Beauty in the Swamp

We arrived at Cypress Island Preserve as the last sign of the morning fog was lifting.

We first drove along Rookery Road on the eastern border of the Preserve. The first three photos show scenes from the farms and residences along the road.

The bridges (left and below)over the ditches along the road seemed (barely) adequate and would appear to encourage arriving home during daylight hours in a non-impaired state.














When we parked at the Visitors' Center, we saw this majestic oak tree and two small scenes--

this spider web and











this grass-like plant.









The Nature Conser-vancy's Preserve is located just outside Breaux Bridge (LA) "on the western edge of the ancient Mississippi River floodplain.

"The Preserve protects 9,500 acres in one of the best remaining areas of bottomland hardwood forest in the entire lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley" (Preserve brochure).

We stopped along the shoulder of Rookery Road and walked along the road which bordered a cypress tupelo swamp. It was a beautiful sunny day and the reflection of the blue sky appeared to make the swamp appear ready for a "photo shoot" backgroud.

Just beyond the water is the Waterbird Rookery. From the road, we could see some Snowy Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Cormorants, and Anhingas.

Since 2001, this forested area, which supports the majority of nesting waterbirds received a special protective ruling, so the area is closed to all boat traffic between February 15 and July 31.

We were fortunate enough to be able to photograph these white ibis in flight.

















We also walked on the quarter-mile boardwalk through a portion of the cypress tupelo swamp.














The base of the cypress trunks are wider than the rest of the trunk because of the swelling as a result of water absorption.















































Returning to the Visitors' Center, we took these photos of the moss that is found on many of the live oak trees,













this unusual shaped branch on one of the trees, and







this tree with several uniquely-shaped branches.

There is indeed beauty in the swamp.