Birding at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Another 200 bird species, including the largest of Florida's common woodpeckers, the pileated, with its red crest and black and white feather pattern.

Cardinals, too, are common, and look for white ibis, green herons, anhingas, great blue herons and limpkins. Other winter visitors include catbirds, phoebes and ruby-crowned ringlets.

Corkscrew Swamp also is home to the largest remaining sub-tropical old-growth bald-cypress forest in the United States.

Bald cypress here tower 130-feet high and are as much as 700 years old. These are the oldest trees in all of eastern North America.

To locate Corkscrew Swamp, take Exit 17 from I-75 and go east on State Road 846 for about 16 miles. A sign leading to the swamp will be on the left. The facility opens at 7 a.m. December through April, and at 8 a.m. May through November. The boardwalk closes at 5 p.m. year-round.