In early September I was out for an early walk at the Dunedin marina.
I was standing on the pier and a cormorant popped up right below me.
As I walked around the marina I noticed a big blob in the water in front of the boats on the right. Several manatees were hanging out in between the docks. At first they were in the middle of the channel (to the right of the yellow arrow).
I stood there for a while keeping my eye out for them. A few minutes later they came a little closer to the sea wall. There were at least 2 of them.
Then they came right up to the sea wall. I could see their snouts coming up for air in between the shadows of the railing and at one point one of them showed his big backside.
This green heron was not afraid of my shadow.
An anhinga sits on a boat lift crane.
I always see little ruddy turnstones walking around the rocks in front of the marina. They pick the bugs out of the oyster shells attached to the rocks.
Even though the clouds were moving in a boat heads out for an afternoon cruise.
Very cool!
Dumb question but we don’t see many manatees in the Philadelphia area…. Are they striped? It almost looks like carpet beneath the surface of the water!
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Sorry, I should have mentioned the stripes. It’s the shadows from the iron railing along the sea wall. Here is a post I did a while ago that has some good clear close ups of them. Thanks! https://dinascitywildlife.com/2022/03/12/big-floating-potatoes-manatees/
That must be so neat to see manatees out in the wild. While we do get cormorants and herons around our lake in the spring and summer and we once spotted a river otter it’s unusual to see much in the way of water creatures.
Lovely takes! All beautifully composed and shot!
I haven’t been up that way for a while. Wonder if the marina suffered any damages from the hurricanes. I heard that Dunedin downtown was flooded.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The marina is closed and got a lot of damage. The sea wall along the parking lot caved in and the pier was completely damaged and will have to be replaced. So sad. Main street were the shops and restaurants are did not get any flooding but all of the houses along Edgewater (the road from Clearwater to Dunedin) and Bayshore (the road from downtown Dunedin to the causeway) all flooded.
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