Blue Cypress Lake Fla.

[SMB2]

Blue Cypress Conservation area and Lake lie West of Vero Beach Fla. It is the headwater for the St. Johns River and remains completely undeveloped. There are no houses around the lake accept for one small fishing village. About 41/2 miles across the average depth is 2 feet! Water sports other than fishing are kept in check by the alligators and snakes.
But Ospreys thrive here, building giant nests in the century old cypress trees and fishing the lake. Competitors like Bald Eagles have been driven off.
Windy weather made long lens photography from a boat somewhat challenging but it was amazing to see such a magical place.

We have lots of Ospreys nesting here in Virginia, but the lake is really about the beautiful habitat and that is somewhat hard to capture photographically.

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[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Stan, that place is magical. If only you had have still water in the first two shots for the reflection. I love the old trees and they are so hard to find. I want to go.
Pat

[SMB2]

Pat I'll send you the info, but as we talked about, I would wait to see if the area gets some rain and raises the water level.
In a month or se the place should be jumping with chicks.

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat I'll send you the info, but as we talked about, I would wait to see if the area gets some rain and raises the water level.
In a month or se the place should be jumping with chicks.

I will Stan, Florida has become a power keg. My front yard is a sand pit, need rain desperately but the real rain starts in June.
Pat

[Discus-n00b]

These are great! The Cypress remind me of Conagree Swamp here, been dying to get down there to shoot it after winter. IMO some of the most personable trees out there. Looks like it's perfect there for the Ospreys! They probably benefit from all of that spanish moss holding up the nests and requiring less material.

[Clawhammer]

Stunning pictures of an incredibly unique environment. Thanks for sharing!

[SMB2]

Thanks Eric.

Matt, almost every tree has a massive nest. The older pairs have been working on them for years. There is so much food that squabbles among Osprey generally occur over the women and territory.
Each tree is an island, so free of racoons etc. The only predators are probably Owls.

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[Second Hand Pat]

Looks like the weight of nest have dwarfed the trees?
Pat

[Poppa Ryno]

What Wonderful pics. It surely must be enchanting. I would love to fish there.

[brewmaster15]

Stan,
Those are some really beautiful shots, not just the Osprey, but the habitat. Thats one of the things that I love about Florida!

al

[brewmaster15]

Looks like the weight of nest have dwarfed the trees?
Pat

Hi Pat,
It does look like that but thats in response to the habitat and The environmental Conditions... The strong buttressed base, and short low growth.. like a large scale Bonsai tree!

al

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Pat,
It does look like that but thats in response to the habitat and The environmental Conditions... The strong buttressed base, and short low growth.. like a large scale Bonsai tree!

al

Al, which conditions are you referring too? Cypress trees grow way taller in other locations.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Pat no one knows exactly why but cypress growth is highly varied... theres population of" dwarf"cypress that are literally a few feet tall and mature. The everglades has these. They are the same species as the ones that grow bigger. In this particular trees case..its probably the size it it is due to being by itself and as submerged as it is. By the size of the buttress that tree is easily hundreds of years old..

Al

[SMB2]

I don't know much about the "bonsai" effect other than it seemed to me that the larger cypress trees were along the shore line and in the wet interior and the more dwarfed trees in the deeper water. Mind you the average depth of the lake is 8 feet (not the 2 feet typo above). Still even in the deepest areas there are only a few feet of top water and the rest is muck.
The Blue Cypress comes from the color of the trees at sunset, not that these are any special cypress.
Al, I love the habitat shots and find them the most challenging. They tell a story but to get the subject right and the habitat...I really admire the folks who do that well.


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[brewmaster15]

That last shot Stan.... very cool. You caught an important aspect of those trees... the cypress knees to the side. Those are what allows the cypress to stay in the water..gas exchange occurs their. ..if not for those knees that tree would not be able to survive for long periods of being flooded. With them , they can stay flooded as long as the knees don't get permanently covered with water. These plus the buttressed trunks are why we have such beautiful cypress swamps!

Al