Question

what are characteristics of a bayou

Answer 1

In Louisiana any water way in the swampland is called a bayou. And that water way may have numerous other off shoots off it, all with an individual name.

Just picture a highway with roads leading off it or intersecting with it with each road having an individual name or number to reference it by. That is exactly how the bayou system is.

But even in Louisiana, any water way in the piney woods is referred to as a creek or a river.

To be a bayou, it has to be in the swamplands.