During spring break, I went to Orlando for a robotic competition at UCF. At the center of the UCF campus is a cypress swamp that has been preserved. Before the school was built this swamp took over the entire landscape. Now the swamp has been reduced to a mere fraction of its historical size. The dominant species in this natural area is Bald Cypress. I was also able to identify some red maples and a magnolia tree with the help of the app Picture This. Since it is “winter” in Florida most of the cypress trees had dropped their leaves hence the name bald cypress. The magnolia had buds emerging which means there will be some beautiful flowers soon. The red maple that I found was still quite young so some of its leaves were less defined as others. Unfortunately, I did not see any birds that I was able to identify but I did get to make a squirrel friend.
