Brooker Creek adventure!

I think my favorite place that we visited this semester was Brooker Creek. I was shocked and delighted by the amount of wildlife we encountered. If there was ever a field trip where I thought I was on the Magic School Bus it would be this one for sure! Brooker Creek is mostly forested wetlands and pine flatwoods. The park is kind of off the beaten path but worth the drive for a truly "Florida"
experience. The park is surrounded by urban development but it has in no way disturbed its charm and beauty. Once used for citrus and cattle the land is now home to an all star line up of Florida wildlife. While we were there we were lucky enough to see, not one, not two but three snakes, and an alligator! The first snake was a harmless Coluber constrictor priapus, commonly known as the southern black racer and he was peacefully chilling on the banks of Brooker Creek. The other one however, was coiled and looking to kill... and being the fierce Agkistrodon piscivorus (commonly known as a cottonmouth) I'd say he had a pretty good chance at it. Beautiful, fantastic creature with impeccably camouflaged skin; I thoroughly enjoyed getting a glimpse of him in his natural habitat (last bit in an Australian accent:). But by far the best part of the whole trip was when we all tried to push on through the one time trail and now part time swamp near the end of the trek. Hats off to the few class mates who boldly walked ahead and were covered in good ol' Florida muck! All I remember is Dr. G shouting " Just remember everyone you're going to look back on this adventure and smile!". She was so right! I loved this class and thoroughly enjoyed every informative second of Dr. G's lectures and fabulous field trips...but this one was my favorite!