Animals at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

Lulu, the hippo, lives there. I caught her in a big yawn.

Lots of alligators there. It's fun to hear the gasps of little kids who see these animals up close. Especially with those teeth. I think he's looking right at me.

There are two river otters but only the one was swimming around while we were there.

Lots of wild wood ducks live at the park. The male is the beautiful one in the front. The female is in the back with a bored look on her face.

There were several wild great blue herons working on nests high over the alligator enclosure.

These are the permanent residents at the park being fed.

Now that it has warmed up the wild manatees are heading out into other areas. There were very few hanging around inside the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park when we were there a couple of weekends ago. The park opens the gates to let the wild manatees into the warmer water of the river during the severe cold tempatures (severe by Florida standards). When hubby and I were there in mid January the river was full of them. Now there's just a few straglers. Most are heading out into other rivers, the intercoastal waterway and upper Tampa bay. There are lots of other animals at the park and a lot of wildlife that hangs around as well. 

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Turtles and a wood duck

Getting a ride.

Lonely male wood duck.

 

Wood duck in the water.

Osprey nest at the football field.

On a recent Sunday afternoon I stopped by Kapok Park to see if I could find the great horned owls that have nested there for the last 3 years. No luck again. It's getting late in the season. I wonder what happened to the couple. There wasn't too much at the park at all. Lots of turtles. I did manage to find a lonely male wood duck. I've never seen one there before. He was hanging out with some mallards and moorhens.

On the way home, right before dark, I stopped at the community sports park near my house. There are baseball and football fields there.  You can see the nest platform that was put in the lights in the first osprey picture. There are several of those platforms in the ball park. This way the osprey don't build nests in the lights which I guess could be bad for lights. I'll stop by in the next couple of weeks to see if there are any baby osprey.

Birds at Homosassa Springs

A volunteer was feeding the pelicans.

The above pelican had that "Don't come near my nest." look on it's face.

There are 3 permanently injured eagles that live at the park.

Lot's of wild storks come in to get a free handout.

We found a lot of wood ducks swimming around the river near the manatees.

Sandhill crane taking a nap. A volunteer told me that years ago they had a sandhill crane that had been hurt brought to the park for rehabilitation. The crane ended up staying and attracking a wild mate. They had babies and there is now 3 generations of sandhills that live at the park. They could leave anytime they want but they still hang around all year.

How often do you see a red shouldered hawk (left) and red tailed hawk (right) sitting together on a branch? The red tailed was missing a wing.

Besides manatees, the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has lots of birds. Both wild and rehabilitating permanent residents. You can get really close up to some of them. There's a lagoon in the middle that has flamingos, both white and brown pelicans, storks, swans and sandhill cranes that all hang out together. The brown pelicans were working on their nests while we were there so soon there will be babies to view up close. On a visit last spring I saw a handful of baby swans. There are a lot of volunteers at the park that can answer any questions and told me all kinds of good stories about the birds there. You can also find a lot of wild birds in the park. We saw pileated woodpeckers and warblers as well. I think I'm going to head back in early spring to see any babies that are at the park.

Birds at Homosassa Springs

Male wood duck with reflection.

Great egret missing a foot. He must be a permanent resident.

Great blue heron looking for food.

Pileated woodpecker high up in the tree.

Last weekend I took a trip up north (north of Hillsborough county) to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. I had not been there in at least 25 years. When I was younger growing up in Birmingham, my family used to drive down to visit my grandparents and we always stopped here for a rest. The front entrance building looks exactly the same. I didn't remember much about the inside of the park. It's a small park but there's tons of wildlife. There's a river that runs through most of the park with birds everywhere. There's permanently injured residents as well as wild birds that stop by for food. It's also a great place to see manatees up close. I have pictures of those coming up later.

Wood duck family

The colors of a male wood duck are amazing.

Female wood duck with her babies.


Mom with some of her offspring. They were swimming under lily pads.

The female wood duck looks very different from the male. She does have some bright colored accents with the yellow around the eyes and purple on her wings.

It's funny how the wood duck babies look like mallards when they are young.

On a recent trip to Lakeland I found a family of wood ducks. I have been seeing wood ducks more often in the past few months than ever before. The male duck is so beautiful. Why is it in the bird/duck world the male always looks prettier than the female vs. in the human world the perception that females are expected to be prettier? I guess male ducks can't attract the female by showing them their paycheck or buying expensive jewelry for them. But that's just my jaded opinion. Anyway, more baby pictures to come!