Crystal River Trip 3/27

Wednesday 3/27

It rained last night and on and off until almost noon.  The easterly wind is sustained at around 20 MPH pushing the water out of the river.  High tide was lower than normal low tide.  This is a good day for a day trip.

About ten miles south in Homosassa Springs there is the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.   (Homosassa is a Creek Indian word for "many pepper trees".) The neat part about this park is, except for the Hippopotamus, the wildlife are animals that are native or migrate to Florida.  The park is well kept and is left natural except for the boardwalks and few buildings. 

Linda took the term “Day Trip” literally.  We were only in the park a few minutes when she was trying to see the Hippo and navigate around other people; she tripped with her left foot and her right foot went into the shell (gravel) next to the sidewalk and she headed head first toward the concrete.  I’m still not sure how she didn’t hit her face.  

But she did skin up both knees, her one palm, elbow and arm.  She said that on the way down she was worried that she might break her sun glasses. 

Everyone around her was trying to help her up and making sure she was okay. One of the volunteers saw her down and called for assistance.  The left knee swelled up like a goose egg.  She later said the scrapes on her arm hurt more than her knee. 

I expected to see someone with a first aid kit but three employees showed up with an incident report book.  She toughed it out and continued to walk the whole route.  After all, “She came to see the manatees and she was GOING to see the manatees”.

There is an under water observatory.  The gate on the river was closed so there were no manatees in the "Fish Bowl".

 

Forgive some of the photography.  Some pictures were taken through underwater windows, Plexiglas, chain link fence or into the water from above.   I actually took 175 pictures but I won’t bore you with all of them. 

Yes there were alligators!

This monument is to Bruce Hoover who was instrumental in founding the park.  He called it...
 "The most beautiful river and springs in the world".

To our friend Vickie...Flamingos!!  No, this is not Vickie's front yard ...but close.

Great Horned Owl

Even vultures take a bath once in a while.

American White Pelican. 

Snowy Egret

Brown Pelican

Bald Eagles:  Adults and Juvenile. 

Red Tail Hawk

Move over Nittany Lion...There is a new sheriff in town.  The Florida Panther.

This guy was big.  Easily 30 inches at the shoulder.

Stork

Small Blue Heron and Great Blue Heron










Roseate Spoonbill and Egret

Bob Cat

Reptiles  If you don't like snakes scroll quickly!

Eastern Diamondback Rattle Snake

Cottonmouth Moccasin

Baby American Alligator (notice, the upper one has the foot of a small bird sticking out of its mouth).

Yellow Rat Snake

Hog Nose snake

Barn Owl

Key Deer 

 

Black Bear

Finally what Linda came to see...Manatees!

To give you an idea of the size of these behemoths they were about twelve feet long, at least four feet across, and the head about the size of a basket ball.  The heads seems small in proportion to the rest of the body.  They are gentle and docile creatures that eat only vegetation.

 

About Lu...An excerpt from the "Chipley Observer" Jan. 29, 1918.

Lu, an African hippopotamus, was born at the San Diego Zoo on Jan. 26, 1960. Like all hippos, Lu is a vegetarian and his diet consists of alfalfa hay and assorted vegetables and fruit. Hippos live from 40 to 50 years old. At 58, Lu is the oldest hippo in North America.

A fixture at Homosassa Springs since 1964, Lu was a movie and television star with the Ivan Tors Animal Actors troupe, which wintered at the park while it was in private ownership. His credits include the 1960s movies "Daktari" and "Cowboy in Africa," and television specials such as the "Art Linkletter Show" and "Herb Alpert Special."

For more than five decades, Lu has been a mainstay among the animals at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. When the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Park Service purchased the attraction in 1989, the state planned to shift the emphasis of the park to native Florida wildlife and find homes for all of the exotic species, including Lu. Public support, however, led the state to grant Lu special Florida citizenship in 1991. Since then, he has become an icon at the park, attracting visitors from around the globe.