that I could identify.  We spent most of the 2 1/2 hours following a pair of red-shouldered hawks.  We also saw their nest but they had not laid any eggs yet.  Sharon was forced to learn a few bird songs and could successfully identify the hawk and the anhinga by the end of the trail.  She was rewarded with a turtle sighting near the end of the trail.  It was a wonderful day weather wise and we finally saw a cloudless blue sky with the temperature at 72 degrees.  We are hoping for a nice afternoon tomorrow because we have reservations for a sunset cruise out of Marco Island.  I hope the cold weather is letting up a little back home.

Painted Bunting at one of the feeding stations

Pied-billed Grebe

White Ibis (front is adult, in back is the juvenile)

The Anhinga, also known as the "snake bird".  Spends most of his time underwater fishing.

The boardwalk at Corkscrew.

Red-shouldered Hawk nest

Overlook at the wetlands, although they are pretty dry this time of year.

Red-shouldered Hawk

One of the volunteers was talking to a class about the alligators. Look carefully and you can see he is holding a very small alligator!