Watching floating potatoes go by

On May 30, 2026June 8, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals4 Comments

I was back out at the Manatee Viewing Center in February, a week after I had visited with my sister. I had a friend who had never been so we headed over while it was still cold and the canal had tons of manatees keeping warm from the warm water coming off the electric plant. We went straight out to the 2nd dock and there were tons of them in front of the dock. It was also busy with people for a weekday.

So many of them huddled in the warm water.

Watching them float by the dock. A lot of them had boat scratches on their backs.

Some had barnacles on their backs. The one above had algae growing on the barnacles.

It’s fun to watch them turn over and their snouts stick out.

Two floating potatoes passing each other.

The water is clear here and we could see the little fishies going by.

Fun things under water

On May 4, 2026June 8, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 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.

Fun morning at the zoo

On March 14, 2026April 10, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals2 Comments

In early December Brett and I made another trip to the zoo. The weather was too nice to be indoors and we had so much fun on our last trip. The gibbons are always a hit at the zoo and the young one was having fun swinging while the parents watched from the ground.

A quick video of the penguins swimming right in front of us.

Brett had never taken the buggy ride and since we were there early we hopped right on. The Marabou storks were walking around and kept stopping in front of the buggy so we were stuck there for a few minutes.

A type of gazelle in the elephant area.

That was one big fat lazy gator. I’m sure he’s popular with kids.

The mallard thought this manatee was just a big floating pillow.

Watching a manatee and mallard eat their breakfast.

The zoo was decorated for the holidays. This certainly said “Florida Christmas”.

The big critters were out playing.

I think I could fall asleep watching these giant tortoises eat their breakfast. It must take them all day.

Fun animals at the zoo

On January 17, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, zoo animals4 Comments

We had a brief cold front (meaning high of 75) in late October. Brett and I decided to spend the morning walking at the zoo. We got there right as the macaws were having their fly over. They free-fly from the front of the zoo and circle around the main area before landing on the perch. They were moving so fast it was hard to keep up with them.

The Marabou storks were flirting on the nest. They already had an egg so they must have been celebrating.

Koala bears sleep up to 22 hours a day and it’s rare to catch them awake. This one did a few stretches and a big yawn before going back to sleep.

I guess three’s not a crowd. I was watching this couple flirting and then another parakeet showed up and they all flirted with each other.

The flamingos were waiting to be fed.

At first I thought this yellow billed stork was trying to hear what I was telling him but no, he was just scratching an itch. It’s fun when they come close in the open aviary.

The ducks were using the manatees as a floatation device. The manatee hospital is always busy caring for, rehabilitating and releasing injured manatees.

A quick video of the manatee eating his yummy lettuce.

A turtle pops his head up to give us a look.

Seeing manatees on my walk

On July 16, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Uncategorized10 Comments

The view from my morning walk at the Safety Harbor waterfront in early April.

It was a weekend morning and Main Street was mostly deserted except for the other early walkers that were stopping for coffee at the local favorite coffee spot.

Pretty black-eyed Susan flowers in front of the hotel next to the fishing pier.

On my way back to the car I looped around the sidewalk along the marina. I noticed two snouts coming up out of the water. I was so excited to see manatees right in front of the sea wall at the entrance to the marina. Manatees were regularly spotted at the end of the fishing pier all year but the pier got wiped out from Hurricane Helene in September and they hadn’t been seen since until recently in the marina. I was lucky to catch them this morning close by.

There were two and I’m thinking they may have been mating. You can see my shadow in the bottom picture and see how close I was to them. I took all of these with my phone.

Above is a quick video of them splashing the surface with their backsides.

One quick shot of the pier before heading home. The city is just starting to replace the pier and repair the damaged marina. The marina parking lot and boat ramp will be closed for at least a year to fix everything. The mangrove boardwalk on the other side of the waterfront should remain open so I’ll have to start my walk from there going forward.

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.

A 3 park morning

On March 19, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was a 3 park morning in early December but all were in Tarpon Springs. I first started out with a walk at the most northern park, Fred Howard Park and Beach. I drove through the park and parked my car just outside the causeway to the little beach area. This was as far as I got. It was all fenced up to get out to the beach while they were still trying to clean up from the hurricanes in late September and early October. The flooding left tons of debris in the sand so they were sifting through to make sure no one gets injured when they open it back up and the parking lot was a big sand mound so they had to get that cleared. (It did open a week after I had made this trip).

As I walked around the park area I noticed most of the trees near the shoreline had their tops broken off.

Vultures were watching me walk around.

My next park was Sunset Beach Park just 5 minutes south of Howard Park. It had already been cleaned up and had just opened up to the public a few days before. I found a small flock of skimmers in the muck when I got out of my car.

The tide was super low this morning. The above were taken on the backside of the beach area.

Zooming in I could see the beach area of Howard Park just north of where I was. This was looking on the side of the island that is covered in boulders. The tide was so low I probably could have walked across the muck to get there.

Zooming in even more I could see great egrets dotting the exposed sand, picking off the exposed sea creatures for a snack.

A great blue heron flies close by.

My last stop on the way home was Craig Park just south of the main tourist area of Tarpon Springs. It’s a small park but has beautiful old trees with branches that touch the ground. It looked like most of the trees here did ok with the hurricanes but this whole park was underwater.

The main attraction here in the winter is the chance to see some manatees. There’s a natural spring here that is warmer than the gulf water and the manatees come into the bayou when it gets really cold. There were at least 10 the morning I was there but since the tide was so low they were huddle in the middle and farther away from the sidewalk. I was able to catch a few on video with their snouts coming up for air.

One last walk around the zoo

On March 8, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals3 Comments

I made one last trip to Zoo Tampa right before Christmas. My “pay for a day and get the rest of the year free” would run out at the end of the year. I was there early and happened to catch the manatee hospital checking on some patients. They rescue and rehabilitate wild manatees here. Most of the manatees that come in are from boat strikes, cold stress or red tide symptoms. They have 3 pools where the floor raises up so they can treat the manatees without having to take them out of the pools. They were checking on 3 that had just come into the manatee hospital here. One was getting medicine through a tube. It’s really cool to watch but sad that they are here. Several years ago when my sister was visiting we were able to see a manatee release that the zoo did at the Manatee Viewing Center that you can read about here.

Above is a short video of a manatee eating lettuce in the bigger pool that you can look over. It was funny to watch him stuffing the lettuce into his mouth with his flippers.

The baboons are always funny to watch, especially when they flash their heart shaped bottoms.

The siamang were being quiet this morning. They usually are hooting and swinging in the morning.

One of the younger orangutans coming to the front for everyone to “awe” and “ooh” over.

I think that lapwings are one of my favorite birds here with that yellow face and bright pink legs. He was in the aviary that you can walk through and was not shy at all.

Both eagles here have injuries that were sustained in the wild. This one is missing a wing.

I was lucky enough again to see the Florida panther walk over me in the glass walkway. Look at those big paws.

I noticed he was licking his lips and realized he might be thinking I was lunch.

It was a beautiful morning and I was traveling light with only phone.

A Christmas walk at the zoo

On December 21, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals1 Comment

I have a “pay for a day and come back all year” pass at Zoo Tampa that expires by Christmas. I hadn’t gone all summer since it was so hot but since it has been a fairly cold winter here and I wanted to get a long walk in I made a visit recently. It was fun to walk around and see the Christmas decorations. The weather made it feel a little more like Christmas since it was chilly and not 85 degrees like past holidays. I was traveling light with just my phone.

One of the many fun Christmas trees.

It’s not as much fun seeing flamingos at the zoo when you’ve seen them in the wild.

Above are some of the birds in the large aviary. Most were fluffed up and staying in the sun since it was under 50 degrees.

There were a lot of manatees in the hospital. Here at the zoo they rescue, rehabilitate and release them back out in the wild. The girl in the front was trying to get the two in the front pod to drink some medicine. Behind her was a manatee that was being fed through a tube. He must have still been really sick. Between the hurricanes, red tide and a colder fall than usual, these guys have been really busy.

A manatee comes up for air (on the right) in the big pool. There were two others with him (on the left bottom) and they were all waiting to be fed.

They have recently tripled the size of the Florida panther exhibit and this was the first time I have seen him up on the glass panel that you can walk under. It was weird seeing him up over my head.

Getting a sip.

The colobus monkeys were staying out of the wind and in the sun.

The siamangs are a favorite. When it’s cool outside they swing from the ropes and holler so loud you can hear it across the zoo. I was about to leave and heard them and ran over with everyone else there to see them swing. Above is a quick video that is loud.

I got a good hour walk in and am hoping to get one more walk in here before the end of the year.

Critters at the marina

On November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

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.