Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

swamp hibiscus

I can't say I've had many psychic dreams before, but something about the ghost orchid seeped into me and wouldn't let go.  This summer I had the most vivid dream about a ghost orchid, that I had gone hunting for them in Orlando. Funny thing is, in my awake world, I wasn't even sure ghost orchids existed. The  morning after my dream, I had no recollection of flowers, until a patron at the library where I work checked out the audiobook version of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief.  Then someone checked out a few orchid magazines, and another patron requested a book with "orchid" in the title.  There's nothing like being hit in the head with synchronicity!  So, I hopped online and googled ghost orchids, and, amazingly, discovered a ghost orchid lives just 3 hours away from here in Naples at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  Even more incredible, the ghost orchid was in bloom. It was calling me, and I had to visit and ask what it wanted.

"super ghost"

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is considered the "jewel in the Audubon crown."  The Audubon Society became involved with the sanctuary over 100 years ago with a campaign against plume hunting, and officially founded Corkscrew in 1954.  It's 14,000 acres of pine flatwood, wet prairie, marsh, pond cypress, and home to the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America.  One of the gateways to the Great Florida Birding Trail, Corkscrew supports one of this country's largest colonies of nesting wood storks, as well as +200 birds, both natives and migratory. Add a gorgeous butterfly garden and the Blair Education Center and the ghost orchid, and you know you're in for quite the experience.

Naples is about a 3 hour drive from where I live, so The Way Eye See It loaded up pretty early in the morning, in order to have most of the day to explore.  Even the parking lot at CCS is interesting! There's a huge butterfly garden, where Anna and I saw white peacocks, gulf fritillaries, and Florida's state butterfly, the zebra longwing.  Also cool was seeing a tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird zoom down to drink from the flowers.  It was hard to tear ourselves away from butterfly garden action, but we knew we had a lot to pack into the day, so we followed the boardwalk to the Blair Education Center and paid our $10 entrance fee.  Right inside the front door was a poster describing the ghost orchid, with an attached dry erase board on which was written, "12 blooms!!" 

There's another dry erase board before you hit the main boardwalk, and we stopped to read what everyone had seen thus far: many birds, black bear, snakes, butterflies, skinks.  I love the anticipation of what lies ahead on nature walks. Of course, we wanted to see everything listed on that board, and knew we wouldn't. But maybe we'd see different things?

The first bird to greet us was a white-eyed vireo, a new bird for me.  We could hear woodpeckers all around, and saw a fair share of red-bellieds, as well as a pileated, which we heard first, then waited and waited to see.

white-eyed vireo

Whenever I'm walking through swamps, woods, and other natural areas in Florida, I always wonder what it  must've been like for explorers crazy enough to hack their way through tall grass and wetlands, with no idea of what they'd encounter.  Huge bugs, alligators, snakes....  I, for one, am happy in most instances to stay on boardwalks!

Corkscrew's boardwalk is 2.25 miles long, and you're definitely at one with the landscape.  As we made our way to the ghost orchid, we passed alligator flags, pond apple trees, swamp hibiscus, swamp lilies, a tiny ribbon snake, and who knows what else hidden above and below us. Butterflies whizzed past, and we were thrilled to see two new ones: a queen and a ruddy daggerwing (if ever I need an alias, it's going to be Ruddy Daggerwing!)  Even though I couldn't wait to see the ghost orchid, I didn't want to rush the experience.

queen

 

And finally we saw it, this "super ghost" with an unusually high number of blooms. This orchid, the only wild ghost orchid whose location is not kept secret.  Actually, we saw the scope an Audubon volunteer set up for better orchid viewing.  In my vision, I saw the orchid up close, but, in reality, it lives about 150 ft from the boardwalk, 45ft up a 400 year old cypress tree.  Also, in my vision, I was 1 on 1 with the orchid.  In reality, though, the scope was like Grand Central Station. Luckily, I had my big zoom, and Anna had her binoculars, so we were set with pretty good views as we waited our turns at the scope.  

WOW!  I was blown away when I saw the orchid up close.  It's very ethereal and tendril-y and mysterious and sexy, and I'm fairly certain it knows this. I asked why it called me to Corkscrew, dragging me out of bed at 5am to drive 3 hours away.  I wanted to hear something profound and life-changing, and I did. The ghost orchid said simply: "Stop. Be still. Enjoy me." 

The ghost orchid usually blooms in July and August, and I wonder if it will reappear in my dreams next summer.  Will I still need its gentle reminder?  I daresay I probably will.  And, even it doesn't come to me in my sleep, I'll definitely stalk Corkscrew's website until the announcement comes it's time to commune with the orchid once more.