Cypress Swamp

This morning we finished all the house painting that needed doing, and we are now ready for the new floors. I shall probably absent myself during this procedure. This afternoon, I took myself back to the pond I blipped yesterday, and walked along a path that runs between the pond and the Rainbow River. I took a chance on the weather, as rain was forecast, and I had to wait for odd moments of sun, as it was very dark in the swampy area in which I found myself. i saw wood duck, and a black crowned heron, but they saw me first, and I missed them. However the Cypress swamps are lovely, and that is my picture today. Cypress swamps are the most common and widespread of Florida's still water swamps. These swamps occur where depressions expose the shallow water table. In North Florida, they are scattered throughout a matrix of flatwoods and pine plantations. The impermeable clay layers which underlie this landscape are found beneath these swamps as well. In South Florida, they occupy depressions in the mineral soil underlain by marl and limestone bedrock. Cypress swamps are characterized by pond cypress, bald cypress, black gum, coastal plain willow, and red maple. The birds they support are too many to name, and there are otter, white tailed deer, mink and raccoon. The Florida Black Bear is an endangered species now, but is still to be seen, as is the Wood Stork