Exploring the Locale: Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Let's start by saying that obviously the weekly posts did not happen. There is a good reason for that. At least a good reason in our heads. As mentioned before, my wife and I live in Fort Myers, Florida, which also happened to be the direct path of Hurricane Irma. Therefore we had to evacuate to Georgia for 3 weeks (it took that long for us to get power back in our place). This was by no means ideal, and put a halt to our newly created site. Of course. In the midst of all this, my grandmother-in-law has not been doing well health wise, so we have been traveling helping out there as well, and left little time to focus on this, and rightly so. Family comes first in this kind of scenario.

All that being said: I apologize for the lack of posts for so long, and as things stabilize, I will do my best to get more posts created so that this can be back up and running as originally intended, even if by nothing more than posts to our Instagram account.

Over the past few weeks, I have been making some frequent stops by a local nature walk called Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. It took me long enough to find this place, but now it has become one of my favorite places to be around town. It is a boardwalk through the marshy swamplands of the area that passes by a few lakes and ponds along the way with ample chances to see wildlife.

This place changes in appearance throughout the year in a remarkable way. Not so much in a leaves changing colors and falling kind of way, but in the level of water that is present. During the summer months, the area is filled with water all over, hardly a dry place to be found besides a few of the hammocks that are found here. (Side note: Hammock is term I had to learn about here. I had only ever known the term as something you hang between two trees for an afternoon nap. However, a hammock is a raised portion of land where larger trees, in this case cypress trees, grow. The more you know!)

If you move through the park slowly and quietly (as posted signs clearly remind you to do), you have ample opportunity to view wildlife. Some can be super camouflaged and others stand out pretty clearly. Certain snake and birds can be really difficult to spot unless you keep your eyes peeled. For instance, this guy below was very well hidden until someone pointed him out to me in fact. I had walked past this spot a few times and never noticed him. I have a healthy fear of snakes, but I love seeing them in nature as that means the ecosystem is doing well.

A common sighting is the Black-Crowned Night Heron. Even with his bright yellow crest, he can be very difficult to spot unless you are very observant. He blends in well with the green from the swamp waters and the light reflecting from it.

The main things you will see in this park are going to be the variety of birds around and of course the turtles floating around in the waters. But, there is much to offer in this park, including insects. I know that most people don't like insects, but they can be beautiful and are essential to the habitat. There is one grasshopper that lives in this area called the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper and he is actually toxic to predators. He has a beautiful bright orange color to him. In fact, the only predator he has down here is a bird called the Loggerhead Shrike. A small bird, but very smart! He will take the grasshopper and impale him on a thorn or a barbed wire fence. Then, after he dries up and the toxins are essentially baked out of him, the shrike will return and eat his prey. How cool is that?

Of course, it isn't Florida unless you see an alligator and this place is no different. There are two that I commonly see out here, but I am sure there are more that I just can't see. Mornings and evening tend to be best to spot them as they come out to bask in the sun.

If you are ever in the area, be sure to stop by this beautiful preserve. You will not be disappointed. It is free to get in except for parking and that is only $1 per hour or $5 for the whole day. And they are open every day dawn to dusk.

Check out their website: https://www.sloughpreserve.org/

Happy Trekking!

Now, where to next?