News

Blue Spring State Park Adoption Update

By Wayne Hartley, Manatee Specialist

The departure parade for our adoptees began in January. The last sighting of Flash for the season was on the fifteenth and then Merlin on the twenty-second. In recent years, those two have spent a lot of time in springs to the north. Floyd was last seen February 20, and Whiskers and Deep Dent on the twenty-first. Philip left on the twenty-second along with Rocket, Moo Shoo, and Lily. Howie left by himself on the twenty-third. Nick, also alone, departed on the twenty-fourth. A party of four—Brutus, Doc, Paddy Doyle, and Una—took off on the twenty-fifth. The next day Aqua, Phyllis, and Margarito were gone. Finally, on the twenty-seventh, Annie, Gator, and Lenny left the spring. We look forward to seeing them all healthy and well this upcoming season.

This summer, Gator was spotted in the Silver River. Merlin was also seen in July, north of Blue Spring. And several adoptees were sighted in a mating herd in Lake Monroe in June. Interestingly, we were recently notified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission researchers that a manatee we named Cal and saw during two seasons around 2014 is actually a manatee that has been seen on Florida’s west coast for the last 13 years!

Closer to home, we did our annual photo comparisons with Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute (CMARI) researchers who monitor springs to our north. We found many manatees in common, showing how much manatees move between springs in Florida. The surprise was to find a manatee that we had named Rhonda in 2018 is in fact a female manatee named Kee who was rescued as an orphan in 2009. Kee was released while still young, but with another rescued manatee acting as a surrogate mother. Sadly, the surrogate did not stick around, and Kee would come into Blue Spring to nurse from any mother manatee that would put up with her. She did not return the next season or the following eight seasons, but we were informed by CMARI that they were keeping an eye on her to our north. When she returned to Blue Spring in 2018, we failed to recognize her, but researchers working jointly finally put the pieces together! Read more about Kee’s story in the Manatees on the Mend article.