Frolicking Manatee

 

Recently, the entire SDP team visited Blue Spring State Park in Florida. The St. Johns River runs through the park and during the colder, winter months the constant 73 degree water flowing from Blue Spring attracts manatees. Knowing this, we visited the park on a chilly afternoon on the hunt for manatees. We were not disappointed! The day we were there 380+ had been counted by park rangers and volunteers. Manatees as far as the eye could see! And, these manatees were quite active and playful. Not sure if it was because of the flow of the spring water, but I've never seen manatees so animated! The one pictured was underwater playing with a downed tree limb. (I especially like his little white toenails.)  Manatees can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and eat 10-15% of their weight everyday in vegetation.  These big, lovable sea cows don't have any natural enemies -- just boaters that might not see them, which is why manatee zones are prevalent in Florida, requiring boaters to slow down.  Great visit -- the SDP team definitely will return!    

Misty Manatee Park

This is…..a manatee snout!  With the cooler overnight temperatures, this is the time of year to see manatees (or catch a glimpse of their nostrils as they come up for air).  Affectionately known as "sea cows", these large, hefty mammals float around shallow waters (fresh, salt and brackish) grazing on vegetation.  In the winter, they gravitate to power plants that discharge warm water. There's such a plant in Ft. Myers, so I headed out to a nearby park (Manatee park) early in the morning when the temperature was in the mid-40s.  Dozens of manatees were huddled around.  For as large as they are, they sure are quick!  They poke their nostrils out of the water, inhale, and go right back under.  For a wildlife photographer, it makes for extremely challenging shooting.

I shot dozens and dozens of frames and this was the best I could get…which I was disappointed with until, upon closer inspection, discovered this most likely is a shot of a mama manatee with a calf. (In that case, then…kudos to me!)  Zoom in under the nostril...and that blob looks like a baby manatee.

It was beautiful morning with kayakers pushing their way through the mist….no doubt looking for manatees.  Although manatees spend most of their time hidden underwater, there's an easy way to spot their  presence:   a small swirl on the water.  So, looking at the foreground of this photo, I would say several manatees were underwater right in front of me.

The "Idle No Wake" boating sign is in place specifically to protect the manatees, which can get seriously injured or killed by motorboats.  The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced last month that it's considering downlisting the manatee from an endangered to threatened species (which has caused a bit of a dust up with wildlife conservationists here in Florida).

Although I like the kayakers in color…I tinkered around and converted it to black and white.  Moody!  Which do you prefer?

Manatee Monday

A popular day trip from Sarasota this time of year is to travel to the Tampa area or Ft. Myers to see the manatees.   Once the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico drops below 68 degrees, the manatees move inland searching for warm water.  Either they head to the springs, which are a continuous 72 degrees year-round, or they maneuver their way to the channels near the electric company plants where warm water is discharged.  I was in Ft. Myers yesterday near the Florida Power and Light plant and saw....

dozens and dozens (and dozens!) of manatees.  Sea cows, as they're affectionately, known are so gosh darn cute -- and huge.  It's common for them to weigh about 1,000 pounds and eat 8-11% of their weight every day in vegetation.  That's about 100 pounds of sea grass!