Sunday, July 20, 2008

Caroni Swamp Bird Sanctuary

The tours of the swamp start at 4:00 pm and end about 6:15 pm, just before dark. They asked several times if we had bug spray. Yes, there were mosquitoes and they bit me through my clothes where I hadn't sprayed! The swamp is full of mangrove trees of three varieties. We saw no other kind of tree, since they need to grow in the mud and the water. The literature talks about a visitors center. At first we thought this must be it, but no, it was a ways down the road and it had docks and a small lake by it, but it was closed. We walked around it for a few minutes before the tour got under way.


Our tour group as we are leaving the dock. We had the cutest set of twins behind us that chatted with us during the 2 hour tour.
The dock

Termite nests are in many of the trees. They are food for many of the birds. We saw snakes up in the trees, a small alligator, an iguana lying on a branch, tiny 4 eyed fish swimming in the water. Two eyes are above the water and 2 below. So much of what we saw was too far away to get good pictures.

The roots from the mangrove trees come down from the limbs above.

We sat at the front of the boat, which was great when the guide addressed us.
True birdwatchers can hang out here.

One of the many birds found in the Caroni Swamp. We didn't see as many varieties of birds as we had hoped, but I am sure on a different day, it would be different.

We wove in and out of several of the channels that run through the swamp. The swamp goes right up to the edge of the ocean. The fresh water rivers empty into this swamp and you can see the various currents. We were there at low tide. It raises up over 2 feet during high tide.

This boat came up by us as we were waiting for the birds to fly over and caused some of the flocks to alter their course.


This why we visited the Caroni Swamp bird sanctuary, to see the scarlet ibis. They have a wing span of 31-36". They are bright red with black on the tips of their wings. In the evening, they return to the nesting sight as we sit below in the boat watching them fly overhead. We aren't allowed near the nesting sites. It is about 5:30 pm when we took this picture. We took lots of pictures of them, but because they are so far away, it doesn't look as impressive at it was to watch them fly over in masses and we could see their beautiful red color.

1 comment:

Laurene Ross said...

You guys are having an awesome experience. I am so glad you are documenting it this way. How glorious are our Heavenly Fathers creations. Thanks for sharing