The mission of one of our field trips was to find a red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW), a rare bird found only in certain habitats (The trees they use to nest must be 80 years old or older). We ended up 11 miles down a dirt road in Big Cypress Preserve.
Although I wish I was close enough to the woodpeckers to take this shot, this is actually a carved one found at Rookery Bay. It also shows the sap running down the tree, these are one of only a few types of woodpeckers that nests in living trees versus snags. The sap helps protect the birds and their young from climbing predators, such as snakes.
This is an actual hole in the tree, if you look really closely at the photo you can see a hole in the tree with the sap running down. They mark the trees with pink tape. We saw two or three of the RCWs and heard them calling to each other. Success!
Before finding the woodpeckers, we went searching for radio-collared Fox Squirrels - a large species of squirrels, also endangered and rare. I got to use the tracking device and follow the sounds to find a pretty female squirrel. And the sounds led us right to.....
the swamp! Chris and I faithfully followed our leader (who had located the squirrel the day before and helped me use the locater) into and through the swamp! We had not read the memo to wear shoes that could get wet...so we both ended up trudging through the water past our knees in our pants and tennis shoes...luckily we were able to wear our sandals the rest of the trip! A couple of the other people on the trip opted to stay on higher ground...but I had my important assignment of tracking and was concentrating on not dropping it in the water! It was actually really fun and worth the soggy clothes. We saw two fox squirrel nests...but I guess she was already in one of the nests so we didn't get to see her. But the journey was definately an experience we will never forget!
Although I wish I was close enough to the woodpeckers to take this shot, this is actually a carved one found at Rookery Bay. It also shows the sap running down the tree, these are one of only a few types of woodpeckers that nests in living trees versus snags. The sap helps protect the birds and their young from climbing predators, such as snakes.
This is an actual hole in the tree, if you look really closely at the photo you can see a hole in the tree with the sap running down. They mark the trees with pink tape. We saw two or three of the RCWs and heard them calling to each other. Success! 
Before finding the woodpeckers, we went searching for radio-collared Fox Squirrels - a large species of squirrels, also endangered and rare. I got to use the tracking device and follow the sounds to find a pretty female squirrel. And the sounds led us right to.....
the swamp! Chris and I faithfully followed our leader (who had located the squirrel the day before and helped me use the locater) into and through the swamp! We had not read the memo to wear shoes that could get wet...so we both ended up trudging through the water past our knees in our pants and tennis shoes...luckily we were able to wear our sandals the rest of the trip! A couple of the other people on the trip opted to stay on higher ground...but I had my important assignment of tracking and was concentrating on not dropping it in the water! It was actually really fun and worth the soggy clothes. We saw two fox squirrel nests...but I guess she was already in one of the nests so we didn't get to see her. But the journey was definately an experience we will never forget!
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