Baldcypress

This "split" tree may have been damaged by the felling of an even larger tree a century ago. The hollow interior has subsequently been worked by woodpeckers.

Baldcypress, Taxodium distichum, is co-dominant with water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) throughout the "first bottoms" of the Choctawhatchee. Centuries-old giants remain throughout the swamp, spared from logging due to hollow centers, broken tops, or misshapen trunks. Many of these trees have large woodpecker cavities. Even a doubter that ivorybills still exist would acknowledge that some of these may have been excavated by ivorybills--if not recently, then a century or more ago. It is interesting to ponder the "evidence" of ivorybills that likely persists to this day, scattered throughout the historic range in the form of still-existing old cavities in ancient baldcypress. Of course equally ancient pileated cavities, no doubt far more abundant, prevent us from pointing at any particular old cavity and saying, "An ivorybill roosted here."

This site has some interesting information on Florida's "officially" largest baldcypress, "The Senator," spared from logging by President Coolidge in 1929. Last measured at 126 feet (38.4 meters) tall in 1946, it probably needs to be re-measured. Looks like a job for these guys who have recently discovered the world's three tallest trees (California redwoods) and are already showing interest in the baldcypress of our area. Although most baldcypress tops have been broken by countless hurricanes, it is unlikely that many Choctawhatchee trees have been measured for height.

A large baldcypress in our search area.

A recently worked cavity (center) in a smaller living baldcypress.