 Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Barred Owl perched on a cypress limb. Strix varia, also known as Hoot Owl, is a large raptor owl that can be heard and seen day and night in the Okefenokee Swamp. Birding wildlife photography in the Suwannee Canal Recreation Area of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. Excerpt from the 1875 Okefenokee Exploration by The Atlanta Constitution"I returned to my bed of leaves and slept delightfully, until the startling whang-hoo of an old owl perched in the oak above us, warned us of the approaching day. No one can hardly realize how startling this noise is at the first blush, except the man who had camped in a swamp, and had one of the hideous creatures to whoop unexpectedly very near him. We were very thankful, however, to this fellow for his kindness, for we desired a very early start, and it is doubtful if any of us would have opened our eyes before sunrise." – C.R.P. - The Atlanta Constitution, September 30, 1875. In 1875, The Atlanta Constitution published the dramatic headline: “We now announce to our readers, and the people of Georgia, that we are fitting up an expedition for a complete and thorough exploration of Okefinokee. The full details of the plan and expedition will be published soon – if they come out alive.” Over the next months, the paper released many exciting stories from the Okefenokee Swamp.
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Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Tater Rake Run Kayak trail directional sign in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia USA. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Suwannee River Recreation Area.  Tater Rake Run canoe and kayak boat trail through Chesser Prairie in Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia. Excerpt from Francis Harper's Mammals of the Okefinokee Swamp, published March 1927:
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message
Male River Cooter turtle basking on a stump in the water. Wildlife conservation photography on Chesser Prairie in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Pseudemys concinna is a freshwater turtle in the southeast United States. Males have longer nails than females.
On the third and final day of our October 2020 Okefenokee trek, we broke camp early in the morning, loaded the car and canoe, and left Stephen C Foster State Park. We drove over an hour around the southern end of the Okefenokee, across a bit of Florida, and back north to the eastern entrance of the Okefenokee at the Suwannee Canal Recreation area. Here lies the Refuge Headquarters and the Richard S Bolt Visitor Center.
The first 1.5 miles ae along a straight, somewhat boring, man-made canal. I can imagine some first-time visitors may be less than thrilled with the Okefenokee visit if this is all they see. Especially if they are not used to paddling and turn around before reaching one of the beautiful prairies on this eastern side of the Swamp.
Okefenokee Swamp prairie ecosystem. Landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants, cypress trees, Spanish Moss and water lily pads. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA.
Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, on a Bidens wildflower near Okefenokee Hooded Pitcher Plants on Chesser Prairie. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA.
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Kayak trail directional sign reflection in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia USA for Grand Prairie, Chesser Prairie, Monkey Lake, Buzzard Roost and Gannet Lake. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Suwannee River Recreation Area. Of all the wonderful natural places within driving distance of my home, why do I find myself making repeated trips to the Okefenokee Swamp? The foothills of the Appalachians are just three hours away and countless Georgia State Parks are within range of a day trip. So why hit the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge two, three, four times a year? I’m not sure, other than to say I’m captivated. Perhaps it is the plentitude of options within the Okefenokee. From the Stephen C Foster State Park launch, one can paddle east to Billy’s Island; or north to the alligator congregations on Minnie’s Lake and Big Water; or brave the tricky navigation westward through The Narrows and onto The Sill. From the Kingfisher Landing entrance, you can explore the narrow scrub waterway northward on the red trail toward Double Lakes, or enjoy the prairies and pitcher plants of Durdin Prairie. And vast, beautiful prairies and lakes lie in every direction from the Suwannee Canal entrance.
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Methane gas under decomposed organic peat causes peat blowups, forming mud peat batteries where herbs and grasses grow. Peat batteries form hammocks of trees, or houses, shown on the horizon in this photograph. Neverwet, maidencane and other plants and wildflowers grow on peat islands. Indian name Okefenokee means trembling earth, because of these peat islands. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Although fiction, this excerpt from the 1895 adventure novel, In the Okefenokee: A Story of War Time and the Great Georgia Swamp, is a perfect illustration of why the Okefenokee is named The Land of Trembling Earth:
Pendleton, Louis. In the Okefenokee: A Story of War Time and the Great Georgia Swamp. United States, Roberts Brothers, 1895.  Okefenokee Swamp Hooded Pitcher Plants on Chesser Prairie. Sarracenia minor okefenokeensis is a carnivorous plant native to North America in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Green and red tubes with domed lids. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Okefenokee Swamp landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants and water lily pads. Cypress houses and hammocks on the horizon. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. An excerpt from Suwannee River, Strange Green Land by Cecile Hulse Matschat, 1938. "The prairies – the swamp folk’s name for the open flooded marshes – are filled with a tropical luxuriance of water plants and resemble wide grassy meadows. They are dotted with wooded islets, commonly called ‘houses’ because they have enough dry land to furnish camp sites for the hunters of deer, bear, wildcats, raccoon, otter, and other small animals that live in the swamp. Maiden cane growls in dense green masses three or four feet high, and there rice rats and Florida water rats, together with the bittern, make their nests. Katydids sway on the green tips in the sunshine and dive from them into the cool water. Gators travel over the prairies from one pool to another, through acres of white and gold water lilies, beds of cream-white arrowheads and bluish pickerelweed. They are often the swamper’s trail blazers; the boatman finds easier poling down the lanes that the gators have opened through the thick reeds and water plants.” Page 34 Cecile Matschat’s work published in 1938 by the Literary Guild of America is full of colorful stories of the Swampers that lived in the Okefenokee, exciting folklore encounters with bear, boar and cannibal alligators, as well as scientific descriptions of the flora and fauna of the great swamp. It a worthwhile purchase if you come across a used copy of this collectible out-of-print treasure of Okefenokee literature. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Okefenokee Swamp prairie ecosystem. Landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants, cypress trees, Spanish Moss and water lily pads. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. The swamplands and marshes of Georgia and Florida are similar in appearance: vast, wide, flat, void of defined travelways, and extremely hot and humid much of the year. Dead-end runs and a lack of landmarks were a much greater hazard before the days of satellite GPS. This excerpt from Clifton Johnson's 1918 narrative called The Everglades, is typical of swamps like the Okefenokee:
Johnson, Clifton. (1918). "The Everglades". From Highways and Byways of Florida. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company. https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/70/florida-essays-and-poems/4358/the-everglades/ Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Kayak trail directional sign in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia USA for Chase Prairie, Grand Prairie, Prairie Lakes and Chesser Prairie. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Suwannee River Recreation Area.  Okefenokee Swamp prairie ecosystem. Landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants, cypress trees, Spanish Moss and water lily pads. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA.  Okefenokee Swamp prairie ecosystem. Landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants, cypress trees, Spanish Moss and water lily pads. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA.  Okefenokee Swamp prairie ecosystem. Landscape panorama of Chesser Prairie. Blue sky and clouds over Neverwet Golden Club plants, cypress trees, Spanish Moss and water lily pads. Canoe paddling trail through the National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Alligator tail showing tall epidermal scutes scales. Alligators have a powerful laterally compressed tail that helps them swim. Some people eat alligator meat. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. An alligator is a whole lot of tail! Full of muscle and strength, the tail makes up half of an alligator’s total length and is designed for efficient swimming. The tail is laterally compressed (which means it is taller than it is wider) and is topped with tall crests of epidermal scales. This design means it can efficiently propel itself through water… sometimes quite rapidly! The tail moves in a wide, serpentine, side-to-side swishing and a trail of wake and small whirlpools follows a quickly swimming gator.The frequency of undulations increases the velocity of the alligator. The tail is the primary motor and rudder. According to studies, it is the “main propulsive effector of surface-swimming.” In fact, while swimming, the limbs are primarily folded along the alligator’s side and contribute little to the thrust and steering. Fish, F. E. (1984). "Kinematics of undulatory swimming in the American alligator" (PDF). Copeia. 1984 (4): 839–43.  An American Alligator`s feet are covered in scales and have sharp claws. Alligators have five partially webbed toes on both front legs and four webbed toes on the back legs. Alligator feet have been used as good luck charms for magical powers. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message
An excerpt from Suwannee River, Strange Green Land by Cecile Hulse Matschat, 1938.
Cone shaped Bald Cypress tree knees covered in green moss in a dark swamp. Taxodium distichum and Taxodium ascendens have knees from the roots for stability in wetland habitats. Photographed on the Middle Fork Suwannee River red canoe trail in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.
"In the weird, hobgoblin world of the bays there is perpetual twilight. Even at midday, with a brilliant sun overhead, only an occasional ray pierces the thick green roof of the jungle, spotting the brown water with flecks of gold and lightening the blue of the iris that blooms in the marginal shallows. The bottle-shaped trunks of these cypresses, often twelve feet in diameter at the base and a scant two feet in diameter above the swelling, where they begin to tower symmetrically toward the sky, gleam in tints of olive, silver, violet, and odd greens and blues. Their dark roots protrude above the surface of the water, either arched like bows or in groups of knees. Seeing this malformed forest in the strange green light, one might expect it to be the home of gnomes, with beards and humps." Pages 30-31.
Cecile Matschat’s work published in 1938 by the Literary Guild of America is full of colorful stories of the Swampers that lived in the Okefenokee, exciting folklore encounters with bear, boar and cannibal alligators, as well as scientific descriptions of the flora and fauna of the great swamp. It a worthwhile purchase if you come across a used copy of this collectible out-of-print treasure of Okefenokee literature. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  American Alligator with vertically elliptical pupil staring from swamp water and lily pads. Wildlife photography from the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. Although a work of fiction, the description of the Okefenokee Swamp in Louis Pendleton's novel is quite accurate! An excerpt from the 1895 adventure novel, In the Okefenokee: A Story of War Time and the Great Georgia Swamp:
Pendleton, Louis. In the Okefenokee: A Story of War Time and the Great Georgia Swamp. United States, Roberts Brothers, 1895. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message An excerpt from Suwannee River, Strange Green Land by Cecile Hulse Matschat, 1938.  Bald Cypress tree buttress with Spanish Moss in blackwater swamp with lily pads. Nature photography from the Middle Fork Suwannee River (red trail), Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. October 23, 2020. ©www.williamwisephoto.com “The birthplace of the Suwannee is in Georgia, deep in the somber heart of the Okefenokee Swamp. Grotesque, bottle-shaped cypress trees, sixty to ninety feet in height, with wide-spreading tops, reach upward from the wine-colored water and form a canopy so dense that only a weird green light dapples the floor of the forest. Everywhere long banners of Spanish Moss hang down from the living trees, hiding their feathery foliage from the sight of man and covering up dead stumps.” Cecile Matschat’s work published in 1938 by the Literary Guild of America is full of colorful stories of the Swampers that lived in the Okefenokee, exciting folklore encounters with bear, boar and cannibal alligators, as well as scientific descriptions of the flora and fauna of the great swamp. It a worthwhile purchase if you come across a used copy of this collectible out-of-print treasure of Okefenokee literature. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Alligators have large external ears that can hear above water and sense vibration under water. The ears are covered by a watertight ear flap seen as a slit just behind the eye that the alligator can open and shut. Bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very tough and hard. Large alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.  An American Alligator`s feet are covered in scales and have sharp claws. Alligators have five partially webbed toes on both front legs and four webbed toes on the back legs. Alligator feet have been used as good luck charms for magical powers. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.  An American Alligator`s body hide is covered in watertight scales. Alligators have bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very tough and hard. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.  An American Alligator`s body and tail is covered in scales. Alligators have bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very tough and hard. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.  Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message DAY 2 - THE RED TRAIL Eastern Phoebe songbird perched in a cypress swamp. Sayornis phoebe breeds in North America. Birding wildlife photography from the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. Being our only full day for this three-day excursion, we paddled up the Middle Fork Suwannee River (red trail). I wanted to show David some of the beautiful, darker, greener areas of the cypress swamp. • Friday, October 23, 2020  Bald Cypress tree buttress with Spanish Moss in blackwater swamp with lily pads. Nature photography from the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA.  A juvenile American Alligator showing detail of scales, integumentary sensory organs, vertically elliptical pupil. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. Upon our return toward evening, storm clouds began to gather over Billy's Lake. We could see sheets of rain pouring from the clouds off in the distance, but only received a light sprinkling as we toiled at the oars to get back to the Stephen C Foster State Park boat ramp.  A Pied-billed Grebe swimming among maidencane and Spatterdock Yellow Bonnet Lily Pads in the Okefenokee Swamp. Podilymbus podiceps, also called a dabchick, is a duck like water fowl. Wildlife birding photography on Billy`s Lake in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia, USA. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  An American Alligator`s body hide is covered in hard, boney watertight scales. Alligators have bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very tough and hard. American Alligator photographed in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia USA. All along its back - from neck to tail - the American Alligator is armored with bony scales called osteoderms. Also called scutes – derived from a Latin word meaning “shield” - these osteoderms are arranged in rows below the alligator’s thick, leathery skin. Each osteoderms is almost square-like and has a high ridge through the middle of the upper surface called a keel. The rows of keels are what give the alligator that “spiked” appearance. Not only do the osteoderms act as protective armor, but they also help with thermoregulation. The osteoderms are porous, and not solid bone. They are networked with blood vessels and can act as heat exchangers to warm up or cool down this “cold-blooded”, or ectothermic, reptile. Chen IH, Yang W, Meyers MA. Alligator osteoderms: mechanical behavior and hierarchical structure. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2014;35:441-448. doi:10.1016/j.msec.2013.11.024 |
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