We walked the 2.5 miles of boardwalk at the Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to hunt down the blooming Super Ghost Orchids
Naples
Naples Fishing Pier
We walked out to the end of a crowded Naples Fishing Pier on a Saturday to see the view – Naples Beach, FL
The Naples Pier
The Naples Pier standing quietly off the shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico
Crested Caracara – Naples, FL
We found a Crested Caracara (a bird of prey ) on the way to the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples. We stopped to take a few photos while it perched on top of this tree. This is a hard to find bird as well, at least for me.
Reference: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/crested-caracara
Taken with: Canon 7D w/400mm F/5.6L
Ghost Orchids of Corkscrew
We left at 5:30am for an hour and a half drive to the Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, we arrived around 7:40am after a brief stop along I75 for some sunrise shots.
We wanted to capture the blooming Super Ghost Orchids that are located 50 feet up a huge bald Cypress tree – three-quarters of a mile out on the Corkscrew boardwalk above the swamp. There were many blooms today!
The Super Ghost Orchid is an extremely rare orchid that grows without leaves on the trunks of trees in a small concentrated area of Southwest Florida and some places in the Bahamas.
The Super Ghost Orchid was discovered in 2007 in Corkscrew and are protected by state and federal laws.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is on about 13,000 acres of land owned and protected by the National Audubon Society since 1954. The Audubon Society built a 2.25-mile boardwalk and a visitor center with a nature store, tea room and gallery.
This leafless species conducts photosynthesis through its root system. The plant requires the presence of certain type of fungus that helps the plant gather nutrients. The fungus, in turn, gets sugars from the host orchid.
The long spur arches have the tip filled with nectar for its pollinator, the Giant Sphinx Moth (Cocytius antaeus) is the only insect capable of pollinating this rare orchid, Without this Giant Sphinx Moth, the Super Ghost Orchid will not survive.
Image was taken with: Canon 7D w/400mm F/5.6L, 1.4 extender – resulting in 896mm resolution
Reference:
http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/07/14/ghost-orchid-florida-gillis-chad/30142851/
http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/dendrophylax_lindenii.htm
http://corkscrew.audubon.org/visit/corkscrews-ghost-orchids
