Adventure Bobby

This beautiful bird spent the warm morning diving and swooping over the main channel of the swamp picking off insects on the wing. Her beautiful black wing-tips are a common sight among birds in nature as the melanin rich feathers are stronger and handle the stress of high speed flight better. It was a pleasure floating on a kayak and watching their high-speed antics.

Barred Owls are thick in the Okefenokee. All one must do is spend the night in a tent and listen. The thick swamp air carries their calls from all corners and fills a listener with frighted and excitement. Far from frightening this is one of a pair of owlets that grew to maturity adjacent to the nature trail in Stephon C. Foster State Park. I saw him everyday for months, he just as curious as me. It was a true delight.

The swamp had more biting insects than anywhere I’ve been before. They were thick and they came in seasonal waves. One could recognize the seasons by the feel of the biting insects. The banana spiders took advantage and grew to enormous size and unbelievable beauty.

Each morning the sun would hit a small patch of grass first. The dragonflies knew exactly where and would gather in the sun puddle to warm their bodies before the long day of hunting insects over the swamp. As I look through all the photos and start to make connections from organism to organism it becomes apparent how important the insects are to life in the swamp. The bites are worth the biodiversity.