Okefenokee

We just returned from our two-week business-and-winter-break to Florida and Georgia.  We've heard dire tales of sub-zero temperatures, high winds, and snow-storms while we were gone, but since we've returned, it's been blessedly mild: nights in the 20's, and days in the mid-to-high thirties.  So we were gone just the right time.   

    After we did our business in Florida, we went to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, 396,000 acres of swamp fed by the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers, in southeast Georgia.  The swamp attracts all kinds of water-birds, from great sandhill cranes and blue herons, to ibis, snowy egret, and blue goose.  It was also a pleasure to see robins, catbirds, phoebes, cedar waxwings, and tree swallows that will soon migrate north where we'll welcome them back to our fields and feeders.   

     The swamp was low because of major draught in the southeast, but it was still beautiful.  Here are some pictures we snapped from a boat that took us through the channels.      

The swamp is a mix of lakes, prairies, and peat bogs

Above, a snowy egret

Alligators were so ubiquitous in the public areas adjoining the swamp, and also so sleepy during the day (they're nocturnal), that they seemed almost tame.  But signs all over the place warned us not to approach.

Our guide told us that alligators can crunch through these turtles' shells "just like an oreo cookie."

I'm standing under this live-oak just for scale.  You can see how huge it is - and how haunting with its drapes of spanish moss.

These sandhill cranes are about four feet tall.   

We floated through moss-strewn tunnels on the Suwannee Canal

Sun-shot gator

Great Blue Heron   

 

       And now it's so amazing to be home and surrounded by white.  Even so, the mild air, longer light, and smell of melting snow promise spring.      

Comments

[Ronni Bennett]

This is a terrific tour. The live oak is magnificent, but so are the big water birds. Looks like a great way to have taken a break from northern winter.

[Annie in Austin]

What good timing you had, and what great photos you took!
Live Oaks here get pretty big, but I guess we don't have the right atmosphere for Spanish moss - instead we get something called ball moss, not so romantic!

I hope spring is coming your way soon~

Annie

[TAbor]

One of my husbands favorite stomping grounds! Great photos.

[Joared]

Your photos remind me this is one of the specific areas we had hoped to visit, among others, in our retiring years. Thanks for sharing your spectacular pictures.

[Amy]

Nice pics! I feel like I just had a very brief warm vacation. Gators are just plain scary.

[Joared]

I thought of your photos as I watched the news and heard dire predictions for the swamps of So. Fla. and many of the creatures that live there, if expected temperature changes actually materialize in the years to come. They said alligators would no longer inhabit the area, with the temperature being more amenable for crocs. We certainly live in challenging, changing, interesting times.

[Terri]

I am SO sorry we weren't able to get together during your recent visit down here. So please let me know if/when you plan a return visit. I'd love to meet you in person!
You captured the area beautifully with your photos. I do love our live oaks in my yard, draped with that eerie moss.
Glad you had such a nice trip with good weather!