News

By Alex Russell, Director of Education and Online Communications

With the colder weather returning, maybe you’re dreaming of a vacation somewhere warm with amazing views of wildlife. If that seems too far away, you can still take a day trip from your phone or desk to a Florida state park with our manatee webcams. The webcams are accessible to anyone with an internet connection, making them a wonderful option for relaxing background visuals, providing classroom engagement, and enchanting curious minds of all ages.

The webcam program first started in 2011 with the cameras at Blue Spring State Park thanks to a memorial gift in remembrance of Mrs. Norma Norton. Since then, the program has expanded to include Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and Silver Springs State Park. These webcams are possible thanks to our partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Explore.org, and Axis Communications.

The cameras are used as research tools by our team members to look out for manatees in distress and identify manatees in attendance at the park, among other things. However, they are also publicly viewable so that people can observe manatees in their natural habitat and learn more about their behaviors.
Normally, we have the webcams at Homosassa Springs operational during the summer, where residents Ariel and Betsy, in addition to manatees in rehabilitation at the park, are viewable. However, construction at the park has had them down for maintenance this year. The 180-degree underwater webcam at Silver Springs, along with the above-water setup at the same location, has been operational and showing occasional glimpses of manatees, in addition to other wildlife; on one occasion, our researcher spotted an otter!

November also signals the return of the Blue Spring webcams as the park closes for water activities and manatees start to seek refuge in the warm spring water. Our researchers at the park provide near-daily updates in a researcher blog, as well as on our social media accounts, so you can hear about the park’s manatee visitors as they are sighted.

Go to savethemanatee.org/webcams to keep up with the latest on our webcams and watch the livestreams, and bookmark the researcher blog at savethemanatee.org/bssp-blog for daily updates. At night, or when the cameras are down for maintenance, highlight reels featuring beautiful above- and underwater footage still provide something peaceful to enjoy at any time.