Okefenokee Swamp and National Wildlife Refuge

Well, since I last posted here, we've visited Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp and National Wildlife Refuge. It's really a pretty place and well-worth the visit if you're in the area and have the time to spend at least a day here. It's really a nice place for those of you that like to walk nature trails and see wild life.

The visitor center is really neat...and, has many hands-on exhibits that children would enjoy...and a beautiful and informative 15-minute movie about the swamp and it's inhabitants...and an animated mannequin (an older gentleman) sitting in a rocking chair on the porch telling stories about the area and its human inhabitants of the past. He's amazing...looks very real - his head, eyes and hands move...and, he even blinks!

Note: I don't know who that lady is...hope she doesn't mind my posting her picture!!

Here are some interesting facts about the swamp:

-Okefenokee is a vast bog inside a huge, saucer-shaped depression that was once part of the ocean floor

-the swamp floor is covered with peat deposits that are up to 15 feet thick

-these deposits are very unstable because they're not actually attached to the floor, but "float" on bubbles of methane gas, produced by the decaying process

-they're so unstable that if you could stomp on them, they would actually tremble...the swamp's name, Okefenokee, is a European rendition of the Indian words meaning "land of the trembling earth"

-the swamp waters are tea-colored from the tannic acid produced by decaying vegetation

-and, the swamp smells sweet...I read in one of my readings, that it's the water that smells like that, and one person actually tasted the water and said it does taste sweet! (that person wasn't either of us, though!)

-the swamp water is actually supposed to be pretty clean

-most of the water in the swamp comes from rainfall

-so, the level rises and falls as it rains, or doesn't

-the swamp is drained by two major rivers: the Suwanee River, which actually originates in the swamp, drains it to the southwest into the Gulf of Mexico; the St Mary's River drains it to the southeast into the Atlantic Ocean. The later river forms the boundary between Georgia and Florida.

-this swamp is one of the oldest and most well-preserved freshwater areas in America

-the swamp covers an area of 38 miles north to south; and 25 miles east to west

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Civilian Conservation Corps are responsible for "cleaning up th swamp" and making it into the protected area that it is today. Before this, loggers, in the 1920s and early 1930s, pretty much decimated the area.

This picture is of the bottom of cypress trees, mirrored in the water...isn't it beautiful?

Then, we were lucky enuf to see lots of alligators...the day was warm (in the low 70s) and the water in the swamp was about 2 feet below normal, so the alligators migrated to the canal where our boat floated, because the water was deeper there. And, as you'll see, one of the banks was washed in sunlight...a wonderful place for them to lie and soak up those warm rays!

Isn't he a handsome fella?

This one almost looks like he's smiling, doesn't he?

And, then we saw some other wildlife:

This is a Great Blue Heron...and, the guide says it's unusual to see them up in trees. He was amazing!

A picture of turtles...a momma and her baby. The guide says that alligators like to eat turtles, if their shells aren't too hard to crack. Isn't that a gruesome thought!

Some interesting facts about alligators:

-the American Alligator hasn't changed very much from its original form some 180 million years ago

-in the 1950s and 60s, they were nearly hunted into extinction. Thus, they were placed on the protected list...and, have since increased their population to the point where they were removed from the protection in 1987. Their removal from the protection allows authorities, now, to "manage" those that wander into public recreation areas, or those that exhibit aggressive behavior toward humans or those that have a debilitating injury or disease.

-there are approx. 200,000 alligators in Georgia

-their habitat range is from the southern tip of Texas to the northeastern part of North Carolina

-alligators usually remain in the area where they were born for 2-3 years, then they begin looking for their own range

-females usually have small home ranges; males may occupy a range of more that 2 square miles

-during their courtship and breeding season, April to May, alligators prefer open waters; the rest of the year, males prefer open and deep waters; females seek out nesting habitat in shallow, heavily vegetated and secluded areas.

-alligators can live to the ripe old age of 60 in captivity; in the wild, however, they rarely live to be more than 50

-males can grow up to 16 feet in length; females to 10

-females lay an average of 35-40 eggs, that incubate for about 65 days

-the baby alligators are about 8-10 inches long when they're born

-only about 20% of the young will survive to maturity

-they grow about 8-10 inches per year for the first few years; they reach sexual maturity when they reach about 6 feet in length

-really large alligators can weigh as much as 800 lbs!

-alligators are carnivores and will eat almost anything they can catch: snails, crayfish, frogs, insects and other invertebrates when they are young; fish, turtles, snakes, waterfowl, raccoons, beavers, and also carrion. Given the opportunity, they will also eat pets (how awful!!!!) and smaller, domestic animals like goats and pigs.

Part of our swamp tour included the Chase Prairie. Prairies cover about 80,000 acres of the swamp. Once forested, these expanses of marsh were created during periods of severe drought when fires burned out vegetation and the top layers of peat. They harbor a variety of birds: herons, egrets, ibises, cranes and bitterns...also, alligators!

We also saw Sandhill Cranes, though my picture of them wasn't very good, as they were so far away. But this is a pretty good picture of an egret (at least, that's what I think it is - anyone know for sure?)

There are even some water lilies in the prairie:

Here's a picture of marsh grass and cypress knees. We've been told that the cypress knees are part of the cypress root system and how they "breathe". Peter has bought cypress knees online to carve...a friend of ours living in Alabama is the one who introduced him to that. Ron (our friend) has carved some beautiful knees!

Hopefully, you can get some idea of how beautiful this place really is...I'm so glad we got to see it! It always amazes me how diversified this wonderful country of ours is!