Life in the Bog

Red Rat Snake

The Gulf State Park naturalists did a short program on carnivorous plants earlier this week, and led a trip to the secret bog today to see them in their natural habitat. When the naturalists piled out of the park vehicle, one of them had a beautiful red snake around her neck! She said it was a Red Rat Snake that lives in the nature center.

Juvenile Cottonmouth

It looked just like the snake we found on the trail at Bon Secour yesterday. But when I showed her the picture and mentioned the pale tip on the tale, the naturalists said we had, in fact, seen a juvenile Cottonmouth! She pointed out that the stripes on ours go all the way around, while hers were only on the back.

 This park does a great job with staffing. Our naturalist at the pier the other day was very good too.

As we walked around a lake, scanning for alligators, someone saw this dark colored snake that looked like a log to me. It was a Black-banded Watersnake the naturalist said, and by the bulge in its belly had just eaten a good meal. The non-venomous snakes have stripes on their lower jaw, if you get close enough to see it. Thank goodness for a long zoom lens.

Termite Swarm

 Huge numbers of flying insects swarmed out of a dead stump. Looks like termite swarm photos online.

Raccoon Prints

Bogs are mushy, but don't have a lot of water standing in puddles. We were careful to keep to the work road, or on a deer path. If you step anywhere else your footprint leaves a little puddle, which doesn't help the Pitcher Plants.

Whitetop Pitcher Plants and Blossoms

The park had done a controlled burn in this area last winter, and the Pitcher plants were taking advantage of all the extra sunlight. As we walked, we saw more and more areas of them through the blackened branches. Looking online, I found that these plants are endangered in Georgia, and the park doesn't let people know where these plants are unless led by a naturalist.

I was surprised to learn that the open "pitcher" is actually formed from a flat stem at the bottom.

The beautiful dark red blossoms are on tall stems, and you wouldn't guess they are part of the same plant as the pitcher. The blossoms are usually taller than the pitcher so the pollinators won't fall in and get digested.

The pitcher is hollow with a lid that folds over the tube like an umbrella. If you pull it back, you can see down inside the tube which has a sweet substance to lure in the prey, and downward pointing hairs to keep them from climbing back out again. The lid itself is paper-like in texture rather than being soft and flexible as I expected. This was so cool to see!

Purple Pitcher Plant

The Purple Pitcher plant grows unobtrusively on the ground, and its blossom is shorter as well, but it opens up more and you can see its inside.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

On the way back to the cars, we finally saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker, after hearing them pecking and churring in the woods for several days now.

Ribbon Snake

We almost stepped on this little guy sunning on the sidewalk. The naturalist said he was a juvenile Ribbon Snake. What a day for snakes!

Bald Eagle chicks in nest

 We saw the Osprey nest near the Nature Center the other day, and the Great Horned Owl using an Osprey platform for her chicks. Now we learned that there is an active Bald Eagle nest on park property as well. The ladies in the Park Headquarters graciously gave us directions and we found it with no problem. The area is marked off, of course, but an Eagle Scout candidate built a viewing platform and the trees were trimmed back enough that everyone could see them. The chicks weren't interested in us, of course, but watched for a parent to return with a fish. Looks like these will be ready to fledge any day now!