South Florida Information Access - Virtual Tour
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A two-mile long boardwalk passes through the sanctuary and through distinct environmental areas including pinelands, freshwater marshes and wet prairie, cypress swamps and hardwood hammocks. The Sanctuary is the largest remaining breeding ground for the endangered wood stork. Low, winter water levels with fish laden water holes signal the storks to begin nesting as they now have enough food to raise their young. When water management practices delay the winter drying season, the storks begin nesting later thus when the spring rains disperse the fish, the storks prematurely abandon their nests and young. For more information, please visit the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary virtual nature walk. Walk with us along the two-mile long boardwalk with us and experience the tranquility of the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Plants that grow in the pinelands must be resistant to fire as areas such as these are maintained by fire. The fires are beneficial to the pines as young pine seedlings require lots of sunlight to survive, and the fires destroy hardwood competitors. When fires occur, hardwood seedlings and other understory plants are affected, while the thick bark of the pine resists fire damage. Without fires, hardwoods would eventually overshadow the pines and a hardwood hammock would emerge.
Pond cypresses are smaller than bald cypresses, and they usually grow in the more open wetland area.
As we walked beneath the towering cypress, the sound of barred owls calling to one another resounded throughout the swamp. The barred owl, named for the "bars" running across its chest and body, has a familiar call that sounds like someone saying "who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all". The barred owl is a mostly nocturnal hunter whose prey can include small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, crayfish and some small birds.
Here, a large bald cypress tree and strangler fig are co-existing. Bald cypresses were given the name "bald" because the trees shed their needles during the winter.
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov
/virtual_tour/corkscrew/index.html
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster (hhenkel@usgs.gov)
Last updated:
April 05, 2007 @ 01:58 PM
(HSH)