Preserving and protecting the water resources and natural communities of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed
Free guided walks are offered each Wednesday from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. each season (November through Easter).
Volunteer naturalists will lead a small group along the shell path to our boardwalk while discussing the history of Bird Rookery Swamp, the purpose of the watershed, the importance of the aquifer and the flora and fauna of this unique ecosystem.
Registration is required, to sign up click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2014-15-bird-rookery-swamp-guided-walks-registration-15291652745
Join our special guest Roger Hammer, for an entertaining and informative wildflower walk at CREW Marsh Trails April 18th from 9-12pm .
Registration is required. Click on the link to sign up: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/spring-wildflower-walk-with-roger-hammer-2015-tickets-12665985303
Roger is an award-winning professional naturalist, author of Everglades Wildflowers and Florida Icons, botanist and photographer. He has spent many days on the CREW trails – and all over Florida – searching for new species and photographing flowers for his new book. His stories and depth of knowledge will delight and inspire you.
FAQs
Is there an age limit for the event? This event is for adults and children over 12.
What are the parking/facilities like at the trails? There is a grassy parking lot at the trail head. There is one portable restroom at the trail head.
What are the trails like? The trails are mostly grassy/sandy ground level trails with some boardwalks over wet areas. Expect seasonally wet/muddy places on the trails during the rainy season (July – November).
Below are first hand observations from our volunteer Dick Brewer. Who does weekly visits to Bird Rookery Swamp and very week sends us incredible stories of the magical 12 mile loop. If you would like to see more of his observations visit: http://www.dickbrewer.org/CREW.html
Saturday March 14th- The numbers of species and individuals were larger than normal because I walked nearly eight hours and the hike was around the 12.25-mile loop.
The really large number for Glossy Ibis came when three V flights of about 22-24 each flew over at the same time — pretty awesome sight! The Barred Owl was an audio rather than visual observation, from between markers 4 and 5. The number of gators counted is not a typo; there were lots and lots of them including three clutches of six or seven month olds still staying close to their mothers. So much happening at Bird Rookery Swamp.
![gator_mom-babies_0314[1]](https://i0.wp.com/crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/gator_mom-babies_03141-240x300.jpg?resize=240%2C300&ssl=1)
BIRDS-
Anhinga – 12
Great Blue Heron – 11
Great Egret – 54
Snowy Egret – 10
Little Blue Heron – 15
Tri-colored Heron – 6
Green Heron – 4
Black-crowned Night Heron – 6
Yellow-crowned Night Heron – 1
White Ibis – 93
Glossy Ibis – 74
Wood Stork – 10
Black Vulture – 53
Turkey Vulture – 20
Swallow-tailed Kite – 1
Red-shouldered Hawk – 20
Common Gallinule – 1
Common Ground Dove – 3
Barred Owl – 1
Belted Kingfisher – 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 20
Downy Woodpecker – 3
Pileated Woodpecker – 4
Eastern Phoebe – 5
Great-crested Flycatcher – 13
American Crow – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 7
Carolina Wren – 33
Gray Catbird – 24
White-eyed Vireo – 28
Northern Waterthrush – 1
Black-and-white Warbler – 1
Pine Warbler – 1
Palm Warbler – 2
Northern Parula – 8
Common Yellowthroat – 2
Northern Cardinal – 20
Common Grackle – 9
BUTTERFLIES
Palamedes Swallowtail – 13
Spicebush Swallowtail – 9
Tiger Swallowtail – 4
Gulf Fritillary – 4
Zebra Longwing – 22
White Peacock – 13
Queen – 2
Soldier – 2
Pearl Crescent – 2
Tropical Checker – 6
Great Southern White – 4
Cloudless Sulphur – 1
OTHER
White-tailed Deer – 1
Gray Squirrel – 3
Red-bellied Turtle – 16
Florida Soft-shelled Turtle – 1
Banded Water Snake – 4
Water Moccasin – 1
Yellow Rat Snake – 1
Alligator – 273
Southeastern Five-lined Skink – 1
Green Anole – 1
Green Treefrog – 2
Cuban Treefrog – 3
Squirrel Treefrog – 2
Needham’s Skimmer – 8
![Epondhawk_0314[1]](https://i0.wp.com/crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Epondhawk_03141-300x240.jpg?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1)
CWSF_Flyer_2015
Below are first hand observations from our volunteer Dick Brewer. He does weekly visits to Bird Rookery Swamp and very week sends us incredible stories of the magical 12 mile loop. If you would like to see more of his observations visit: http://www.dickbrewer.org/CREW.html
“Saturday, February 21st- Fun day for River Otters. One was just past Ida’s pond where I’ve seen it before. It came up on land, rolled in some leaves, and went to the base of a tree. Then, it jumped into ferns at the base of the tree. I didn’t know that otters could jump. It was pulling dead vegetation out and eventually made a small pile of leaves and vegetations and then
marked its territory.
The second group was a family by the dual culverts between markers 6 & 3. There was a large gator dozing by the entrance to one of the culverts and the otters were apparently teaching the young about predators. They were huffing, snorting, and barking and then harassed the gator by dashing at it and in a few cases touching its hindquarters. The gator finally had enough and raised its head, at which time all of the otters dispersed, still very noisy. A couple of bikers came by and were totally entertained.
BIRDS
Pied-billed Grebe – 1
Anhinga – 9
Great Blue Heron – 7
Great Egret – 35
Snowy Egret – 3
Little Blue Heron – 4
Tri-colored Heron – 2
Green Heron – 1
Black-crowned Night Heron – 21
Yellow-crowned Night Heron – 1
White Ibis – 91
Glossy Ibis – 1
Wood Stork – 1
Black Vulture – 13
Turkey Vulture – 18
Red-shouldered Hawk – 12
Osprey – 1
Killdeer – 1
Common Ground Dove – 1
Belted Kingfisher – 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 7
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Pileated Woodpecker – 2
Eastern Phoebe – 8
Great-crested Flycatcher – 3
Tree Swallow – 56
Tufted Titmouse – 4
Carolina Wren – 14
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 19
Northern Mockingbird – 3
Gray Catbird – 6
White-eyed Vireo – 6
Black-and-white Warbler – 1
Palm Warbler – 11
Northern Cardinal – 2
Common Grackle – 4
BUTTERFLIES
Palamedes Swallowtail – 1
Zebra Longwing – 11
Queen – 2
Viceroy – 2
White Peacock – 15
Gulf Fritillary – 1
Dorantes Longtail – 2
Dun Skipper – 1
Tropical Checker – 2
Barred Yellow – 1
OTHER
River Otter – 8
Gray Squirrel – 2
Red-bellied Turtle – 11
Banded Water Snake – 3
Water Moccasin – 2
Alligator – 84 ”
Visit Bird Rookery Swamp today and experience the beauty of CREW: https://crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/2013/06/26/bird-rookery-swamp-trail/
It’s often apoptosis, a term that comes from plant kingdom where the Greek apoptosis originally meant the loss of petals of leaves. Now, it can refer to both the plant and animal kingdoms and is also called Programmed Cell Death (PCD).
Cells in plants and animals can self-destruct when they are no longer needed or if they are damaged. For plants, this achieves and maintains stability within the internal environment when it is dealing with external changes.
Natural PCD (not caused by external factors) includes the timely death of petals after fertilization and the senescence of leaves. Host-controlled PCD is also a means of resistance to pathogens. Cells challenged by pathogens initiate a hypersensitive response, which is a rapid PCD process that is activated in order to inhibit the spread of invading pathogen.
PCD in plants has a number of molecular similarities to animal apoptosis, but it also has differences. The most obvious is the lack of an immune system to remove the pieces of the dead cell.
Greatly simplified, instead of an immune response, an enzyme is activated that destroys the central vacuole (a bubble-like cavity) in the plant cell, which is followed by disintegration of the rest of the cell. This creates a protective, dead “envelope” around the pathogen to limit its spread. This is what may appear on some leaves as a yellow and brown blotch.
Some examples of apoptosis in the animal kingdom include the resorption of the tadpole tail at the time of its metamorphosis into a frog, the removal of tissue between fingers and toes of the fetus as it develops, the elimination of T cells that might otherwise mount an autoimmune attack on the body, and during the pupal stage of insects that undergo a complete metamorphosis, the death of most of the cells of the larva which provide nutrients for the development of the adult structures.
For more than you would ever want to know about apoptosis, visit
http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr/pdf/
For a simpler explanation of apoptosis, visit
http://science.howstuffworks.
Can you identify the plant in this photo?
This plant, with its feathery foliage and towering stature, grows alongside the trail out at the CREW Marsh Trails. The trails get a lot of visitors this time of year, especially 3rd graders from Collier County as part of their field trips to CREW. Schoolchildren visit CREW with their teachers and spend half of their morning on a nature hike, guided by our very own Jessi Drummond, who leads them through stops that feature explanations about prescribed burns, how to identify poison ivy and why it’s an important food source for deer, and even, if they are lucky, investigating scat (most often Bobcat scat). The other half of their field trip is spent dip netting and identifying the different living organisms in their water samples. The kids then have lunch, and leave- hopefully- with a pretty clear idea of why the watershed is important, with discussions that focus on habitat, the water cycle, and how the marshlands help clean our water.
This plant that is pictured above is one of our sensory teaching tools. Jessi stops with the students, takes off a few leaves, and passes them around to the students. “What do you smell?” she asks as little hands eagerly shoot up in the air. The students share that they smell everything from licorice to mint, and Jessi then lets them know that she smells pickles when she smells this plant which is Dog Fennel. Tying in their senses- hearing, touch, smell, sight- is an important part of the field trip for so many kids who just don’t spend enough time outside.
Education is a very important part of our mission at CREW, and this year, we’ve got a fundraising campaign for the month of December. Our goal is to raise $25,000, and an end-of-year gift from you, our supporters and members, can make that happen. It’s part of #GivingTuesday, an effort by many non-profits nationwide to remind everyone that after Black Friday and Cyper Monday, sometimes it’s nice to find a way to give back and pay it forward. Your donation will help further our education efforts at CREW and support all of our educational programs, including our field trips.
You can find out more about our #GivingTuesday campaign on our website (https://crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/11/10/6996/). All donors receive a link to a special set of photographs of our CREW wildlife and donors at higher levels can receive special goodies, like tickets to our Concert and Silent Eco-Auction in March.
Next time you are out on the CREW Marsh Trails, watch out for the Dog Fennel, and take a moment to appreciate how this plant on the side of the trail has such a huge impact on 3rd graders in Collier County.
– Anne Reed
Ever wonder what that 5,000-acre marsh that you can see from the overlook at the CREW Marsh trails looks like out in the middle? Take this virtual ride on an airboat through the Corkscrew Marsh, the headwaters to the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) and you will see.
This is where much of southwest Florida’s drinking water gets stored and cleaned by nature within the watershed and where wading birds nest, limpkins and snail kites forage, and alligators raise their young. Notice the patchwork of sawgrass, open water with water lilies, tree islands, and big beautiful sky! The CREW project team (land managers, biologists) recorded this ride in August of 2014. Video by Tiffany and Dan Thornhill.
On August 5th, 2014, Governor Rick Scott announced during a press conference at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary that he’s working with Florida Audubon to purchase key parcels of land within the CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed). The $20 million pledge would be from the Florida Forever Trust Fund and will be spent in Southwest Florida, with CREW lands being the primary goal. CREW has been on the Florida Forever acquisition list since 1991. Click here for a DEP fact sheet about CREW and Florida Forever.
One parcel that is of particular interest is the Gargiulo Land Trust – a 600-acre parcel near Corkscrew Sanctuary and Bird Rookery Swamp. CREW Trust Chairman of the Board, Ben Nelson, attended the announcement with Gov. Scott. “Our concentration has been on that particular piece because we knew it was available and it wouldn’t be available for long,” said Nelson. “That was the one that was our focus.” The Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council adopted a resolution on August 14th supporting CREW land acquisition by Florida Forever funds.
This all comes as good news to the CREW Trust, which has worked for 25 years to protect and preserve this watershed through land acquisition, management, and education.
Visitors and volunteers to CREW’s Bird Rookery Swamp got a shock on Wednesday, March 5th, when they discovered two resident water moccasins had been killed – heads smashed – and left by the side of the trail. The two moccasins had been visible sunning themselves on a log or by the base of a tree for weeks in the same spot near the old railroad tie exhibit along the south tram. They had become regular sightings as well as a good teaching tool for guided walks. Then, suddenly, they were dead – killed on purpose by humans.
It is beyond our comprehension that any visitor who cares at all about the environment and the wildlife of Bird Rookery Swamp would think it OK to take the lives of two creatures who make their home there. While snakes are often the objects of fear for many humans, they rarely strike at people who keep their distance and respect their space. These two snakes belonged in Bird Rookery Swamp, maintaining the balance of nature and acting in the role they were born to play. Now, they are gone.
The primary purpose of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) project is to protect the land, water, and wildlife resources within the watershed. Recreation and public access is a secondary goal. Water and wildlife come first – always. So, it is the responsibility of each visitor to be respectful and to give all wildlife (and plants) the space they need to go about their business with the least stress possible. That means giving the alligators a wide berth (and NOT throwing sticks at them), being careful not to step on snakes crossing the trail, keeping dogs on leash and children under control, and taking photographs from a respectful distance. Our personal safety and the safety and well-being of all the animals which reside there is the responsibility of each and and every person who visits the trails. Educate your friends and family. Do your part. Be respectful. Leave the animals to live their lives in relative peace.
FWC law enforcement officers do patrol the CREW trails, but they can’t be there at all times, so it is up to each visitor to honor the place and the animals and show the respect they deserve. If you see anyone harming plants or animals within CREW, please report the violation immediately to the FWC Hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922). Information leading to an arrest can make you eligible for up to a $1000 reward.
Let’s make sure the trails remain open to the public by protecting the animals that live there and share their space with us!
