News

by Wayne Hartley, Manatee Specialist
Save the Manatee Club

July 26, 2014

I got a call from Pat Rose at Save the Manatee Club as I had missed the call from the park staff yesterday about 1:30 p.m. Pat said Annie was in the spring run and acting strange. My guess was pregnancy and calving. After a while, I decided to go the park as what I was doing I had avoided for months and could avoid for another day. Besides, if we missed filming an adoptee giving birth, we would cry. It was Annie. She had moved to dark water to eat and was hard to film. Finally she moved all the way to the boil, and I could tell she was hugely pregnant. Staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Research Institute arrived and agreed with my assessment that Annie wanted to calve. I stayed in the canoe watching over her and keeping people away as she took a nap. After a while, she woke up and began chewing algae off logs. Every time she rolled on her side I thought we’d have a new arrival, but no. I decided it was false labor, and she would wait until dark when the run would be totally quiet. Four hours of babysitting Annie was enough for me, and I left at seven o’clock. She did. I got a call from a co-worker at Save the Manatee Club, and Annie had the calf during the night. Annie and the baby are at the boil under the protection of the park. See a video of Annie and the new calf!

Exciting news! Annie gives birth to a calf at Blue Spring in July 2014.

April 2, 2014

The park counts dropped rapidly from my count of 45 manatees on March 27th as the weather warmed, even though the river reached 65.3°F on the 28th. Today I counted five manatees and the park counted three. The river was 70.2° F. Evening temps are predicted in the 60s for now, so this may finally be the end of the season. I recognized three manatees, but they were not adoptees.

March 27, 2014

The river was 68 F today and the manatee counts were seven by the park staff and 45 by me. I ID’d 30 manatees. Phyllis was in with Puddles, and Annie was in for the fourth time. Annie s yearling Arron was in but not with his mom. Arron has actually been in a lot more than Annie.

March 26, 2014
They’re back! With the days I’ve missed, I felt I had to go to the park due to the recent cold weather. The St. Johns River has dropped rapidly to 70.3°F. The park staff had counted six manatees from the boardwalk early, but they were still coming in, so I counted 19 manatees as I counted later. I ID’d 14 of the manatees in the high winds, but none were adoptees. One manatee I recognized is Barnacle, and I have only seen him two other seasons — both times right at the end of the season. Tomorrow should be interesting, although the high winds are predicted to continue.

March 21, 2014
Yesterday the temp in the St. Johns River was 71.3° F. I counted two manatees and ID’d them both. Pixie stayed while one juvenile left and another took its’ place. The park staff manatee counts for the past six days are 25, 20, 10, 5, 0, and 0. That covers Friday through Wednesday the 19th of March. I consider March 17th the last day of the season as of now.

In other news, Georgia is reportedly doing well. She started to eat within a few days of being in rehabilitation and has gotten better over time. You may remember Georgia was given mineral oil just in case she was blocked or had a partial blockage. She did pass some monofilament line, but not very much, and she didn’t seem to have any type of blockage. A couple of weeks ago Georgia was moved so she is now in with three other females and continues to eat on her own. At that time, she had put some weight on — about 80 pounds. This is all good, but Georgia still has a long ways to go, so she will continue to be monitored.

March 19, 2014
Between bad weather and doctor’s appointments, I have not made it to the park since March 13th. On the webcam live I have only seen one manatee on March 14th and could not ID it. I noted a stored film clip for that day with a cow calf and ID’d them as Ada and Dani. The St. Johns River is 69.7° F today, so I do not expect much in the way of manatee sightings if I get to the park tomorrow.

March 13, 2014
The river today was 68.6° F. The park staff counted nine manatees, including a cow and calf that was probably Jocie and Quest as the calf was a newborn. I counted three manatees from the bank as the wind was ferocious, and I was only able to ID’d Pixie. How the park ranger was able to count nine manatees I have no idea.

March 11, 2014
The river temp was 68.1° F and 16 manatees were in. I ID’d all 16 of them. None of the manatees were adoptees, but as I filmed Una’s entangled flipper, I discovered Calista’s yearling is a female. If I can keep track of her it will expand Calista’s genealogy and be some consolation for her recent death.

March 5-9, 2014
Well, the weather was so bad Wednesday through Friday that I worked at home and kept an eye on the webcam. I ID’d only nine manatees, but one of them was Brutus saying hello to everyone in the run. The temperature in the St. Johns River was 68.8° F on Thursday and going down. On Friday the park staff counted over 60 manatees compared to the 12 that I counted Tuesday. I came in on Saturday and counted 267 manatees. The park staff made an estimate of just over 200, and they were right. The river was 66.9° on Saturday. I ID’d 134 manatees, among them Howie, Robin, Nick, Lucille, Whiskers, Rocket, Brutus, and Floyd. On Sunday the river temp was already up to 68° F. My count was 131 manatees, and of those I ID’d 103. Only three were adoptees: Philip, Whiskers, and Rocket. Rocket has three new prop scars on the right side of his tail, and I hope to get a better look at them. Both our tagged manatees were in for the weekend. I spent 11 hours working on Thursday. Most of it was to determine that I have seen 469 individuals this season. Then Snow came in on Saturday and Bob on Sunday to make it 471. Of this total, 39 of these are calves.

March 4, 2014
The river is now at 69.2° F. The park staff counted 15 manatees, and I counted 12. I ID’d 15 of them as three came in after I had finished counting. Jocie was in with the new baby. A juvenile named Chloe was attached to Jocie like a lamprey. Normally I would have expected this type of behavior from a male. Two years ago Chloe came in early for the season and hung at the boil, turning over canoes and kayaks and stealing tubes. Over the weekend we had a high floater named Michelle, but she and her calf were not in today. A high floater could mean that the manatee is badly injured, but they were not able to get pictures of the injury to send me. Two juveniles with bad tail injuries were in, but they will be okay and will be given names and numbers since they can now be ID’d.

February 27, 2014

Yesterday the St. Johns River was 69.5° F. I was ready to go to Blue Spring when my refrigerator staged a meltdown. Oh well, with that river temp not much could be expected anyway. Today the domestic problems continue as the appliance revolt is still ongoing. With the weather predicted as rain and wind, I shall stay home. However, the river has dropped to 68.2° F, and I see a cow and calf on the webcam. We have a brand new calf! Jocie, BS515, has given birth since her last appearance on February 17th. We knew she was pregnant as of February 4th.

Good news to report on Georgia. You may recall that she was rescued at the end of January after we became concerned about how thin she had become. Ann Spellman from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spoke to SeaWorld vets yesterday, and they say Georgia is doing much better. Georgia is eating and her blood work has improved. She has passed some monofilament, but not enough to be a block, and they are giving her more mineral oil to see if they can get more out. We are cautiously optimistic. Please remember to recycle used fishing line or throw it in the trash.

February 25, 2014
The river is 68.3°. The park staff counted eight manatees, and I counted nine, of which eight were ID’d. Filmmakers wanted to come this week to take footage of the manatees, but then they realized the run would be pretty empty because of the warm weather. The capture of Una to remove entanglement from her right flipper was also scheduled this week. I laughed at that idea as I thought Una and her calf Flower would not be in! However, as I bent down to turn the canoe over today, I saw Una and Flower ten feet away. I called and got things rolling for the capture, but then she got up and left. Maybe tomorrow?

February 20-21, 2014
The river continues to rise and was at 66.1° F on Thursday. The park staff counted 19 manatees, and I ID’d 19 of the 23 manatees I counted. Our released manatee that has never left the run shed her tag, as I was informed by three different people. They hope to put it back on tomorrow. I think she will come straight to anyone that enters the water, so it should be easy, hopefully! After 10 days I finally saw Wallace, one of the grease-painted released manatees. He is the easiest as he no longer has grease paint. I had a first today. As I looked up the run, I could see people on the aluminum dock watching something, and I could see the back of what I thought was a large manatee not behaving quite right. It was my first moss manatee! It was not a manatee but a huge clump of Spanish moss floating on the surface. By the by, Spanish moss is not Spanish, and it is not moss. It is an air plant, never mind the Latin name. Big Lily was the only adoptee I saw today.

On Friday, the river was 67.2° and the park staff counted nine manatees. I counted two and ID’d both. There were no adoptees. They belted the tag breaker yesterday after I left, but she has already lost it again. But the good news is that the tracking shows she has been out of the run twice.

February 19, 2014
Today the river temp was 65.8°. The park staff counted 46 manatees, and I counted 70. It was a bit breezy again so I could only ID 39 of the manatees. Margarito was the first manatee I saw and the only adoptee. I had to point out to a visitor that the park does not permit visitors to use radio-controlled drones or cameras on poles to film the manatees underwater. These incidents are a small but growing problem.

February 18, 2014
The river temp was 63.2° F today. I counted 194 manatees to the park staff’s count of 117, but that wasn’t fair as the park counter was new to the process. When I started, there were no manatees near the river. They were all up where Sea to Shore Alliance staff were trying to retag the belted wonder from Port Everglades. They did it!! He went under the canoe like an express train as he headed for the river. The manatees came down with the tagger and switched to hanging out with me. IDing the manatees was hard today as the wind was right up the run and rippling the water. I decided to film just to get some more ID’s, but first I had to outrun a juvenile male from the boil that followed me halfway down the run and tried to see how high in the air he could bounce the canoe. I ID’d 76 manatees all told. I saw Deep Dent, Lenny, Paddy Doyle, Lily, Philip, Whiskers, and Doc. Then on the camera I picked up Robin and Margarito.

February 14, 2014
The river temp was 61.7° F and manatees were in! I counted 262 manatees and ID’d 191. I got to see Howie, Nick, Robin, BRUTUS (his first visit of the season), Margarito, Lily, Lenny, Annie, Rocket, Floyd, Phyllis, Whiskers, and Doc. Doc was in the boil, and I missed him at first.

February 13, 2014
Here I am up at 0 dark thirty and the weatherman says it is raining at Blue Spring with wind 10 to 15 miles per hour and gusts to 30 mph. I ain’t going! I’ll try to look in on the webcam once in a while. Well the weatherman was right. It is now after 10:00 a.m. and the wind has been awful. All I can say is I see more manatees as the day is going on. Who they are, I do not know.

In other news, and sad news at that, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project was reviewing pictures of the dead manatees they had recently received and found Jazz, BS601. Jazz was recovered at Turkey Creek in Palm Bay, Florida, on December 19, 2013. The cause of death was undetermined. It appears she joins Tasha as part of our contribution to the Indian River Lagoon event, though it cannot be said for sure. Jazz was ID’d in 2009 and had a calf in 2012. I remember she would swim away from the canoe and then seem to remember something and come back for her calf. I had wondered where Jazz was.

February 12, 2014
The river jumped to 66.4° F. The park staff counted 92 manatees, and I counted 141. I ID’d 110 manatees and that impresses me! I saw Nick, Doc, Philip, Floyd, Phyllis and Rocket. There was no sign of Sissy, Wallace, and Bycatch — the three manatees released two days ago. They have grease paint initials on their shoulders so I should recognize them. However, the two manatees released earlier are around. Pixie has a tag and never leaves. Maybe she will when the river gets to 80° F. Miss Piggy I saw and knew it was her at once. She was looking at me, so cute! I wasn’t there when those two were released. No word yet on a cause of death for Calista. It was too windy when I tried to film today, so no video.

February 11, 2014
Another day with the manatees swimming in all directions. The river was 64.4°. The park staff counted 172 manatees, and I counted 216, of which 154 were ID’d. I saw Paddy Doyle, Phillip, Howie, Lily, Nick, Rocket, and Doc, and after the count was over, the latecomers Phyllis, Margarito, and Floyd. Margarito has about a six by five-inch fungus on his tail that has eaten half way through. It will probably make a large notch. There was an incident with a swimmer in the run today that may have stirred the manatees up.

Yesterday evening I was called and told a dead manatee was at Lake Monroe and pictures had been taken. Today I saw them and confirmed the dead manatee was BS260 Calista. Calista was treated for severe cold stress at Miami Seaquarium and released at Blue Spring in 1999. Calista was very small when released and did not bring in a calf until 2003. That calf is CC, a female who produced calves in 2008 and 2012. Calista also had calves in 2007, 2009, and 2012. Unfortunately none of these calves could recognized after weaning.

February 10, 2014
Well the river temp was 62.4°F, but the air temp was due to rise to 72°. The manatees seemed to sense this. The park staff counted 267 manatees around 8:00 a.m., and I counted 223 starting at 9:30 a.m. amid a constant stream of manatees moving to the river. The manatees know the river is getting warmer now, and they may even know it will be cold again soon, so they better get out and eat! I ID d 133 manatees, including Deep Dent, Paddy Doyle, Howie, Nick, Lenny, Lily, Rocket, and Doc. Nick was in the thick of the crowd for a change, and Doc was way up the run above the aluminum dock. I got back to the river from the boil just in time to film SeaWorld, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Sea to Shore Alliance staff releasing Sissy, Wallace, and Bycatch. They were being moved from a bad area and should have been released in or near the Indian River Lagoon, but it is not a good place to be right now for a manatee (or a pelican or dolphin for that matter), so Blue Spring was used instead. All three manatees were picked up in their stretchers at the same time and released in a wild charge into the midst of the Blue Spring manatees gathered to see what was going on! Actually the charge was in slow motion as even little Sissy must weigh several hundred pounds. The released manatees have their initials greasepainted on their shoulders, so I can see if they hang around. It was fun.

February 6, 2014
After climbing almost to 68° F, the river temp dropped back to 66° F. I am having a fun time recounciling my temperature reading to the RiverKeeper temp in Sanford. I am learning to locate the time of day on the RiverKeeper site and then we match well. Sometimes the RiverKeeper reading makes no more sense than mine. I thought I read my thermometer wrong on February 4th, but I did not. Today the park staff counted nine manatees and I counted 13. I ID’d ten of them, but no adoptees. I got rained on today, but not much.

February 4-5, 2014
The temperature for February 4th makes no sense so I’ll skip it. The park staff counted 46 manatees, and I counted 54 on the 4th. Today on the 5th I counted 16 manatees, and six had left by the time I got back to the canoe beach. The river temp was 67° F and that explains that! No adoptees either day. Yesterday after the count, a park ranger got in the canoe, and we went fishing for umbrellas. She had already warmed up for this activity by catching glasses and a clip board off the docks. We wanted to catch four umbrellas but only got two with fabric from a third. With my eye trained for what to look for, I spotted one today that must have been buried in the sand for years. I guess we have to go fishing again. The manatees tear the fabric off with great enthusiasm, and I suppose they eat it, which was what she was trying to prevent.

February 3, 2014
The river was up to 63.5° F today, and it could be seen in the manatee numbers. The park staff counted 93 manatees, and I counted 116. Lily and Paddy Doyle were there. Other manatees were coming and going. On February 1st the park staff counted 263 manatees and 180 the next day.

January 31, 2014
Don’t worry, this blog is not abandoned. The last three days have been awful, weather wise. Wednesday and Thursday were rainy and windy, so I did not bother to go out in the canoe. Today was supposed to be still and sunny in the forecast, but it turned out very wet. I went to Blue Spring but gave it up and went to the Save the Manatee Club to pass on my film clips. The park count was not taken on the 29th. Yesterday they counted was 339 manatees, and today it was 276 manatees. It looks better but warmer next week. Manatees will be drifting out.

January 28, 2014
Today it was decided to capture Georgia as we were concerned about how thin she had become. The East Coast Marine Mammal Recovery Team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was there to greet me at Blue Spring at 8:30 a.m. The first animal I saw was Georgia. She was tagged and filmed and then an attempt was made to herd her into an area to prepare for capture. Three people could not do it, but it looked like more could, so with a plan in hand, SeaWorld was called. SeaWorld gathered resources and was at the park around 1:00 p.m. Nets and stretchers were deployed, a plan set, and the capture was on. With SeaWorld’s additional people, the herding worked. Georgia was soon in a net, which was quickly abandoned for a stretcher. With a few more lifters from FWC Law Enforcement (no longer Park Police) and the park staff, Georgia was moved up the beach, up the stairs, across the boardwalk, and into the SeaWorld truck. Georgia was on the way to SeaWorld at about 2:00 p.m. All has gone well up to this point, now Georgia is at SeaWorld where she will get the best care available. You can read more about Georgia’s capture and see photos at The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

In the midst of this at 11:00 a.m., a documentary film crew from Mexico arrived to interview me and film. The park staff had counted 131 manatees. With all that was going on with Georgia, I never did my count, but I did ID 70 manatees. There was Georgia of course, Philip, Howie, Annie, Paddy Doyle, Doc, Rocket, and Phyllis. There may have been more, but the cameraman kept standing up in the canoe, so I left my note book and scar sheets on the bank to be on the safe side. The RiverKeeper temperature at Sanford was 57° F.

January 26, 2014
Manatee Festival! Lots of people and manatees. Yesterday, after repairing the canoe seat, I counted 297 manatees with a river temp of 60° and that made no more sense than the park staff count of 402 manatees, but even the counters knew something was wrong with that. They believed they counted once somewhere and added twice! As for the river, I think there is more spring run mixed in with the river than is evident sometimes. The wind held off for half the count, and I found Nick, Phillip, Doc, Rocket and Margarito.

Today was perfect, and I hated to get off the run. I was guided to the RiverKeeper temperature site at Sanford and got a temp of my own that agreed with it at 55° F. What a wonderful tool. I counted 361 manatees and ID d 226 of them. The park staff did an excellent count of 335 from the boardwalk. Manatees are still coming in for the season. I saw Nick, Robin, Philip, Lily, Margarito, Deep Dent, Paddy Doyle, Whiskers, Phyllis, Lenny, Floyd, Doc, Rocket, and Georgia. We are becoming more concerned with Georgia’s thinness.

January 24, 2014
Synoptic Survey Day, where we try to count every manatee in Florida in one or two days. Most people fly when they help do the survey, but I’m still in my canoe! With the high winds forecast, I asked for help from the boardwalk as people there see better from up high than I do down low with the water rippling. One ranger was already counting, and they gave me another, which was great. The park staff counted 350 manatees and then 353! I counted 329, which was better than I thought I would do. I quickly gave up ID’s until the count was over, then recognized 167 manatees as I came back down the run. The survey wants calves counted also, and I saw 25. I am sure there were more, but the wind was too much. So I turned in a count of 353 manatees, of which 25 were calves.

Today I saw Doc, Phyllis, Whiskers, Georgia, Philip, Lily, Lucille, Deep Dent, Howie and Lenny! I almost swam today, too. A bolt broke on the canoe seat and left me on my back in the bottom of the canoe with “bilge” water tickling my backbone. I don’t know how I managed to sit up without rolling the canoe over!

January 22, 2014
When I arrived at the water today, the wind was terrible. According to the weather service, it wasn’t supposed to be. I couldn’t get the river temp, but the emphasis for the day was to do a medical check with the East Coast Marine Mammal Recovery Team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Georgia’s thinness and Una’s flipper entanglement. I would ID who I could as we went. Of course, the wind would not help that effort either. We never found Una and Georgia, being Georgia, refused to get off the sandy bottom. However, Georgia looked very good from on top. We will continue to keep an eye on her. We spotted and filmed a barnacle-covered manatee that had been seen the day before. We were sure we knew the manatee, but I have not found it in the records yet.

Yesterday I counted 277 manatees, and I said the park staff counted 328. I tried to explain the difference, but I was surprised I was that low. The park count was from Monday. The park count for yesterday was 210. I found Floyd in the films from yesterday when I reviewed them. Today the park staff counted 228 manatees, but I did not count. I did ID 107 manatees, including Doc, Phyllis, Paddy Doyle, Howie, Lily, Nick and Georgia.

Having finished I was ambushed by Blue Spring’s Park Biologist as I got in the car to leave. A French photographer was in the park with a representative of the St. John’s River Water Management District to get film for a children’s documentary for the New World Museum (the English version of the name of course, it doesn’t look like that way in French). He had a wonderful time filming with his GoPro camera from the canoe. As I paused to let him get a shot of Big Blue the alligator, Una swam under the canoe in the murk!

I will be off on the 23rd so I can participate in the Synoptic Survey on Friday the 24th. That is when researchers from all over Florida try to count all the manatees in Florida in one or two days. This weekend is the Blue Spring Manatee Festival. I will be off Monday for sure!

January 21, 2014
The river temp was 59° F today. I think it should have been lower, but I drifted too close to the meeting of the river and the spring run and that caused the higher temp reading. The park staff counted 328 manatees, and I did 277. The wind became terrible as I paddled, and I had to give up on some manatee groups before I was blown in on them and got knocked over. It was not helpful that a juvi stuck a flipper in the canoe to shake hands! But I ID’d 100 manatees with more to come when I review the film, I hope. I was able to see Howie, Nick, Deep Dent, Philip, Georgia, Lucille, Phyllis, Whiskers, and Doc on the way up and found Rocket on the way down.

January 19, 2014
The first manatee I found was Annie. Wherever she has been, she has taken care of herself! Annie is fat with no new scars. The river was 56°F. The park staff counted 305 manatees in the steam rising from the run water. I counted 349 as the wind picked up. I came early as the window of opportunity without the wind would close by 10:00 a.m., and it did. I took a lot of film clips in hopes of seeing more later. I ID’d 131 manatees, including, in addition to Annie: Robin, Nick, Margarito, Phillip, Phyllis, Deep Dent and Whiskers. It helped that all but Whiskers swam directly under the canoe as if they were making sure I saw them.

January 17, 2014
It was a media day today as some nature documentary folks from Hungary came in to film. They were great. They even knew where Satsuma, was, which most Floridians do not (that is where I live). I ID’d 112 manatees as the nature documentary folks filmed. The park staff counted 315 manatees, which I can certainly go with. I did see Phyllis, Howie, Paddy Doyle, and Deep Dent. I was wondering if a young female manatee named Una had a flipper entanglement. Yesterday I filmed it. It is bad news, so we are now discussing what to do and how to do it.

January 16, 2014
The wind was 10 to 15 mph today, with gusts to 20 mph as predicted. So the river temp at Sanford was 61° F. I did not go on the river and, as I was finishing the roll call with a bit of filming, the wind almost blew me on top of Georgia and her group of nursing juvi’s at the continuous flow meter. As Georgia was busy, a couple of other adult manatees were tearing it up for her. That is what the U.S. Geological Survey gets for putting it in one of her favorite resting spots. With that, I put away the camera and concentrated on getting off the run dry! With the wind, I felt I did very well to count 232 manatees compared to the park staff’s count of 253. I ID’d 111 manatees and saw Paddy Doyle, Nick, Howie, Margarito, and finally Phyllis who was in the boil. Georgia was on the late list. I am trying to use the underwater GoPro camera to find the sex of the calves. Mossback made it easy for me. Mossy’s calf Dumpling often nurses upside down. Julie’s Jolly Mon used to do that all the time, but they are the only two calves I think I have seen do it.

January 15, 2014
Today the river temp was 62° F. The park staff counted 110 manatees early, and I counted 148 after them. I ID’d 103 manatees, including Lucille, Phyllis, Robin, Paddy Doyle, and Georgia. Lucy was lying with her head on Phyllis’ tail, and Georgia was coming out of the upper run with at least three juvi’s in attendance. Temps predicted in the 30s through Saturday. We really should see some manatees!

January 15, 2014
Friday I caught up on reports and film labeling. One result is that I now know that I have seen 448 total manatees, 38 of which are calves. I shirked doing a roll call on Monday and the weather was dismal on Tuesday, but today I should have a good day. The week ahead looks cold.

January 9, 2014
Today I was to be accompanied by a man from German-Swiss Public Radio. Three days ago the weather prediction for today was wind gusts to 25 mph, and I knew we were in trouble. That went away, but today the forecast was 60% chance of rain after 1:00 p.m. I looked out at 5:00 a.m. and it was pouring. However, we got together at Blue Spring and did a nice interview on the dock in the rain. The river temp was 57.6° F near Sanford. I recorded a high and low air temp as well. Today it was reversed: the low was from yesterday afternoon, and the high was for this morning. The spring run was wall to wall with manatees. I ID’d 23 manatees just in the few minutes we were on the dock. Nick, Paddy Doyle, Philip, Margarito, and Lucille were visible. We were done and gone before the park staff did their count.

January 8, 2014
Today, my river temp of 62° F was so badly influenced by the warm waters of the spring run that we got on the Internet and found the river temp to our south at Sanford, which was 58.8° F. This was far more realistic. The park staff counted in the neighborhood of 340 manatees while I counted 367 — a new record. There were many new arrivals for the season, including some from seasons long past, but no new adoptees. I saw Howie, Nick, Lucille, Robin, Lenny, Deep Dent, Lily, Philip, Floyd, Phyllis, Doc, Whiskers, Rocket, and Georgia among the 255 I ID’d! Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project were in to do underwater photography and other manatee research. Some things you just cannot see any other way. Normally I would stay on alligator watch for them, but with the cold and overcast weather bringing in the large number of manatees, I kept up the counting and ID work.

January 7, 2014
The temp of the St. Johns River was 59.5° F today, and the park staff counted 332 manatees from the bank. I was doing a media thing for the Orlando Sentinel and fighting 10-15 mph winds with 25 mph gusts. The manatees had the bottom stirred up so I just ID’d as I could. I ended up recognizing 79 manatees, including Robin, Doc, Phyllis, and Georgia. Because of the winds, I regretted going out on the river for the temp, but I got it!

January 6, 2014
Well, over the weekend the park staff counted a new record of 356 manatees! Today they counted 145 manatees, and I counted 102. The wind was up, and I had someone in the canoe and that always effects the count. I only recognized 33 manatees with all the wind. One was Philip. The river temp was 63.5° F. It is amazing how the manatees are coming and going so rapidly. Unfortunately, we lost another manatee to a boat-caused lung injury this weekend. His ID was BS602 Tsar, and he died in the refuge. The good news is that after I reviewed the film, I saw Doc, Floyd, Margarito, Robin, Paddy Doyle and Deep Dent!! (his first visit of the season).

January 1, 2014
Happy New Year! I did not go in today to the park, but I did review the film I took on December 31st and found Robin sound asleep just inside the run just as I pulled the camera out of the water. For those who do not know, my camera has no monitor, so I am often surprised when I find time to review what I have.

December 31, 2013
The river temp was a good 65F today. The park staff counted 54 manatees, and I counted 101 and ID’d 90. Philip was the only adoptee spotted. A manatee named Dix and her calf, photographed west of Deland on December 7th, have returned to Blue Spring looking good. I was worried about them.

December 30, 2013
The river was 68° F today, but I had to again take the temp through the spring water riding on the surface of the river water, and I do not know how accurate my reading was. Today, I counted 58 manatees and ID d 50 of those. The only adoptee ID d was Georgia, and she missed roll call as she was late. Today she only had two juvenile companions instead of three.

December 27, 2013
It was a drizzly day for my birthday. The park counted 178 manatees, and I counted 175 and ID’d 135. The plume of the spring into the river is being forced south against the river current, so I had to take the temp through the spring water on top of the river. The answer was an unsatisfactory 69° F. It must have been colder if only I could have gotten a proper temp. The adoptee business was better today starting with Lucille’s head under the hyacinth barrier, then Phillip, Paddy Doyle, Nick, Howie, Doc, Georgia (with three juvis), Lenny, and finally Rocket at the boil. Rocket was very calm with my presence for a change. I was hunting for a sight of a female with a bad tail chop, a new boat hit, and a calf or two, and did not film as much as I wished. Ranger Diane had photographed a manatee mom, and I really wanted to record her, but no luck. I watch intently for Annie and Squeaky. We know Merlin is at Silver Glen and the rest — Brutus, Deep Dent, and Elaine will show up when and if they wish.

December 26, 2013
Today I saw 122 manatees, ID’d 90, and the only adoptees in were Paddy Doyle and Georgia! It does not seem possible. The river temp was 65° F. The park staff manatee counts starting from Monday were 14, 31, 40, and 115 today. The counts change fast this season. I would say the 14 on Monday shows the manatees knew it would be 85° F that day. Then they started coming back in as they knew a cold front was on the way. Today, over 100 manatees were clustered near the mouth of the run, ready to leave as it warmed up after a cold front that wasn’t very cold

December 23, 2013
The river jumped to 66° F over the weekend! The park staff counted 14 manatees, and I did 19! There were no adoptees present. I think I will take tomorrow and Christmas off.

December 19-20, 2013
With a new low in the river of 62.5° F, the park staff counted 263 manatees on Thursday, and they counted 248 on Wednesday! I had too much going on to count, so I just ID’d and found 191 manatees — not bad. I spent a lot of time in part because I was examining every juvenile I could find to see if it was Squeaky. There was no luck yet but more to come. We have 388 individual manatees in now and at least 36 of them are calves. A problem I did not mention last update with the filming was Nadia and Blossom thinking they needed the camera more than I did! These are not youngsters, these are mature breeding females acting like kids. On Thursday, S24/12, a manatee I ID’d last year, tried to get in the canoe at the aluminum dock. I’ll have to keep an eye on him. Wiggan, who missed last season, was in. He was actually harpooned two years ago, but as we tried to catch him, the gear gradually fell away, and research on what was used in that type of hunting indicated it might be best to leave him alone. It was good to see him looking healthy now. I guess someone mistook him for an alligator. Lily, Floyd, Georgia, Lucille, and Rocket were in on Thursday.

On Friday, to the surprise of all, the temperature continued down to 62° F. But as the manatees know warmer weather is coming, the counts went down. The park staff counted 217 manatees, and I counted 225. With four latecomers that missed roll call, I saw 229 manatees altogether, of which I ID’d 203. Philip, Howie, Paddy Doyle, Margarito (his first visit this season), Lenny, Doc, Floyd, Phyllis, and Rocket were all in. Also in was Rhubarb who did not make it last season. This is of interest primarily to me as I was thinking of naming Squeaky Rhubarb at one time. Our belted wonder was also in, and my pictures have confirmed his ID. 

December 17, 2013
Today the river was its coldest by a little bit at 64° F. The park staff counted 191 manatees in the run and 11 just into the river, which would be 202 as I would have counted. I counted 187 manatees, but the boat tour staff said that between the park count and mine, about 20 manatees made a “violent” escape into the river. That would make my count 207! My count was bad anyway as I made phone calls during the process and was involved in looking for a couple of particular manatees. Sun, wind, and a stirred up run did not help. In spite of my problems, I ID’d 155 manatees. I saw Paddy Doyle, Doc, Howie, Nick, Lenny, Phillip, Phyllis and Lucille — her first appearance. The belted stranger was back, and I was trying to get better pictures of it as we are hoping to retag. I was also watching a strangely mutilated tail that the manatee concerned kept waving above the water. Looking over my shoulder, I finally saw the manatee come up in the air. After 30 minutes or more, I made contact with the strange one to find it was Lucille! There is too much to describe here, but we should have pictures soon. Suffice it to to say her wound is healed, and the tail waving seemed to be connected with socializing with another tail-waving manatee.

Yesterday I went to U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project (USGS) in Gainesville, who track manatees along Florida’s east coast. We reviewed pictures of living and dead manatees and found BS648 Tasha among the dead on February 9, 2013 in the Indian River Lagoon. The cause was undetermined. Tasha was a transient manatee seen a couple of years at Blue Spring but not before or after. I have been asked if the problems in the Indian River Lagoon affect the Blue Spring manatees, and I say no overall but some Blue Spring manatees do frequent the lagoon. So now we shall see.

On a better note, I asked for an ID search for my Unknown20/2013. I knew I had seen him before, but my search engine is a brain, paper scar sheets, and some photos. The USGS search engine is a computer. In seconds, BS191 Basinger was ID’d. I last photographed him on December 4, 1999! He has been all over the “world,” just not at Blue Spring.

December 13, 2013
There were only two manatees at the park yesterday, so it was good I stayed home. Today was a different story as the park counted 48 manatees, and I counted 40. The manatees were very active, and as I tried to ID one, others would sneak around me. The river went down over three degrees in two days. As I continued to ID after the count was complete, I kept running across manatees that I had missed going up the run. On the way up I saw calves without mothers and mothers without calves. On the way down I saw the manatees I had missed going up. At any rate, I saw a total of 47 manatees, and ID d 40 of them! One of the manatees ID d was Paddy Doyle, but Paddy was the sole adoptee spotted. The dead calf brought in on the 11th was a male, and he apparently died from asphyxiation from inhaling muck or mud from the bottom. Otherwise he was fat and healthy. Why this happened is a harder question.

December 10-11, 2013
On Tuesday, the river temperature was 72.5° F. There were no manatees for the count, no manatees at all. A sobering thought. I was not going to go to Blue Spring State Park Wednesday, but I had said I would lower the underwater camera back under the water on Tuesday and did not get to it, so there I was. The St. Johns River has gone down very quickly! As I departed for home, I was notified of a dead manatee to the north of the park. Well it was good I was there to take roll. The river was down to about 72.2° F. This brought in four manatees for my count as well as the park’s count. We also agreed that some more manatees came in late, but as I felt I may have flushed the four out of the upper run, I went round those near the river. By that time, the dead manatee was almost to the park on the recovery trailer, so I waited and checked it out. It was a calf with no marks I could ID, but I imagine we are now short one of our 30 some calves. It probably died five or six days ago.

December 6-7, 2013
On Friday, the river was up to 67° F. The park staff counted 15 manatees, and I counted 37. I was able to ID 27 of them, but none were adoptees. It appears that Slip, the manatee found in Jacksonville recently, died of cold stress. On Saturday, the river temp continued to climb and reached 68.5° F. I did not get a park staff count, but I counted five manatees and ID d 11. There was a lot of in and out movement, but none were adoptees. Here is a review of adoptees seen so far this season; Doc, Flash, Floyd, Georgia, Howie, Lenny, Lily, Nick, Paddy Doyle, Phillip, Phyllis, Robin, Rocket, and Whiskers.

December 5, 2013
The river is up to 65.5° F and getting warmer. The park staff counted 70 manatees, and I counted 54. The wind was blowing and I had a passenger, a Daytona Beach News Journal photographer, but I was able to ID 43 manatees. Nick was the only adoptee I spotted, and I hope I got some good film of him! I’m pretty sure I did a good job on getting film on Lenny two days ago, although Lenny has been hard. The very bad news is our boy Slip was found dead in the Jacksonville area yesterday. We are waiting a cause of death.

December 3, 2013
The river temperature was just over 64° F today, but the manatees were not fooled. They were leaving the run during the entire count. The park staff counted 125 manatees, and I counted 120. Park staff were finishing their count as I started mine. I was able to ID 96 manatees. Lenny was in for his first visit and repeat visits were made by Robin, Georgia, Phillip, and Rocket. Earlier I got to watch a young female named Cree play with and aggravate a large alligator. The gator is not as large as Big Blue, however. We are up to 33 calves now.

December 2, 2013
The river temp was 65° F today as it was on Friday. It must have gone down and back up over the weekend. The park manatee count was 104, and mine was 147 with 126 manatees ID’d. There are a lot of new arrivals but no new adoptee arrivals. However, Robin, Paddy Doyle, Doc, Whiskers, and Phyllis and her calf were in for Manatee Roll Call this morning. Floyd was late. Floyd still tends to sleep with his head downstream while almost everyone else sleeps with their head upstream. We are up to 31 calves with more to come!

The mystery manatee was one that turned up with a tracking belt. For Blue Spring, that would be Slip, except that Slip is known to be elsewhere. My pictures in the clay storm were beyond bad, but it appears the manatee is from Port Everglades and was being tracked in a habitat use study by Sea2Shore Alliance. The manatee’s name is probably KK. We knew this could happen, but we have never had a tagged manatee turn up that was not tagged at Blue Spring. There was a nice-sized alligator in the spring today but not one I knew. In other news, the black vultures have not figured out the orange tape I put on the little branch at Transect 2, but the tape on a railroad tie at Transect 1 is gone. I guess I need to think like a vulture!

November 28 – 29, 2013
Hope everyonel had as nice a Thanksgiving as me and my family. On Thanksgiving Day, the park staff counted 155 manatees. The next day, I visited the park. The St. Johns River was down to 65° F, and the park staff already counted 267 manatees by the time I arrived. With the manatees churning up the clay in the entire run and the wind picking up, I decided that was a fine count. I was able to ID 172 of the manatees. Our adoptees that have already been in — Lily, Paddy Doyle, Floyd and Phyllis — were joined by Howie, Doc, Flash, Robin, and Philip. We have a mystery manatee I am trying to help ID. (More later on that if I am cleared to tell about it.) Ann, one of the females that calved in February, was in, but I did not see the calf. I may have missed it, or she may have weaned it by now. Of the 277 manatees I have seen, 27 of those are calves. Three manatees are ones that missed visiting the park last year.

November 26, 2013
This was a bad day. The rain was not supposed to reach Blue Spring State Park until 1:00 p.m., but as I entered the gate, I was almost washed away! I decided to get the river temp and leave. As I did so, the rain let up and I thought I would at least get some kind of count before it returned or before the wind began. Rather than just above 69° F, the river was just below.

I had counted 21 manatees, including Rocket, when I came to S80/12 jammed up against the bank just before Transect 5 (a quarter of the way up the run) in just over a foot of water. S80/12 has been mentioned with a lung problem. She was skittish and impossible to capture. I thought being in the shallows was good as she could breathe easily, but as dying manatees often do this as well, I waited to check her breathing. After 20 minutes, I poked and prodded her, but she was dead. I then headed for a phone to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) East Coast Marine Mammal Rescue staff. The St Johns River Cruises people got her to the river using their small john boat with a little assistance from the park staff. She was then passed over to a FWC Officer with a larger vessel. All of this was difficult as she was not buoyant. My manatee count had ended at 22, but the park staff had counted 32 manatees as animals were in the boil that I never reached. S80/12 was picked up at 3:25 p.m. Tomorrow is predicted to have such heavy winds that the next count should be on Friday, November 13th.

On the good side, Della, who was photographed with a calf far to the north recently, showed up with said calf. Marge, identified as female by behavior alone, missed the roll call, but she also has a calf.

November 25, 2013
The St. Johns River is just above 69° F. The park staff counted 27 manatees and I counted 43. All the way up the run, new arrivals kept overtaking me from behind. Phyllis and Lily were in. Although she was pregant when she left last season, Lily has no calf, so perhaps she cannot have any more.

November 20, 2013
The St. Johns River is 72° F and I only counted five manatees: a cow and calf with three hangerons. However, I was able to ID seven manatees as another cow calf pair with hangerons replaced the first. No adoptees! But next week should be better.

November 20, 2013
Yesterday I did not go to Blue Spring. I met with Monica Ross, who, among other duties, takes pictures of the manatees at other sites along the St Johns River for Sea2Shore Alliance. Monica had some nice pictures of Merlin, Brutus, Flash, and many other Blue Spring manatees. According to Monica, Merlin was at Silver Glen on the 14th, and she had lots of other good info for the research program.

Today, the St. Johns River was 69.5° F. The park staff counted 21 manatees, and I counted 34. Floyd was in for the count, but Georgia was late. We are now up to 21 calves out of a total of 176 manatees. Also worthy of note is the appearance of Big Blue the alligator on the 18th. This is the first time I’ve seen him this season, and I followed him up the run. He could be seen ahead of me on the webcam footage. I put out three missing stakes for the transect markers, which help locate the manatees. When I marked the stake locations with orange engineer tape on Monday, I put a tape on a small limb to outwit the vultures that eat it or tear it up. However, I’m betting on the vultures.

November 18, 2013
We are holding fast at 18 calves, but we now have seen a total of 165 manatees. The St. Johns River was 68° F today. I counted 24 manatees and ID’d 21 of those. With the count over, I helped mark the transects so the park staff can report the manatee locations on their counts. After we finished, we were walking back when Floyd swam by!

November 15-17, 2013
On Friday, I checked the webcam footage from the 14th and saw Georgia pass by at about 1:30 p.m. while appearing to nurse two juveniles. A few minutes later she appeared again in a rush while being pursued by five or more. That’s our Georgia! I then went to to the park for Manatee Roll Call and found the river temp was 67° F. The park staff had counted 83 manatees, but I counted 105 when I arrived. Of the 105, I was able to ID 93 with Paddy Doyle, Nick, and Whiskers among them.

On Sunday, the river temperature was up to 67.9° F and 71 manatees were in. Of those, I was able to ID 49. I think Rocket is in. A manatee with what I am guessing was A7 was in. It certainly was not any of the other “A’s” that I know of. We now have 18 calves out of a total of 159 manatees seen so far for the season. A manatee killed by a boat strike was brought in last night. It was a small female that died about a week and a half ago south of the park near DeBary (High Banks). Unfortunately, I could not ID it.

November 14, 2013
I did a dive today, taking advantage of the last day of water activities allowed at the park before it is closed to swimmers for manatee season. So, no regular Manatee Roll Call, just some info. Alice brought in her little boy, so he counts for the season now, and there are only two more of the early arrival calves left to come in. Tia has a calf. That makes nine calves for the Blue Spring population for sure and two we have seen, but not during the regular season. Moo Shoo showed up by the aluminum dock today. I love her name, and she is very friendly! We have 53 manatees total for the season so far. 

November 13, 2013
Well I made it to the park today, but the wind was too violent to go out in the canoe. The park staff counted 18 manatees, and I counted 20. The park staff counted what they could see, but I used swimmers to fill in the gap we could not see from the bank in the upper run. These were regular swimmers who are there to exercise, and they pay no attention to the manatees. Tomorrow will be the last day for water activities for this year at Blue Spring as swimming and diving is banned once manatee season begins. That is, unless the manatees pack the run first thing in the morning! No manatees could be ID’d due to the wind rippling the water.

November 12, 2013
I haven’t been back at the park yet, but the manatee counts have been: Thursday 8, Friday 5 (with Phyllis & calf), Saturday 6, Sunday 25, Monday 6, and today, Tuesday, 17. I hope to be back at the park tomorrow.

November 10-11, 2013
I decided to go down to the park on Sunday and that was a good thing as the park counted 10 manatees and I counted 25. May the manatee was in with a new calf as was Sofie, along with some other unidentified cow. I hope I can ID her with the film I shot. I ID d 20 of the 25 but saw no adoptees. However Ranger Diane told me she had film of Phyllis and calf from Friday, and on Monday, I confirmed it! It got a bit cool on Saturday, but the river temp on Sunday was still 71°. The park was crowded.

November 8, 2013
Yesterday I decided to send my good pictures of Unknown1/2013 to the U.S.Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project to see if they could ID her. Unknown1/2013 is the young lady that came in the morning of August 16th and then gave birth in the spring run at 2:00 p.m. I couldn’t find the pictures, but I still have the video the pictures were taken (captured) from, so I recaptured them. As I labeled and studied them, I thought: I know you! You are Mata Hari! And she is! So often mistakes can lead to a “eureka moment.”

November 6, 2013
Last night after the hockey game I got on the webcam and saw Gator the manatee chasing every female in the run and raising silt everywhere! I saw the female with the two calves, but with the silt, rippled water and the wind blowing the camera, I could not ID her. Today the river was back up to 71° F. The park staff counted four manatees, and I counted one. Before I got off the run I had seen four. One for my official count was Amadeus coming down from the spring head at the diver entry. I wanted his picture, but he must have gone straight to the river. For the next week it will be hard for me to get in a count, but it is supposed to continue to be warm.

November 5, 2013
Today, I got my coldest river temp so far — 69.5° F. The park staff and I both counted 14 manatees, and nine of the 14 had not been in yet this season. However, I could not locate the animal posing as Rocket with twins! The wind was so bad I began to film as a way to ID later, but before I was done, I had ID’d them all.

November 4, 2013
I called the park to check on conditions. Air temperatures have been in the 80s, but the manatees are still in and counts have been as follows: Friday 6, Sunday 10, and today 15! I will go down to the park tomorrow. The manatee count may be down, but the staff has seen Rocket with twins. Rocket is a male, and they know that cannot be right, so it will be interesting to see what is happening. It is more likely that Amber has picked up a companion for her calf!

October 31, 2013
I was under the weather but went to the park in the afternoon to do a manatee data update for those who inform the public. The park had five manatees that morning and three the day before. The slight cool front predicted for the park area has disappeared from the weather predictions, so we may not see many manatees.

October 26 – 29, 2013
On Saturday, I set out for Blue Spring where I was given a park staff count of five manatees. I found the river temp to be 70 F and as I canoed up the run, I counted 15 manatees. By the time I added in the latecomers I had ID’d 16! All of this goes against the weather forecasts of continued warm weather. There were no adoptees, but Squeaky’s mom Amber was in with Squeak’s new sibling (no name or gender as of yet). On Monday, the weather was warmer, but the river was still 70 F. The park staff counted 22 manatees, and I counted 23. I was able to ID 16 of the 23, but still no adoptees. Even if all the manatees leave now as the weather warms, the official start to the season is October 25th. Eight calves have been seen in total, including the summer sightings, but only four of those have been in since the 25th.

On Tuesday, the hi/lo air temps were 60 to 78 F. So my river temp went up to 73 F! My count was the same as the park count as all but one of the rangers were out on a controlled burn (or recovering from the haunted house over the weekend). I counted nine manatees on the way up the run — all ID’d — and six manatees on the way down. Two of the six were not ID’d. There wasn’t even a scratch to draw or film! That is bad for research but good for manatees. I thought I saw a manatee fetus in the run on Sunday, but then I saw six of them and decided that was too much, and they must be freshly-turned shell fossils to look so white. However, swimmers at the park then reported one as a fetus. As I was on the run, I got a brave swimmer to bring two of them up. They were animal tongues like you can buy at the butcher shop! Someone has a strange sense of humor. The canoe smells bad from them, and so did my hands, but I washed them. Still no adoptees.

Wayne Hartley is a Manatee Specialist for Save the Manatee Club. Before joining the Club, he was a Park Ranger and then a Park Service Specialist with the Florida Park Service. Wayne served for over three decades as Principal Investigator for manatee research conducted at Blue Spring State Park.