Photo © Nancy Sadusky, Save the Manatee Club

Manatee Reports From
Blue Spring State Park
by Wayne Hartley, Manatee Specialist
Save the Manatee Club


April 2, 2013
Today, we received bad news, as Melody's calf was found dead at the mouth of the run this morning. We don't know the cause of death and will have to wait to hear from the pathology laboratory in St. Petersburg. The park staff counted two manatees today.

April 1, 2013
Today we had a river temp of 67.8° F. The park staff counted nine manatees by the river. I counted three. They were S185/12 and Gator, who came to visit me when I launched the canoe, and Jessica who was up the run under the trees. I think this is the end of the season. The air temperature as I left Orange City was 83° F.

March 29, 2013
I think I have the best job in the world. The wind was down a lot from yesterday. The river was 64° F. The park staff counted 125 manatees, and I did 139. Of those, I was able to identify 114. There was Robin, Phyllis, Howie, Annie with her calf, Whiskers, Nick, Paddy Doyle, Rocket, and Doc. Doc was again the last manatee counted for roll call. As yesterday when the count over, Brutus showed up. The “beauty” they were chasing yesterday and today is Rain. Rain is very fat and full of scars, but manatees do not do diets or mirrors! Ann was back and her baby is more grey than black already. I tried to film the wrinkles in his tail in order to follow their progress as they smooth. I think I filmed Melody and her new calf as well.

March 28, 2013
The manatees are back, and swimming is temporarily closed again at the park. The river temp was just over 63° F. The park staff counted 121 manatees, and I counted 127. Of those, I was able to ID 90 manatees. Robin was in, as were Annie, Whiskers, Rocket, and Doc. Doc was by himself up the run but moving fast to join the others. Melody swam out from under a log and was joined by a new calf. We are up to 56 calves now. With the count over and the canoe put up, visitors were going, “Oh, look!” I turned around, and there was Brutus, Peaches, and other males ten feet off the beach chasing a female. The wind was bad, but I had a good time.

March 27, 2013
Again I go to the webcam when I cannot get to Blue Spring. That is what happened today, and I was able to identify 18 manatees. I watched Zuzu chasing Eon while Eon's calf tried to keep up. Gator was extremely active, and Paddy Doyle kept trying to convince Peek-a-boo he’s the one. I do not think Peek was buying it!

March 26, 2013
I saw Swale today, and he is not a Save the Manatee Club adoptee. The park staff saw two manatees today, and I am sure Swale was one of them. The wind was violent from the north, so I did not try to paddle out. I went to the dock on the river and put the thermometer in there. I could see it on the bottom in the clear spring water being blown south against the current of the river. This leads me to believe the river temp is around 70° F. I will not make it to the park tomorrow but hope to be there Thursday and Friday for what may be the last days of the season. We'll see however as I’ve said that before!

March 22, 2013
Squeaky and Howie were among the 21 manatees I was able to ID of 22 manatees that made roll call today! The river that had just reached 69° F had dropped back to 68° F. Slip was in with his tag, and a long-ago released manatee we often worry about was also in. Stormy is freeze branded 09. In the high sun today I could see it. With time to study him because there were few manatees in, I realized that he has been in far more than twice. Stormy has at least three scars that I can use to find him in the records, and it should be interesting to see how often he has been in.

March 21, 2013
The river went up a degree to 69° F, but the number of manatees doubled to four! The park staff saw half that when they did their count. I saw Sharon, S185/12, U96/11, and S138/12. It is to be cool all day with a fairly cold night. What will tomorrow bring?

March 20, 2013
The temperature in the St. Johns River is 68° F. The park staff and I both counted two manatees today, and there were no adoptees present. With one day of low temperatures coming up, I do not expect much more.

March 19, 2013
The temp in the St. Johns River was 66.5° F. The park staff counted 12 manatees, and I counted 7. There were no adoptees sighted. However, when I looked over my film from yesterday, I found Margarito had come in late and joined a select group watching the USGS Sirenia Project researchers pack and launch their canoe to maintain the continuous flow meter. I also filmed Slip so his condition could be checked, and we agreed he has regained weight and looks good.

March 18, 2013
The river is now 65° F. Daytime highs for air temperature are in the 80s. Today the park staff counted 20 manatees, and I counted 21. The 21 were ID’d and the only adoptee was SQUEAKY!!

March 16, 2013
I did not mention something exciting to me in the last update. As I reviewed my film clips for March 14th, I found Rusty, a young manatee I’ve been missing. Since then, I see him frequently on the underwater camera as he loves to go up run and play! Today, on March 16th, the St. Johns River was 63° F. The park staff count was 139, and mine was 159, but with the wind I could only ID 78 manatees. I saw Nick, Flash, Georgia, Howie, Robin, and Paddy Doyle. I also saw one of Annie’s constant juvenile companions, so I suppose she was there.

March 15, 2013
I did not get to do a roll call today, but the park staff counted 134 manatees. I went on the webcam and ID’d 23 of them. Usually I tell you what I saw in person and what you might see on the webcam. Sometimes, like today, I tell what I saw on the webcam. From the high camera, I picked out Annie and her calf and their steady companions. From the underwater camera at the aluminium dock, I picked out Nick and Elvis during what appeared to be some kind of manatee sprint races! I hope for better luck tomorrow.

March 14, 2013
The wind was very bad today. I did not even try to get the river temp, but I could see it was colder. The park staff counted 95 manatees, and I counted 93. The manatees were chasing each other around like they were possessed! Manatees that would flee or move away from the canoe kept rushing over to check it out. After my count was over, I saw a manatee that had been included in the park count but not mine. Anyway, there must have been 95 to 100 manatees at the spring. Although the wind was bad, I was able to move around get a good look at each animal that would stay somewhat still, so I was able to ID 82 of them. Our adoptees were represented by Georgia and her fat fosterling, Flash, Lenny, Nick, Howie, MERLIN, Doc, and Phyllis. I rescued my fifth walking cane for the season, another new record, and a sixth one can be seen from time to time on the webcam.

March 13, 2013
Yesterday was a bad weather day, and I played hooky. The park staff counted 13 manatees. However, I did see Philip on the webcam! Today I took a river temp from the dock because of the high winds. It was 67° F, but I do not have much faith in that temp. The park counted 29 manatees, and I counted 39. Of those, I was able to identify 30 of them. Georgia and her fat fosterling were there, as were Lily and Nick. Doc came in late at 11:00 a.m. and joined a juvi at one of the play logs.

March 9 - 11, 2013
The weather prediction for Saturday was very windy, so I did not go to the park. Instead, I got on the webcam and found the weatherman was wrong again. So, no overall count or river temps, but what fun! As I watched the webcam, I ID’d 81 manatees! I saw Eustis guard U42 very possessively for two hours or more from any males that approached, which was new to me. I saw Bob, who had not been in this season. I also saw some great juvenile activity. One juvi was hanging on Slip’s tag and being dragged around. I saw Paddy Doyle, Margarito, Doc, Merlin, Philip, Lenny, Nick, Annie, Brutus, Lily, and Howie. At one point Philip had Nick’s shoulders pinned to the bottom in a great wrestling move. Brutus made many of the manatees look so small, and as he lay on camera all by himself! Then Lily swam by and made Brutus look like a juvenile! By the way, I cheated. I saw Merlin in a Friday evening film clip, but I could not leave him out!

On Monday, the temp for the St. Johns River was 66° F. I do not know how good that measurement was as I had to drop the thermometer through spring water to get to the dark river water. The reason for this is that the spring water was going upstream against the river flow again. The park staff counted 105 manatees on Saturday, 65 on Sunday, and 31 on Monday. I counted 42 manatees on Monday. The wind forecast was high again, but it turned out to be dead calm. Of those 42, I was able to identify 38 manatees. There was nothing extraordinary except that Brutus and Howie were there, but none of the other adoptees were visiting.

March 7 - 8, 2013
On Thursday the wind was forcing the outflow from the spring to the south or upstream in the river, and I did not paddle far enough to get out of the spring influence, so I could not get a river temp, but I could see that it was cold. The weatherman said winds would be 5 to 10 mph. If so, it was ten straight up the run or more! The park staff counted 167 manatees, and I counted 205. I edged the canoe up the run trying not to hit or be hit by a manatee and thus end up swimming with them, which, technically, is illegal. (Actually not for me, as I am covered by the federal permit, but I did not want to get soaked and cold!) So I only ID’d 60 manatees and half of those I did in five minutes when the wind let up after the roll call was over. I saw Lucille and Robin for roll call and Margarito, Lily, and Phyllis in the lull afterwards. I am sure there were many more adoptees hidden by the wind.

On Friday the wind was down at the start, so I was able to get a river temp. It was 60° F! I counted 241 manatees, as I did on Monday, and with the wind down I was able to ID 97. It would have been more, but some playing manatees offended one of their number and there was a big panic that churned up the silt. Hoping to get them later, I went on up the run, but when I came back down the wind was up. I was able to pick out Lucille, Lily, Howie, Margarito, and Robin. Again, I am sure there were others!

March 4, 2013
The St. Johns River finally gave up on 70° F temps and dropped to 63° F. The park staff counted 199 manatees from the bank, and I counted 241 from the canoe. Of those, I was able to ID 104 of them. I saw Robin, Georgia and her fosterling, Paddy Doyle, Margarito, Flash, Lily, Phyllis, Doc, Squeaky, Lenny, Elvis, and Annie. (Squeaky had to go out of the way to be ID’d.) March is still doing the lion thing and the wind was awful. There were USGS Sirenia Project researchers in the water, and they tell me that Ann’s calf is male. Also, manatees I had seen only once this season showed up. One, Pistachio, was in for the first time. He was a captive release long ago, and this is typical of him. He will miss visiting Blue Spring one or two years out of three. Manatees were spread side to side in the run from the river to half way up to the spring boil. With the wind, it made it difficult to maneuver, and the manatees almost upset the canoe. Then it seemed as if they gathered in a circle to see what I would do about it! I think they are impatient to get on with warm weather.

March 2, 2013
Today the park staff counted 66 manatees, and I counted 65. I was even able to ID 44 in high winds! Howie was in, as was Annie. Annie's calf has quite a wound on the tail. I believe it is a skeg cut with very small propeller involvement. Slip went out to eat, but Ann and the new calf stayed in. I review my film after I do the webcam report, so the following did not make Friday’s update. When I was through trying to film Ann’s calf, I noticed I was over a curled-up 10-foot alligator. When I looked at the film, it was the first thing on camera. I had to shift the camera from one side of the canoe often. Unfortuntely, I missed a great shot of the gator passing by three feet within Ann and her calf! All I got was the tail. The whole time I never knew I had a gator on camera. I hope that by Monday the "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" has already reached the lamb part.

March 1, 2013
For the second day in a row I did canoe repair. The first day the bolt was too short. (The bolts holding the seat have been snapping. Someone might think that someone is overweight...) The river temp remained the same: 70° F. Actually, it was not quite that, but neither my eyes nor my thermometer are calibrated that fine! The park staff counted 16 manatees, and I recorded 23. There were no adoptees, but there were six cow/calf pairs. Ann and her calf were one pair. Slip was in. He is being tracked, so it was known that he was not going in the river to feed. My films from yesterday confirmed he is slimming down but not too bad yet.

February 28, 2013
Today the park staff counted five manatees, and I counted 10. The St. Johns River was 70° F. Those manatees counted as being in included Ann, Ann's calf, and Slip, but there were no adoptees to report. Baring further births, I consider that we will have a firm count of 55 calves for the season. I am still working on the total number of manatees seen; at the moment it is a minimum of 459 during the season.

February 26, 2013
I have not been able to get to Blue Spring since February 19th. I was feeling guilty today, but I realized that with the warm weather and the pouring rain, I probably wasn’t missing much. One of the rangers at the park sent me an email with a count of four manatees on February 24th. Those manatees were Ann and her new baby, the recently released Slip, and a juvenile with two saucer-sized scars on its tail. I decided this had to be S159/12, a cold-stressed juvi that showed up late in the season. I went to the webcam, and there they were -- all correctly labeled. The calf has white at its nostrils and on its tail edges. I have seen this in calves and have been told it is common. More cold weather is coming, so I guess the excitement will continue!

February 19, 2013
The river today was down three degrees to 61° F. The park staff counted 186 manatees from the bank, and I counted 244 from the canoe. The wind became fierce as we went up the run, but I was able to ID 100 before it got too bad. Lucille was the first manatee seen near the canoe beach and later we saw Flash, Paddy Doyle, Margarito, Georgia, Robin, and Lily. I'm glad to say that Georgia’s foster calf looks so much better in the film I finally got of his belly. It seems like new manatees come in after every warm spell, so we should have a tremendous record set for individuals seen for the season. One youngster near the aluminium dock reached over the side of the canoe. I thought I would gently push his flipper back with the paddle, and he almost got the paddle! Click here to see recent photos of Georgia's adopted calf.

February 18, 2013
With lows in the 20s, we have had some manatee action. The St. Johns River is now down to 64° F. The park staff, in a rush with lots of visitors on a holiday weekend, counted 134 manatees. With plenty of time, I counted 246. Research photographers from the USGS Sirenia Project entered the water up the run before us, and the two canoe counts started at the same time. With all the activity, the manatees were in a tearing uproar for a while before calming down. In spite of the confusion, I was able to ID 147 manatees. The adoptees I saw were Phyllis, Lily, Georgia, Margarito, Doc, and Whiskers for the official roll call. In addition, Lenny, Robin, Paddy Doyle, Howie, Nick, and Philip were seen late. Ann's calf is still doing well, as is our recent release, Slip. Click here to see photos of Ann and her newborn calf. Click here for a video of Ann and her calf.

February 12, 2013
The temp in the St. Johns River was 67° F today. The park staff manatee count was 10 and mine was 11. However, colder weather is coming this weekend, so I look forward to a busy week next week. I was glad to see Squeaky yesterday as I had not recognized her in some time. She was dirty with algae, which indicates she was out of the run, so that means I did not miss her, she just wasn’t there! Ann remains in with her new calf.

February 8 & 11, 2013
On Friday, the river temp was 63° F. The park staff counted 28 manatees, and I counted 38. Georgia was the only adoptee in, and she had her adopted charge with her. I tried to film the two of them but got nothing useful. Ann was in nursing her baby, when she could get away from the juveniles, that is. Camo was in, but she had no calf with her. I did an interview with the two nice people doing a manatee documentary film.

On Monday, the river was up to 64° F. The park staff counted 20 manatees, and I counted 31. That was good, as I expected 3 or 5. However, I ID’d 30! I saw Squeaky, Nick and Paddy Doyle. Ann, not an adoptee, was in with her four-day-old calf.

February 7, 2013
I was not able to get down to Blue Spring yesterday, but I got a call to take a look at the webcam. Either Camo’s new calf was alone in the run being given attention by several females, or we had had another birth. When I could see past the glare, I found Ann (Squeaky’s grandmother) with a wrinkled little prune -- another baby! I checked my field notes and found Ann had been observed as pregnant in late January. The tremendous confusion was not only juveniles, but several mothers with calves of their own.

February 6, 2013
The river remains at 61° F, but the air is getting warmer. Park staff counted 113 manatees, and I counted 135 in the bottom quarter of the run. Then I stopped to participate in the re-release of Slip. Slip was released awhile back and ended up in Crescent Lake with a bad boat strike and cold stress. When I left the park this morning, he was still visiting with the other manatees at the spring. I was able to ID 102 manatees today. There was Howie, Deep Dent, Lily, Paddy Doyle, Lenny, and Rocket. I also ID’d Stormy. Stormy had not been in for three seasons and caused a lot of concern. A few years ago, Stormy had been released after over 15 years in captivity. But he did not leave the Blue Spring Run and was recaptured to be released the next season after further training. It worked, and Stormy gave us six straight years of visits and then disappeared. It is so good to have him back! Another manatee I saw on the webcam, sporting new scratches, turned out to be Frodo, in for the first time this season.

February 5, 2013
The St. Johns River is just a tad over 61° F, and the manatee count went down to 233. I was only able to ID 112 as a breeze came up and the manatees began playing and churning up the clay and silt. However, I did see Howie, Georgia, Annie, Elaine, Lenny, Deep Dent (a surprise!), Floyd, Robin, Flash, Phyllis, Lily, and Paddy Doyle. Not bad!!

February 4, 2013
ELAINE IS BACK!!! The river is at 61° F, and I counted 245 manatees. From those, I was able to ID 153 manatees. Elaine was the 88th manatee I counted, but she was still very close to the river. Only a few manatees were located in the top three quarters of the run. I thought, who’s the big one? It always upsets me when I don't recognize a big manatee right off. She turned her left side, and I could see raised grey scars, so I thought that could be Elaine. Then she turned her right side to me, and I saw her small white scar on the right edge of her peduncle and I knew it, but I studied her drawing to be sure and also looked at her pictures from the 2009 - 2010 season. I had to be sure! Elaine has a new skeg scar on her right rear flank that is about a foot long, but it is healed. Other adoptees also in were Phyllis, Annie, Georgia, Flash, Lily, Doc, and Paddy Doyle. It was hard to launch the research canoe as Camo and her two-day-old calf and a choice selection of juveniles were within five feet of the beach. People visiting the park had even brought lawn chairs down to sit and watch them.

One odd happening occurred today. As I came even with the resident alligator, he lifted his head out of the water and began to bellow. It is a sound like a big boat motor trying to start. I do not believe it had anything to do with the canoe, but it was interesting to see the manatees in the gator’s vicinity as they decided to get up and gently move away. Normally the manatees ignore the big lizard!

I did film Georgia and the calf she has adopted. He is still not satisfactory, but he does look better. His tail has lost the cold stress look, and his sides look better. I think he is filling out underneath, but that is where my camera work and the conditions in the run were inadequate.

February 1 - 3, 2013
The temp of the St. Johns River has only gone down to 65° F, but the manatees are starting back in. On Friday, the park staff counted 41 manatees, and I counted 43 and identified 44. (Explanation: The count or roll call is done on the way up the run. When I hit the boil, roll call is officially over, but I am still identifying manatees. If more manatees came in behind me as I went up the run, then I can have more ID’d than counted!) I am sure many more manatees were in by evening. Georgia was the second manatee I saw, and at first I did not see U66. In order to easily distinguish him from other calves, U66 is my designation for the calf Georgia has adopted. However, he was there, and I wanted to film the two of them as I came down the run, but the wind was so bad I could not see if they were on camera and did not get the shot I wanted. I was also filming Lucille for some time before I knew it and got film of a manatee with a lung problem, S80-12, it was sad. I think we will have to try to capture her.

On February 2nd, Cassandra Meadows, the new Assistant Manager at Blue Spring State Park, called me, and she was very excited. Someone had given birth! She forwarded pictures, and I could see it was BS691 or Camo AKA BC447 from Miami. I think Cass is in love. Click here to see the photos of Camo and her calf.

On February 3, I spent 15 minutes looking at the webcam, and the spring run is packed! Aside from Doc and Philip, our adoptees, I ID’d Eustis, Lillith, Cop, U47/12, Ike, Harley, Peaches (Georgia's son), Audie, Mona, Michelle, and Bonbon.

BTW, I was assisted in the production of this report by Walter the kitten, who is solely responsible for any typos or lapses of thought!

January 30, 2013
The St. Johns River is now up to 66° F! But cold temps are on the way. Park staff counted three manaatees, and I counted four but was not able to ID any of them. As I tried to exit the run to get the river temperature, the wind blew me over the four-inch pipe that serves as a hyacinth barrier, so I took the temp instead from the fishing dock. One manatee left, and I filmed the three remaining hoping to get an ID on them. I did that later, but they were just seasonal visitors, no adoptees.

January 28, 2013
The St. Johns River is now up to 64° F. There was no park staff available to count manatees, but my count was 48, and I was able to identify 36 of those. I cut the manatee count short both because no manatees had been in the upper run for days, and because I was giving a talk to a school group. Dependable Annie did not show, so I had to make do with Rocket as the only adoptee reported today. All concerned with the Manatee Festival seemed to be in a state of collapse. I know I was!

January 25 - 27, 2013
From Friday through Sunday, the St. Johns River went up two degrees from 61° F to 63° F, and the manatees are reacting. On Friday, I counted 167 manatees and only counted the quarter of the run nearest the river as I had U.S. Geological Survey photographers in the water and had to watch over them and the alligator. However, I did identify 134 manatees! I saw Robin, Howie, Flash, Georgia, Annie, Doc, Lenny, Lily, Paddy Doyle, and Floyd. I even got some film of Howie and Robin. From the samples taken on Thursday, we discovered that the calf with Georgia has been eating grasses not too long ago, and that is good if he is still doing it.

On Saturday, the park staff counted 140 manatees, and shortly after, I counted 130. It was a good day to ID manatees, and I did 108 identifications. The adoptees were moving out, but I saw Lenny, Georgia, Doc, Paddy Doyle, Rocket, and Annie, who was late but made it in for roll call. I was there all day for the Manatee Festival, but the wind later made it impossible to ID any others who may have dropped by. Even when I got back in the canoe to retrieve a camera, a child’s tennis shoe, and a flip flop, I was not able to ID any manatees. On Sunday, the park staff counted 87 manatees, and I counted 96. Manatees were coming in as I counted. Dependable Annie was one of the 62 manatees I identified, and even she was late. No other adoptees showed, but I am betting Squeaky was among the crowd of juveniles.

January 24, 2013
The St. Johns River was just over 62° F today. I took the river temp as I brought the U.S. Geological Survey's canoe around from the storage rack. Pat Rose from Save the Manatee Club had the regular research canoe and was filming and observing Georgia and the cold-stressed calf she has adopted. I was supposed to be doing an interview on Fox Channel 35 for the upcoming Manatee Festival this weekend. It didn’t happen, but as it was early, I decided to see who I could ID. The wind cut that short, but manatees are still showing up for their first season appearances. I could see Paddy Doyle, Doc, Lily, and Philip from the dock. From the canoe, I saw Robin, Nick, and Georgia. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists took skin and other samples from Georgia and the cold-stressed calf, and Pat took them to Dr. Walsh with the University of Florida for processing as we try to decide if the calf needs to be captured for treatment. The park staff manatee count was 273 and was felt to be low. I was proud to have ID’d 77 of those manatees.

January 23, 2013
The St. Johns River temp is now down to 63° F. I was too busy to remember to get the park's count, but mine was 158 manatees plus a couple or so up the run where I did not go. I had to watch alligators on this trip and look for special manatees for U.S. Geological Survey researchers, who are doing their annual photos of the Blue Spring manatees. I did identify 134 manatees. Paddy Doyle, Flash, Robin, Floyd, Nick, Philip, Lily, Georgia, Annie, Phyllis, and Lenny were among them. Georgia had the sickly cold-stressed calf with her again, so I called Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision staff, and they came out to look at him. I shot lots and lots of film of Georgia and the calf, but I still got some of Lily, too. We think Lily and Georgia are both pregnant. The saga of the cold-stressed calf will continue tomorrow.

January 21, 2013
Now this is more like it!! Today, the river temperature was 65°F. The park staff counted 103 manatees, and I counted 154. I was able to ID 111 manatees and saw Flash, Nick, Annie, Doc, and Rocket. Both of our manatees with lung problems were there, and Jessica was also there with her entanglement. I let the folks concerned know so we could start planning a capture. This will probably not include Jess, as she is pregnant. During the warm spell, the manatees and boaters both went out to play, so unfortunately I am filming manatees with fresh boat strikes. However, I also filmed Rocket again, and I am pleased to say that I think he is positively round. An animal from last year came in for the first time, and I filmed him. I thought he had cold stress sores (which look like large, white acne), but it was barnacles! On film, the barnacles came out better than the animal. His ID is U102-11, so I guess I better name and number him.

January 18, 2013
The manatees are back! That's the good news. We finally got some cool weather, and that brought them in again. The park staff counted 31 manatees today, and I counted 34. The bad news is that none of the manatees I saw were adoptees.

January 16 -17, 2013
As of January 17th, the river is now up to 72° F. The park staff and I logged zero for the manatee roll call on both days. On the 16th, one ranger counted three manatees, but the manatees left the spring run. As I went to leave that day, another ranger asked me to look at a cow-calf pair hanging with the alligator to see if it was Georgia. It wasn't Georgia, but I did see two juveniles and an adult manatee. On the 17th, the tour boat staff saw a cow-calf pair at the swim dock around 9:15 a.m., but everyone else missed them.

January 15, 2013
The park staff counted 0 manatees today. I soon backed them up with the same count. The reason for this is apparent in the St. Johns River temperature, which was 69.5°. With no manatees to count, I filmed the big gator until I got so close that he scared me, and I paddled like mad to get away! He is good sized -- probably about 13 feet long.

January 14, 2013
As it has been so warm in Florida, I have not been on the water since January 10th. So here are some observations: There are at least 52 calves this season! My count for the season, which includes those calves, is 458 manatees, but that is probably high at this time. At least 40 manatees from the Blue Spring population have not come in yet, but surely there is more cold weather to come, so we will hope that some of the 40 show up. The final manatee count may be even higher. On January 12th, the park staff counted four manatees, and they swam out as they were counted! I saw at least four manatees from the bank later, and there might have been 10. The manatees swim in and out when the weather is like this. I got creative one morning and wrote a haiku poem. Here it is:

January 10, 2013
The St. Johns River rose four degrees to 67° F overnight. Either that or I messed up the reading yesterday! The park staff counted 28 manatees and I counted 40. I was able to ID 27 manatees. Rocket, Annie, and Philip were in. No way will Phyllis, Georgia, and Lily be in the running for attendance champ at this rate. I believe Annie may have it clinched already. It appears all the line was removed from Swale’s tail yesterday.

January 9, 2013
The St. Johns River remained at 63° F. Park staff counted 40 manatees in the silt cloud. I did not count as I was working staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help manatees that needed assistance. Christine Rush of FWC did cut the entanglement off Swale’s tail (try saying Swale’s tail 10 times real fast!). However, our other problem children were absent. I did ID 33 manatees. Of the adoptees, Rocket was in and so was Annie.

January 8, 2013
The St. Johns River is up to 63° F. The park staff counted 106 manatees, and I counted 90. Both counts were low considering the mud the manatees were stirring up. I was able to identify 64 manatees and saw Phillip, Paddy Doyle, Annie, Rocket, and Squeaky. I filmed Rocket again to check his condition. You may recall that we are keeping an eye on him to see if he is getting fatter or thinner. I think he looks better. I also forwarded pictures of the cold-stressed calf to get more opinions on his condition. The film was not encouraging. I also filmed the departure of BS642, also known as Bailey, who died and was taken to a boat ramp today to be picked up by staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. There is no cause of death yet, but that will hopefully be determined.

January 3, 2013
On December 31st, the river was a chilly 58° F, and that was a slight rise from Friday the 28th. The park staff counted 302 manatees, but conditions were such that I could not get a count as the manatees had the mud too stirred up. However, I was able to ID 138 manatees. The adoptees present were Philip, Robin, Annie, Margarito, Lily, Floyd, Doc, Whiskers, and Georgia. This was only my second sighting of Margarito this season. Georgia was in the boil without her yearling, but she had a cold-stressed calf with her. Katie Tripp from Save the Manatee Club was with me, and we spent some time with the calf in the boil. We also filmed Georgia and the calf, Whiskers, Rocket, and Doc. The cold-stressed calf appears to be fine. It is both curious and interested, and I have certainly seen worse. However, I was glad Katie was there to help me assess the calf.

On January 2nd, the river was up to a balmy 60.3° F. The park staff counted 138 manatees, and I counted 153. The conditions to ID were terrible as there were clay clouds and a light breeze ruffling the water. I only able to identify 39 manatees because of the wind, and the only adoptees I identified were Lily and Nick. As cold as the river is, it was 3 degrees warmer than two days ago. And the manatees know it is getting warmer yet -- at least for a couple of days.

Which leads me to January 3rd. This morning the river was now 61° F. The only count was mine, and I saw 82 manatees and ID’d 72. With so few manatees in the spring run, I had lots of time to identify them. The adoptees in were Annie, Phyllis, Lucille, Philip, Georgia, Nick, and Rocket. They had the clay so stirred up that filming was pointless, but I could see Georgia was still caring for the cold-stressed calf. Annie has a mob of youngsters with her. One is her calf, and the rest are all juveniles – one and two-year-old manatees.

December 28, 2012
With the river temp at 57° F, the coldest I’ve recorded this season, I counted 324 manatees and identified 174. I saw 10 adoptees among them: Brutus (the first one ID’d), Deep Dent, Howie, Nick, Philip, Doc, Lily, Floyd, Rocket, and Phyllis. Given the conditions -- crowding and murky water -- there were probably more. When manatees crowd together, I will not go in among them, as the canoe can upset them. But I was pleased with seeing all the old timers. I still have not seen Elaine, but then it hasn’t gotten really cold yet. And speaking of crowds, the park was packed with visitors -- as usual after Christmas!

December 21, 2012
It was too windy to get a river temperature today. And since it did not get cold until dawn, the manatee counts were 68 (me) and 69 (park staff). I identified 44 manatees, and Lily, Phyllis, Squeaky, and Annie were all present. Normally the manatees are right there in the spring run, but half of them were up frolicking at the boil – many of them cows and calves. Lily was the first manatee I saw, but the wind was horrible and made it difficult to ID them. I was surprised as I have seen Squeaky fairly frequently lately. She seems to hang out by herself up the run. She’s small and has a tiny wedge-shaped mark on her tail. That’s how I know it’s her.

December 19 & 20, 2012
On Wednesday, the St. Johns River was down a little to 67° F. The park staff counted 59 manatees, and I counted 88. I was able to identify 71 manatees, and among them were Nick, Philip, Rocket, Squeaky, and Annie. Annie has a calf, by the way! Doc was also in, but he came in late. That day I have never seen so many small tarpon, which were about 12 to 18 inches in length. On Thursday, the river continued downward to 66° F. The park staff were busy with a prescribed burn, so I did the only count of the day with 100 manatees, and I ID'd 80 of them. Adoptees at the spring included Nick, Floyd, Annie, and Rocket. I also filmed a couple of alligators nose to nose on a log. But when the canoe finally drifted down their way, I decided to go film something else!

December 18, 2012
The temperature in the St. Johns River is at 67.9° F. Because of the warm weather, manatee numbers were down to a 57 count by the park staff and 57 by me. The count was done under very windy conditions, and I could only ID 43 manatees. Rocket and Doc were the only adoptees identified.

December 17, 2012
The river remains 66.5° F. I counted for both the park and Club research today. There were 81 manatees, and I was able to ID 65 of them. Nick, Phillip, Lucille, Doc, and Rocket were all in. We shall be keeping an eye on Rocket to see if he is getting fatter or thinner.

December 15, 2012
There was no manatee roll call on the 13th and 14th, but I wanted to let everyone know that we have 49 calves so far, and I feel good with that number. I have also identified 408 individuals. The 408 may be a weak figure as so many manatees are nearly unmarked or unmarked, but it has not even gotten cold yet, so we are still early in the process. On Saturday, December 15th, the river temp had dropped to 66.5° F from 70° F on Wednesday the 12th. For Thursday and Friday, the manatee counts were 5 and 74. But on Saturday, the park staff counted 167 manatees, and I counted 165.

My count was interrupted as biologist Monica Ross arrived to remove the now useless radio tag belt from Kathy the manatee and to check out the manatees with entanglements. Jessica is one, but she is pregnant, and we may have to wait for next year. At least her entangled flipper looks a lot better this season. Lucille also has line in the groove on her half amputated flipper. Not surprisingly, the grooves from the removed old line attract new line. Years ago, Lucy was captured and all the line was removed. She soon picked up more, however, and her flipper self amputated. Monica agreed that a manatee who now appears bent in a comma shape is in trouble with a lung problem. There will be more news on that as we decide how to handle it. We never handled Zuzu, who had a similar comma-shaped look to him, but he acts normal now. Zuzu may still have a problem, but he appears to be enjoying life, so we'll just keep him under observation for the time being. There was some thought given to cutting the line off Swale's tail, but that thought evaporated when he was found hanging out with two large alligators! All in all, I identified 138 manatees. Of the adoptees, Lucille was in, as were Lily, Georgia, Doc, Phyllis, and Rocket. Lenny was late for roll call.

December 12, 2012
The St. Johns River is up to 70° F. The park staff counted seven manatees, and they were all headed to the river because of the warm temp. I counted four manatees, and then one of those left on me. I filmed Rocket again today. It was cloudy, so I think I captured him better. He looks skinny.

December 11, 2012
ROCKET is in!!!! Today I saw Rocket's freeze brand on S99/12, one of the manatees I previously thought I could not recognize! Rocket has actually been at Blue Spring off and on since November 28th. He was also seen in Welaka on November 21st. Now, of the adoptees, there is just Elaine left to come in. The river is still 69° F. I saw 29 manatees today, and the park staff did not count. Annie, of course, was in. I filmed Rocket with enthusiasm.

December 10, 2012
The temperature in the St. Johns River is up to 69° F, but even with the warm river temp, I still saw 21 manatees. Doc and Annie were in today. I filmed Doc again and a little more of Annie as well.

December 7, 2012
The river temp went up two degrees to 68° F overnight. Park staff counted 16 manatees, and I counted 32. However, I identified 34. How did that happen? Well, when I do the roll calls, the count ends at the spring boil, but any manatees in late are still ID'd! Crazy Nick and Squeaky were the only adoptees I saw today, but I shot a lot of film.

December 6, 2012
The St. Johns River remains at 66° F. The park staff saw 43 manatees, and I saw 78. I identified 53 manatees, and adoptees Nick, Lily, Robin, Squeaky, and Annie were all in the spring run today. Annie and company were directly under the underwater webcam!

December 5, 2012
The St. Johns River has now warmed up to 66° F. As the temperature goes up, the manatees go down. The park counted 59 manatees, and I counted 71. Of those 71, I identified 56 manatees. Annie made roll call this morning. Squeaky, Lily, and Nick were seen afterward, and I filmed them.

December 4, 2012
First, Georgia was in yesterday. She was late, and I overlooked her. Second, the juvenile manatee brought in Friday was not recorded as a boat kill. It had a torn abdomen, but it is not known why. The St. Johns River was up to 65° F today. The park staff counted 61 manatees. As I was out longer and going in circles, I counted 82. There was wind, but no clay today, so I was able to identify 70 manatees. Last year, some manatees that were in Jacksonville when the weather got too cold were brought to Blue Spring. One was a pregnant adult named Kathy, and she had a tag or satellite tracking device. After an initial freakout, she adjusted well to Blue Spring. However, she quickly lost the device and went off the air when she left for the summer. As the cold weather approached, an APB went out to manatee researchers to watch for a manatee wearing a belt but missing the device. Well, Kathy was in today, and she has a calf! That is enough for celebration, but there is more. Squeaky is in, and she came to the canoe!!! Part of the big deal is not only that she came back, but that I recognized her! Annie was also in. So, with the orphan calf mentioned yesterday, and with Kathy's calf, we now have at least 41 calves recorded for the season.

December 3, 2012
With the St. Johns River temp soaring to 64.5° F, we still saw over 100 manatees. The park staff counted 117. I counted 105 and identified 61. As I photographed, a calf with cold stress or something else around his flipper chased the other fat gray residents of the run, began to play in the clay, and destroyed the best day of visibility I've had. Still, I saw Robin and Annie. However, the calf I thought was Annie's is an orphan. Annie's calf is larger and very dirty. The orphan is nursing on multiple females and doing fine. Sadly, a juvenile I had designated "S70/12" was brought in dead on Friday, November 30th. It was an apparent boat kill, but we will have to await the necropsy to be sure.

November 29, 2012
Today I went out with a photographer from the Daytona Beach News-Journal, so my routine became identify manatees and film a little. I did ID Robin, Paddy Doyle, Phyllis, Merlin, and Annie. I tried to film Merlin, and hope I did good!

November 28, 2012
The St. Johns River was up to 63° F today. The park staff counted 110 manatees and I counted 149. We are up to 39 calves as another little one appeared today. I was able to identify 94 animals, including Robin, Lenny, and Annie. The park staff also saw Georgia. The running count for the season is 370 individuals seen this season, and the cold weather yet to come!

November 27, 2012
The river temp was 61.3° F today(16° C). My count was interrupted and obscured by clay and finally some wind. But the park staff counted 189 manatees and that sounds good. Despite the odds against me, I was able to identify 78 manatees. Among them were Lucille, Paddy Doyle, and Annie's calf. As in my last count, the manatees were moving down and out of the run, anticipating the coming warm weather.

November 20 - 23, 2012
The St. Johns River hit its’ lowest so far with a 61.5° F temp on Friday, November 23rd. The park staff counted 106 manatees and I counted 261! But I had an unfair advantage in the canoe and counting after the fog lifted. Nick is here! And Merlin has been here, too. Recently, Merlin stuck just his head into and out of a webcam clip that I was watching from November 11th. However, I waited to see him at roll call before I would officially call it a sighting. On Friday, I also saw Annie (Annie was near the river, her calf was near the boil), Lenny, Robin, Georgia, Deep Dent, Brutus, Phyllis, Lily, Doc, Paddy Doyle, and Floyd. Amber is in now, so I must look harder for Squeaky. Amber had two young ones with her, but the conditions were not good enough to get a good look. During the entire count, the manatees were streaming out of the run as the weather warmed.

We are up to 328 individuals for the season. We seem to have 38 calves with nine more possible when outstanding females arrive. The old record was 27. Zorba, last seen in 2008, was in on November 21st, which was a big deal for me. Phillip, Annie, Doc, and Whiskers were also in that day. Rocket was not in, but he was seen on November 20th in Welaka Spring by Dr. Katie Tripp of Save the Manatee Club and Monica Ross of Sea2Shore Alliance. I also assisted a documentary film maker from Italy that day. On November 20th, I ID'd 88 manatees, including Lucille, Annie, Phillip, Georgia, and Doc.

November 19, 2012
Today, the river temperature was 65.5° F. There was bad clay and bad wind, so it made identification difficult, but despite the conditions, the park counted 202 manatees and I got 176. Of those, I was able to ID 110 manatees. Among the new arrivals are Whiskers and Flash! Phyllis, Georgia, Phillip, and Annie were also in today. There are at least 294 individuals for the season so far.

November 16, 2012
The St. Johns River was back down to 66° F and the manatee counts up to the following: park staff - 83, Wayne - 79. Dependable Annie was in as was not so dependable Phillip. Then, on the return down run, Deep Dent showed up! I got him on video. I have now seen 284 individual manatees this season.

November 15, 2012
Today the river temperature was 68°. The park staff and I both counted 51 manatees. The only adoptee in today was Annie. I did not see her on the way down after the count, but I saw her calf with Brooke and Brooke's calf. I picked out two old timers and three unknowns using the webcam films from the days I did not get to the park.

November 13, 2012
Yesterday, the river temp was up to 64.5° F. The park count was 31 manatees, but mine was 83. There was a lot of clay clouds in the water, but it was not as bad as Friday. Floyd, Annie, and Paddy Doyle were in. The manatee named Eon may have twins! Today the river went up two degrees to 66° F. The park count was 74 manatees, and mine was 78. The calf count is now 39, with three them still in question. There were no adoptees in at all today, but Jessica, the one we wanted to capture for the bad flipper entanglement, was finally in. The season count is up to 258 manatees.

November 9, 2012
Today the St. Johns River was down to 62.5° F. Park staff counted 152 manatees, and I counted 101. I ID'd 71 manatees, among them Lucille, Brutus, and Floyd. The new faces for this season were Doc, Paddy Doyle, Phillip, and Margarito! That means 8 more adoptees to go. In non adoptee news: Jazz, a young manatee that was ID'd in 2009, has a calf. I guess that means Jazz is female! Jazz has terrible mutilations from a large prop wound just above her peduncle (the base of her tail). I have been refering to Annie's calf as a yearling. Annie has brought it in so often this past summer, I guess it just seems like a yearling. We are up to 33 calves with more to come I am sure!! We have 226 manatees ID'd for the season to this point.

November 8, 2012
At least 195 animals have been seen since October 28th! At least 31 of these are calves! The old record was 27 calves, and there are more females expected that could have calves! The St. Johns River was 64° F today. Park staff counted 84 manatees, and I counted 102. With the wind down a little, I took my time trying to ID manatees, and more came in as I did so. The fresh-faced adoptees today were Lily and Lucille for roll call, and then Lenny showed up in the swim area after the count was over. Also in today were Howie, Phyllis, Annie, and Robin. Robin was sound asleep in the middle of the run instead of doing his normal nonstop swimming up and down the run. Recorded previously, but not today, are Brutus, Georgia and Floyd. There are 10 adoptees in and 12 to go. However, there was no calf seen with Lily although she was very pregnant when she left last season. But I will check a couple more times as the manatees settle down. In non-adoptee news that pleased me, Arwen, who has been coming in since 2002, finally has a calf.

November 7, 2012
On Monday, November 5th, with a river temp of 64.5° F, the park staff counted 53 manatees, and I counted 44. Georgia and Annie with their yearlings were the only adoptees in. Now for today, November 7th. The river was 65° F and none of our adoptees made roll call. But good old Annie came in as I got off the spring run. The park staff counted 59 manatees, and in the wind and clay, I could only find 33.

November 2, 2012
On Friday the temp in the St. Johns River was 63°, and I did both manatee counts (for me and the park), so both were 100. Brutus and Georgia were back, and Phyllis was seen for the first time. Phyllis was alone, which is unusual, but probably restful for her. Phalcon, her daughter, has given her another grandbaby. Hola, whose sex I did not know last year, has a calf and enlarged nipples so is a female for sure. Sometimes difficult things become easy! Zuzu was in, and he was never still, running from me or chasing females. I have a lot of calves and mothers to sort out!

October 31, 2012
The river is down to 65° and the park staff counted 103 manatees today. Manatee counts for the last three days are Park-18,49,103; Me-17, 27, 93. This makes October 29th the start of the 2012 - 2013 season. Today I found Floyd near the diver entry, and as I was coming down from the boil after the count, Brutus passed me on the way up. Then I found Howie in the swim area napping. An animal named Swale has been in with rope and line on a tail scar, and Jessica still has her line and flipper problem, so the rescue folks from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are hoping to do some line removal soon.

October 30, 2012
Today Robin was in among my 27 manatees. The park staff counted 49 manatees earlier when the wind was calmer, and I ID'd 12 of them. The river temp was 66°F. I got nice film of a manatee I intend to name Chloe. She is also known as BS706. I also helped the park staff put out the "No Canoe or Rowboat" sign. The wind was hard in 30 mph gusts.

October 29, 2012
Yesterday I am sure I saw Georgia in the murk of clay in the run. Park Manager Bob Rundle says her calf is still with her, which would be common for Georgia. Gator was also seen by Bob. I saw Gator and Annie today. Annie had at least five young manatees trying to nurse on her, and I don't know which was hers. One that joined the group is a small weaner calf that was waiting in the boil when I came up from a dive on September 21st. I found out it had been in for a week turning over kayaks, grabbing inner tubes, and other anti-social behavior. I could really see the little lady's left flipper scar today, and I hope I filmed it. I was going to rename Camo, a large female from Miami, but I have never seen her before last season, and I may never see her again as she may choose to winter in another location. This little female youngster should stay around! I also saw a young male that I believe was S88/11 from last season. As of tomorrow, the spring run is closed to canoes and kayaks. Because of the cold weather and possible manatee visits, there is no swimming tomorrow and then day to day until November 15th.


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.

Read Wayne's reports from the 2011 - 2012 Manatee Season

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