Fun things under water

On May 4, 2026May 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals3 Comments

I had such a clear view of the fish that I felt like I was snorkeling without getting wet. Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has an underwater viewing bowl. It was heavily damaged during the hurricanes in 2024 and was just recently renovated and reopened. The glass was so clean and unscratched and the water here in the springs is also clear as I watched them swim close to the windows.

At one point the fish were parting and a wild manatee came right up to the window.

Up on the dock that is over the river, I could see people kayaking with the manatees. There are roped off areas where the manatees can escape to if there are too many people around. There are also volunteers in kayaks that make sure that everyone is respectful of the manatees.

One with an injured tail goes floating by the dock. The tail was probably hit by boat motors.

A Mom with her young one was also near the dock. The water in the springs stays warmer than out in the open water in the gulf so manatees come here in the winter to stay warm. The Wildlife Park also rehabs injured manatees until they are well enough to be released.

Is he trying to hide under that tiny leaf on his head???

Most of the animals here are injured or displaced wildlife. This beautiful piebald deer was found as a baby without a Mom and was raised here. She was looking up at me as I stood on the raised deck over the huge deer area. I found some information on piebald deer that you can read here. Less than 2% of white tail deer have this and most with extreme white fur don’t survive long. Hopefully she can live out a long life here.

A baby and some bathing.

On May 2, 2026May 1, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early January I made my usual winter trip up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park for a long walk. The pelicans here are all permanently injured birds that live here. They have a safe home and get fed and are not caged in. Many of them were already pairing up for nesting season.

Surprise! There was already a winter baby. The babies born here grow up with Mom and then can fly away free when they are old enough.

When this one was flapping you could see he was missing a wing.

Several of the white pelicans had permanently injured wings.

Splashing around in the small pond.

The pelicans looked like they were having fun bathing.

I saw many other birds and lots of manatees so more to come on this trip.

Along a Florida river

On April 16, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has 2 entrances. The back entrance which puts you at the main park was closed due to flooding and damage to the main entrance building from the hurricanes so when I went to visit in January I stopped at the tourist entrance on the main road. From there you have to take a ride on a tram or a boat to get to the park area. I decided to take the boat since I hadn’t done that it many years. It’s a 12 minute ride through a typical Florida river. The guide talked about the different wildlife and plants you see along the way. This river runs through the park.

There are wood duck nesting boxes along the river and although it was too early for nesting we did see some of the wood ducks hanging out on the boxes.

After my initial fun of seeing the wild manatees I started looking around the park for any birds. I found some pileated woodpeckers right along the boardwalk where the manatees hang out in the winter. The top one was eating those berries. The two on the bottom were eating bugs around the bottom of the trees.

As I was taking pictures of the woodpeckers I could hear wheezing above me. I realized there were cedar waxwings eating the small dark berries in the tree over my head. At first they were high up in the trees but a few came down closer.

They are beautiful birds that look very distinguished with that black mask and yellow tipped tails. They only pass through here in the late winter into spring.

The resident injured white morph great blue heron was close to the boardwalk. It’s rare to see the white morph version of this gray and blue bird. I’ve only seen one in the wild at Fort Desoto many years ago.

A typical Florida sight, a great blue heron sitting on a sideways growing palm tree.

As I walked along the boardwalk that runs along the river I could see many of the trees were uprooted during the hurricanes.

The water was calm and clear on this chilly morning.

Big floating things and other Florida animals

On April 7, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, zoo animals4 Comments

It was a beautiful morning in mid-January when I was at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. The woods were full of fall leaves (we usually go right from fall in early January to summer in mid-March).

It had been really cold for 2 weeks so I was hoping to see some wild manatees near the boardwalk and bridge. As I came around the corner on the trail I saw these big floating potatoes right under the shorter bridge. I took these with my phone since they were so close. They were all huddling together to keep warm. The natural springs here keeps the water warmer than the gulf so in the winter they come in and hang out close to the springs. It’s funny to watch them roll over. Did he want a belly rub?

They were all along the boardwalk as well but some of the areas were tough to get a picture of due to the reflections of the trees.

A Mom and her baby swimming by the dock.

A manatee mosh pit.

Just outside the park you can swim with the manatees. There are volunteer park rangers that patrol the area to make sure the manatees stay safe and no one enters the “manatee only” roped off areas along the river. You can see them from the dock inside the park and this ranger had a manatee come up and inspect his kayak.

You can see the fish in the shallow parts of the river. The water here is so clear.

The park also had some flamingos that are fun to watch, even when they are sleeping.

Red foxes are really shy and this one came out from hiding for just a few seconds.

This is a piebald white tailed deer, a rare genetic mutation causing white patches on otherwise brown fur. They are found mostly in northern Florida and less than 2% of the deer population has this. This one was a baby that was abandoned by his Mom and was brought in here to live safely with other deer. I hated taking a picture through the fence but I’ve never seen one in the wild and she was not moving from the fence even though she had a huge place to roam.

Lu, the former actor in movies and tv shows, turned 65 this month. Yes, Lu is a hippo. He is retired and resides at the park. I couldn’t find any specific named movies or shows he was in but one article noted that he was on the Art Linkletter Show which aired in the early 60’s. You can read about him here.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Pelican Island and an alien baby

On March 29, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I made a trip up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park (an hour north of Tampa) in mid-January. It’s a fun place to walk around and see wild manatees and lots of different Florida wildlife. It’s more of a refuge or home for permanently injured wildlife. A lot of injured pelicans call it home and live on a small island along the river that runs through the park. I was walking on the boardwalk and was surprised to see a baby pelican this early in the season. This pelican couple built a nest right up against the boardwalk so I was trying to get shots of the baby eating in between the slats. Mom had just coughed up a partial eaten fish for the baby and the baby was having a tough time getting it down. The baby couldn’t be more than a day or two old. It was still blue and purple and partially hidden under Mom.

Nearby, other pelicans were mating or sitting on nests.

One last look at the alien looking baby as he was trying to figure out how to gulp that piece of fish down. The area is not enclosed so when the babies here grow up they can freely leave.

White pelicans were also flirting and working on nests.

They are cool looking birds with those blue eyes surrounded by yellow and an orange beak. That horn near the end of the beak is like a fingernail and only grows during breeding season and then falls off.

This pelican had a droopy wing. Many are missing a wing or an eye.

Wild black vultures hang out in the trees above the boardwalk. They come down to steal snacks (bait fish) when the pelicans are being feed. There was a dead vulture on the ground and a pelican was guarding it from the other vultures. He was standing over it and wouldn’t let the vultures get near it. A ranger came and got the dead vulture. It could have been sick (hopefully not bird flu) or died of old age.

I spent the morning at the park and took a lot of pictures so more to come on this trip.

A January morning at Homosassa Springs

On April 4, 2022March 24, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It was just starting to look like fall at the end of January. Some of the trees at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife park were really pretty in red and orange.

A few of the resident flamingoes. Is it me or is that 2nd one a little grumpy? I think he might have been rolling his eyes at me.

The resident whooping cranes were napping.

We don’t get caracaras in the Tampa Bay area so many people have never seen this bird before. I’ve only seen one in central Florida once on the way to Miami.

One of the otters was out playing and came close to the boardwalk.

I caught some ibis taking baths in the main pond. These guys are wild and hang out hoping for a stolen snack.

The water was so clear, you could see the fish swimming around.

A day in the life of a pelican sanctuary.

On April 2, 2022March 24, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was up at Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park at the end of January and noticed the pelicans were getting frisky. It was warm the day I was there but we still had some cold weather to get through. Injured pelicans live at the park (most are missing a wing) and are free to nest and raise their babies. Then the babies are able to fly free when they grow up.

A few of the residents showing me their missing wings.

It was funny to watch all of the couples flirting and getting the nests ready.

It’s also funny to watch them stretching their pouches.

Chilling, this one looks like he’s got his breeding feathers in with that pretty yellow head.

There are also a few white pelicans that live there but I’ve never seen them nest, Maybe they nest closer to the middle of the summer.

Big floating potatoes (manatees)

On March 12, 2022February 26, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

It had been cold for a while in mid-January so I drove up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park to see if there were a lot of manatees close to the docks. As soon as I got out to the dock this mom (with her baby) did a twirl for me and was showing her belly.

There were hundreds of manatees out in the river, many were close to the bridge that goes over the river in the park. You could see many of the cuts and scratches on their backs from boat strikes. A lot of them had babies. The one in the above picture had algea growing on her back.

I liked this shot with the reflection of the palm tree in the water.

I took this with my phone since he was right along the dock.

At the underwater viewing area the fish were close to the glass.

The floating Florida potato

On March 22, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals2 Comments

One of the magical things about living in central Florida is seeing the manatees out in the wild. One of the best places to see them up close is at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, an hour north of Tampa. The springs that run through the area stay fairly warm all year so the manatees congregate far into the springs in the winter. The wildlife park has both a bridge and a dock that goes over the springs. I headed up in late December early in the morning and got there when the park opened. Most of the manatees were around the dock. I caught two mothers with babies right when I got there. One baby was hanging on to Mom’s flipper as they came up for air right in front of me. The dock looks over the area where you can swim with the manatees. After seeing all of the crowds here in the winter, I’m not a big fan. Not when I can see them this close from the dock. I don’t really feel like people need to swim right up to them. The manatees do have roped off “no people” zones where they can hide but I’ve seen the river here almost body to body with people. I get that it’s amazing having a manatee swimming right up to you but I still feel like they should remain truly wild. I do have to say Brett and I were at the Fort Desoto beach several years ago in the summer and I had a manatee swim up to me when we were swimming out to the sand bar. He didn’t get quite close enough for me to touch him but it was still amazing. All I could think of was were was my camera?

So many coming up for air right in front of me. Most of them have distinctive marks on their backs so you could track the different ones coming up to the dock. Many have barnacles or moss growing on their backs.

I’m glad I brought my shorter lens with me but I took the two above with my phone since I couldn’t fit them all in with my camera. You can really see the boat propeller scars on the first one.

Looking out over the bridge, you could see the manatee dots in the clear water.

An interesting morning at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On March 16, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

It’s always fun to see lots of robins in the trees. We only see them here briefly in the winter. The trees were full of them at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in late December.

A few of the resident birds. The caracara in the bottom picture is a not a bird you see in this area. They are mostly in south central Florida so it’s interesting to see them here. This one had some type of injury. Possibly missing wing or vision.

The otters were being so cute this morning, although seeing those teeth makes you realize they can be pretty tough. They were feeding in the pond right up against the boardwalk. I love watching them eating while swimming on their backs. That’s a real talent.

I’m sure this happens more than we see out in the wild. The alligator was not fed this bird by the staff. I missed the early action but people saw him grabbing this bird. Based on the pink legs and white wings with a little black, thinking it’s a white ibis that got too close. The alligator was all the way across the pond in the first shot but was swimming fast away from the other alligators who were chasing him trying to steal his snack. He then heading into the far corner right in front of me. Sad but circle of life.