Calusa Nature Center

During the summer, I worked as a camp counselor for the Calusa Nature Center. I've also done my community service hours at Calusa that are required for Colloquium. Calusa is a non-profit education center that is located in Fort Myers. Calusa is located on 105 acres of wilderness and swamplands. It includes a museum, a Planetarium, nature trails, a butterfly aviary and a bird aviary. I'd never really known that much about the environment or about nature before I began working at Calusa. We learned about all the different mammals like the bobcat, raccoons, opossums, pigs and the foxes. The bird aviary was filled with owls, eagles, hawks and vultures. 

In the actual museum, there are reptiles and amphibians. There are three different nature trails at Calusa. One of the trails is a raised boardwalk that takes you along some of the wetlands. My favorite part was learning each animal's individual story. For almost all of the birds and mammals, Calusa only takes in injured animals. There was a one eyed owl, a raccoon that had been raised as a domestic animal, and a bobcat that was malnutritioned. We learned a lot about the environment, recycling, and the animals. 

Estero Bay Field Trip

On October 11, our Colloquium class took a trip to the Estero Bay Historic Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve. As soon as we got off the bus, we were taken into the cottage and were seated. An older woman began talking to us about the history of the Estero Bay and discussed the many changes that have taken place in the last fifty or so years. She had lived on the island her entire life so she was a first hand witness to the changes that had taken place. She passed around pictures of bridges that have been built and hurricane damage that has occurred. There was something about hearing it from someone who has actually experienced the changes that Estero Bay had to undertake. It made it more realistic than simply reading about it in a book. The cottage had been used as a school house for the children of the community. After the presentation, she offered us lemonade, cookies, crackers, and sea grape jelly. I think the snacks were everyone's favorite part. 

After the refreshments, we walked along the boardwalk until we reached the bay. The waters were calm but Neil pointed out the cloudiness of the water. The water was a brown murky color and it was difficult to see the bottom, even in shallow waters.