Where are the Blue Spring manatees? While the underwater cameras are now live for manatee season roughly November through March , the manatees on the Blue Spring webcams are wild. When the temperatures are warmer, manatees may venture freely in and out of the spring and return when it gets colder.
At night or when the cameras are not working, the feed will switch to a highlights reel. Any people seen in the videos are researchers or other individuals with special permission. Norma Norton, a Florida resident who cared deeply for manatees. The weather continues to warm up and the river temperature was up to The park staff counted manatees from the boardwalk, and I counted from the research canoeβvery close! All the manatees except for 4 were located in the lower transects of the spring run.
The only adoptee making roll call today was Paddy Doyle. Una showed up on the webcam in the afternoon. With the warming weather, the manatees are going out to feed and boaters are eager to get on the water too. Please keep an extra eye out for manatees while boating, especially near warm-water sites. We are seeing some come in with fresh luckily superficial boat strikes, indicating that they most likely got hit during a recent feeding trip.
As viewers enjoy the webcams at Blue Spring State Park, it is important to keep in mind exactly what we are seeing. We are not only enjoying the manatees but also the serene habitat surrounding these graceful creatures. A habitat like the one at Blue Spring is vital to the survival of manatees. Further, humans are kept out of the water when manatees are present during the winter months at Blue Spring, giving manatees a peaceful, quiet area to rest and stay warm.
Over the years, the number of manatees utilizing Blue Spring in the winter months has greatly increased. Due to the large number of manatees that use Blue Spring, the clear waters, and the easy visibility, the site has become a perfect location for researchers at the U. Geological Survey Sirenia Project to carry out photo identification of the manatees. Manatees are photographed and identified by their scar patterns to determine which manatees are returning to Blue Spring each year and construct manatee family trees that show the relatedness of many of the manatees that winter at Blue Spring.
