On Friday the 25th we drove about an hour to get to the Audubon Center at
Beidler Forest.
Beidler Forest sits within the Four Holes Swamp, a
45,000-acre matrix of black water sloughs and lakes, shallow bottomland
hardwoods, and deep bald cypress and tupelo gum flats. Over 17,000 of the
swamp’s acres are owned by the National Audubon Society and make up what is
known as the Francis Beidler Forest. It was originally established to preserve 1,800
acres of old-growth swamp forest, one of only two such stands still left in the
state.
It was about a 2 mile boardwalk and we spent over 3 hours there.
There were tons of birds. We saw 4 new bird species for our list. The highlight
was spotting a Barred Owl. I was chasing a small bird with my binoculars when I
saw it sitting right there in front of us. (it was dark in there, but Greg got
some good photos.) We saw a lot of Black & White Warblers and Titmouse. (Titmice - Titmeese???) I
caught a glimpse of a Northern Flicker (type of woodpecker). We also saw a
couple Downy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers,
Carolina Wrens, Glue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hooded Warblers, Blackburnian Warbler, Prothonotary
Warbler and lots of Carolina Chickadees. We heard lots more that we couldn’t
find.
Audubon Center
back of the center & start of the boardwalk
Tufted Titmouse
Black & White Warbler
Cypress Knees
Barred Owl
Black & White Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Carolina Wren
American Redstart
viewing tower
Greg on the boardwalk - I'm taking the photo from the lookout
Redstart
young Red-bellied Woodpecker
tree growing out of the Cypress Knee
blurry shot of Hooded Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
I always get a kick out of bathroom signs....
We had a late lunch at the Swig & Swine. (BBQ) We had
the Whole Hog Sandwich & a Pork Belly Sandwich with beans & brisket and
mac & cheese. All was yummy! It started to pour buckets of rain while we
were in there. We had planned to stay home the rest of the day so we weren’t
rained out.
Pork Belly
Whole Hog
No comments:
Post a Comment