ThIs time we entered the reserve from the west side into Stephen Foster State Park. Here was a different presentation of the swamp. Some savanna, and less densely treed swamp along with open lakes. The effects of forest fires in 2007 and again 2011 remain visible.
On this side is a boardwalk with one section going into the swamp and another skirting the edge and then looping back to be beginning. We arrived early enough to see the morning feed of scores of birds at close range including ibis, egrets, woodpeckers, herons among others.
Later in the afternoon we took a boat tour deeper into the swamp. The temperature was pleasant, in the mid teens Celsius, and the air was still. The guide frequently turned off the engine allowing us to coast, and then to listen. All that could be heard was a ripple of water from the boat and the calls of the birds. The water on the lake we enter in the swamp was quite still. The high concentrations of tannin seem to make the water more reflective.
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