Apalachicola

The last part of my road-trip was a few days in Apalachicola National Forest and surrounding areas. It is Florida’s largest forest, at just under 600,000 acres. It also has a stellar burn program and the pinelands were a joy to wander. I noticed a bunch of painted white rings on the pines and came to find out they are the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker host trees. The RCW is an endangered species and I was happy to see several of the little guys while exploring the forest. I saw a lot of wildlife, including box and snapping turtles, turkey, deer, water moccasins, a fox squirrel, gators of course, swallow-tailed kites, opossums on a weird quest, maybe for a female, and a gray squirrel/snake scuffle that the squirrel won. Unfortunately, it was also tick abundant;I can put up with mosquitoes, but not ticks.

I was happy to see the bogs with carnivorous plants, the showiest being the pitcher plants. They gain additional nutrition by luring insects to the mouth of the pitcher, where they fall down the slippery walls and can’t get out. The plant then digests the insects and absorbs the good stuff.

Anyways, here are a few of my favorites. Let me know which ones you guys like.

These little carnivorous plants trap insects with sticky drops on their modified leaves.

My new car and home on the road.