April 2002
Water Conservation Area 3A, Hidden Canal Colony just east of Big Cypress National Park along highway 41

Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, are deciduous evergreens.  That is during the beginning of the dry season they lose their leaves to
decrease evapotransporation (desiccation).  That's why this swamp is muddy.
It is believed that when the Carolina Parakeets, Conuropsis carolinensis, were extant throughout the eastern U.S. Bald Cypress seeds were
spread far and wide via it's droppings.  This was due to the fact that these birds had bill that could open the cones and were fond of the seeds.
Unfortunately, people and parakeets had major conflicts because the birds foraged on orchards and corn crops and the last known Carolina
Parakeet died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo.  
Are there no bird species left that can disseminate Bald Cypress seeds beyond the swamp as well as this parakeet could?