The National Audubon Society's Biedler Forest in South Carolina. I spoke at a conference in Leesburg, Virginia, yesterday, and hey, it's only a seven hour jaunt down I-95 to get into some of South Carolina's coolest swamps, so off I went after the conference concluded. Biedler is an incredible place, and if you're ever in the Carolinas, I'd recvommend putting it on the itinerary.
A White Ibis scrutinizes your narrator from the shady depths of one of the country's finest remaining stands of old-growth Bald Cypress, at Biedler Forest. Swallow-tailed Kites cavorted overhead, Water Moccasins loafed on nearby logs, and the warbler migration is really picking up steam down here.
More southern swamp stuff will follow...
2 comments:
What a neat place! A couple snakes were sunning themselves when we were there 10 days ago--one may be a copperhead, from our photos. The prothonotaries were neon-beautiful; ruby-crowned kinglets were singing HIGH overhead, and parulas were singing from every tree, it seemed! The barred owl catching crayfish 10 or 15 feet off the boardwalk was truly spectacular.
The southeast is a pretty fascinating place. For a boreal born Canadian it really brings new meaning to the term "subtropical" because it is where broadleaf evergreens really start popping up. Compared to the vast stretches of spruce and fir we are used to up north, it seems so lush and, well, tropical.
Hopefully you caught more than few photos of Baldcypresses. Maybe if we are lucky, a Baldy next to a Water Tupelo! Was there much in the way of Spanish Moss around there?
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