Manatee Webcams

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Above-Water Webcam at Blue Spring State Park

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Above-Water Webcam at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

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Above-Water Webcam at Silver Springs State Park

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Underwater Webcam at Blue Spring State Park

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Underwater Webcam at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

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180-degree Underwater Webcam at Silver Springs State Park

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Blue Spring State Park

Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Silver Springs State Park

Blue Spring State Park

About the Blue Spring Manatees

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.

Support for the Manatee Webcams at Blue Spring State Park was made possible by a donation to Save the Manatee Club as a memorial gift in honor of the late Mrs. Norma Norton, a Florida resident who cared deeply for manatees.

Manatee Sighting Blog

By Wayne Hartley & Cora Berchem | December 11, 2024 | Comments Off

The forecast called for warm weather with an air temperature in the 70s early in the morning, 20mph gusty winds, and rain mid-day. It did not sound like a good morning to count manatees, but it was eerily calm at the park—until after the count, when the wind picked up, massively blowing the research canoe back onto the beach. The rain held off.

The river temperature was up to 62.9°F (17.2°C) and I counted 238 manatees. Most were in a huge cluster in the lower transects close to the river. One mother with her calf, trailing two additional calves, was rather erratically swimming around, stirring everybody up. I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed by the additional calves following her or just eager to go out and feed, but it made the count and identification of the other manatees so much harder. We haven’t tallied up the calves yet, but there are a lot. Many of them swim off and play when they enter the run and will reunite with mom when it is time to leave for the river to feed—similar to kids on a playground. We don’t like seeing small calves already hit by boats and showing scars, but we have to admit it does help with the photo-ID research. I saw a recognizable mom with the other manatees in the lower transect, but her recognizable calf was nowhere to be found. I paddled almost all the way up the spring run and there was the calf, now heading down towards the river to find mom.

The adoptees in today were Gator, Lily, and Flash.

Read more updates from the season!

Get Manatee Updates and Identify Manatees Using Scar Charts

Read Manatee Updates from this season as well as past seasons.
Identify Blue Spring manatees in the Club’s adoption program using Wayne Hartley’s Scar Pattern Chart (pdf).
Identify other manatees at Blue Spring State Park using scar pattern charts (pdf).
See Wayne’s Scar Charts for all of the Blue Spring manatees (pdf).
Investigate the genealogy of the Blue Spring manatees.
Learn about our manatee research work.

Learn More About Blue Spring State Park

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. During the winter months, manatees require water temperatures greater than 68° F to survive and prevent the development of a potentially fatal syndrome called cold stress, with symptoms similar to frostbite and hypothermia. Springs provide a constant water temperature of approximately 72° F, making them a preferred winter habitat for manatees when surrounding waterways cool into the mid 60s or below. 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.

Manatee Research at Blue Spring

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.S. 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. In fact, the visual ID and genealogy work performed by former Park Ranger and Park Service Specialist Wayne Hartley is potentially the longest running manatee genealogy record in the state of Florida. In addition to photo ID, Blue Spring has been instrumental in manatee rescue and rehabilitation. The high public visibility of the manatees in the spring allows for sick or injured manatees to be spotted and rescued more easily, which has saved manatees’ lives over the years. The spring has also become a popular site to release rehabilitated manatees because the habitat is so important.

Protecting Springs

Since manatees do rely on these springs for survival, the manatees have become an important catalyst for the protection of the springs and groundwater. Unfortunately, springs such as Blue Spring are at risk as development and subsequent water withdrawals to support such development increases. As more water is drawn from the spring for human use, the area accessible to manatees at these warm water sites shrinks. For this reason, water management districts around the state of Florida are setting limits on groundwater withdrawals that affect springs. This is called the Minimum Flow and Levels (MFL) program. This is a controversial issue as different stakeholders can disagree about how much water is desired for human use, and how much is needed to protect the springs environment and the many species who call it home. It is a reminder to everyone that water conservation is a vital step towards protecting manatees and the environment. Without the springs, these manatees would not be able to gather for warmth during the winter months, and we would not be able to enjoy watching them on the webcams.

Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

About the Homosassa Springs Manatees

During the winter (November–March), the underwater gates at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park are open, and wild manatees will be seen on the webcams as they come to the natural spring to seek refuge from the cold water temperatures. The permanent residents, Ariel and Betsy, as well as any manatees in rehabilitation, will spend the winter in a different area of the park. Please remember that it is illegal to feed wild manatees.

Learn More About Homosassa Springs

At Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, visitors can see manatees both in the in-ground pool at the Manatee Care Center and beneath the surface of the spring bowl in the Underwater Observatory. Manatees can be seen in the entire spring above the water, too. Manatees are a subtropical species and cannot tolerate water temperatures below 68 degrees F. The park’s natural freshwater spring bowl remains at a constant 72-degree temperature year-round, serving as vital habitat for manatees and various species of fish who enter from the river. Two manatees who cannot be released into the wild remain at the park year-round, enhancing the park’s daily manatee education programs. These manatees, Ariel and Betsy, are in Save the Manatee Club’s Adopt-A-Manatee® program.

Save the Manatee Club's Partnership with Homosassa Springs

Save the Manatee Club has a historic partnership with Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, dating to 1989 when the Club’s Adopt-A-Manatee program began, and is grateful to the park for this partnership and the wonderful care they give to the manatees. Save the Manatee Club has provided funding for a spring run gate at the park that allows wild manatees to swim into the main spring area, which acts as an important source of warmth in the winter. The Club has also funded heating support tanks, used to treat manatees with cold stress; veterinary care; and the park’s “Manatee Watch” pontoon boat, used for rescues.

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Meet the Girls of Homosassa!

Silver Springs State Park

About the Silver Springs Manatees

This camera shows a section of Silver Springs, located near Ocala in Marion County, FL. Silver Springs is the largest artesian springs complex in the world and was a famous attraction that was especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is now a Florida State Park.

Manatees roam the Silver River year-round to forage, socialize, and travel, and oftentimes visit Silver Springs State Park. Manatees reach Silver Springs by traveling from the St. Johns River through the Buckman Lock, the Ocklawaha River, and the Silver River. Manatees seek out the springs during the winter months for the warm water; the spring remains a constant 72 degrees, making it a vital warm-water source for manatees. A healthy spring run or adjacent river will contain the necessary vegetation for them to eat. In addition to manatees, occasionally alligators, turtles, and a variety of fish and birds can be seen on the cameras.

About Silver Springs

Silver Springs State Park is located near Ocala, FL, and is one of 175 Florida State Parks open to visitors year-round. The park features its famous glass bottom boat rides, as well as hiking trails and several areas to view wildlife. Silver Springs is the largest artesian springs complex in the world and remains at a constant 72-degree water temperature, serving as a vital habitat for manatees and other wildlife.

Manatee Migration to Silver Springs

Although manatees may look "fat,” they only have a very small layer of blubber and cannot tolerate water temperatures below 68°F for prolonged periods of time. Therefore, they need to migrate to warm-water sources, such as natural springs or the outflow of power plants, when ambient water gets cooler or they risk suffering from a condition called “cold-stress syndrome,” which can be fatal.

To access Silver Springs for the winter, manatees must take a dangerous journey and pass through a lock system along the Ocklawaha River. Unfortunately, this means that not all manatees are able to access this important warm-water habitat.

Sightings of manatees in the Silver and Ocklawaha Rivers, as well as Silver Springs, have been increasing over the past few years. Springs habitats are becoming increasingly important as there has been massive vegetation loss along the east coast of Florida, where other warm-water sites like power plants are found. New energy sources mean that these power plant outfalls will also soon disappear.

As more manatees seek out springs during the winter, it is increasingly important that we continue to protect spring habitats—including the submerged aquatic vegetation that manatees eat—and that we remove barriers that prevent manatees from using the springs.

Save the Manatee Club’s Partnership with Silver Springs