No Swamp Monsters!
Swamps get an undeserving reputation. As this sign says:
Many imagine that swamps are horrible and hostile, but by now you have seen otherwise!! Beidler Forest is a clean, healthy, and very pleasant place to visit, largely because it remains unaltered by human activities – it’s natural.
This morning I went to visit Francis Beidler Forest. An 11,000 acre, old growth forest and swamp land. I spent a couple of hours exploring the 1.75 mile boardwalk that is suspended above the swamp. I had only visited one swamp before, that was Congaree National Park near Columbia, SC, some 100 miles to the north.
This particular swamp is located in what could be termed the middle of nowhere. After leaving the learning center and walking out onto the boardwalk, all that you can hear are your own footsteps, and if you listen closely enough, probably your heartbeat. No highway sounds. No automobiles. It is very quiet. Almost immediately you can hear the sounds of different birds, the rustle of leaves as squirrels scamper two and fro, the soft plunk of water as some turtle decides that sunning is finished for the day and plops back into the water. One could also plainly hear woodpeckers hammering away in search of a tasty morsel.
Although it is a blackwater swamp, the water is remarkably clear, allowing you to see several feet below the surface. Everywhere, Cypress Knees stick above the water. We still don’t know what they are for. They defy our efforts to find out! Some suspect that they store starch, others speculate that they are for exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen, still others think that they are for extra holding power in soft soil, yet no one really knows. Mysteries are good.
There are all sorts of birds around. I saw cardinals, robins, Carolina Chickadees, and, pictured to the right a Downy Woodpecker. I stumbled onto this one on my way out. He flew across the boardwalk and landed on a tree right next to it. After some careful creeping, I was able to get close enough for a decent photograph. The weather is still too cold for the reptiles, so no alligators or snakes were around to be seen.
It was a pretty cool outing. I started to take my film cameras with me, but in the end, just opted for convenience and maximum flexibility. I had the Tamron 18-270 mm mounted and it provided all of the flexibility that I needed. I did meet another photographer out there. He was shooting with a Canon 5D. It was his first trip there as well. He was stopping by on his way back home, somewhere in upstate South Carolina.
This was a nice way to spend a few hours, get a little bit of exercise, indulge in quite a bit of silence and peace, and get a few photos to boot. Sure, I would have loved to get in here about 6:30 or 7:00 AM, but they don’t open until 9:00 AM and by that time, the light was kind of harsh, but so what!
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5 Responses to “No Swamp Monsters”
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Hi Paul, I found your link through Joan’s site and thought I would pop on over.
, it was funny what you wrote about the cypress knees 
Your walk through the forest today sounds wonderful. I love the picture you captured of the woodpecker, it’s very nice.
Love your blog and love your post
So what, is right. You got out, took in some of nature, a bit of exercise and took some images. Sounds like a good day and tells me life is pretty good. Did you practice your guitar, also?
I sure did practice when I got back home. I even developed a roll of film! A good day, in all.
Indeed, sounds like just a good day. If those visitor centers at those nature reserves are run in a good fashion, those places and excursions can be a really powerful form of “edutainment” (although I tend to hate that word, here it seems to work nicely).
Thomas
PS.: the woodpecker shot: I guess that’s the Taron @ 270 mm then? On a crop-camera?
You got it Thomas, but he was actually pretty close; however, I was zoomed all the way out to 270mm on a D300 (1.5x factor) and did have to crop the photo a bit to get this ‘close’.