Photo © Nancy Sadusky, Save the Manatee Club

2011 - 2012 Manatee Season Reports
From Blue Spring State Park
by Wayne Hartley, Manatee Specialist
Save the Manatee Club




June 9, 2012
A nice surprise! Annie, one of our latest adoptees, showed up at the swim dock at Blue Spring this morning with her new calf in tow. This is Annie's first little one, but the sex of the calf is unclear at this time. Click here to see photos>>

March 19, 2012
Last Friday, the park staff saw three manatees, and since that time they have seen none for a morning count. Individual manatees may be wandering in from time to time but nothing to count on. With temps in the 80s for highs and 60s for lows, the river is maintaining temps in the low 70s. Barring the unexpected, the manatee season is over.

March 14, 2012
I round off the river temp. This means that the temp is still 70° F, but it is a higher 70° F. The park manatee count was six, and those were probably the six manatees in the canoe basin yesterday. When I counted, it was one manatee, and he was leaving. No adoptees today.

March 13, 2012
After seeing only four manatees on Saturday, I thought the season was done. The river agrees, having gone up to 70° F! I I counted eight manatees today and ID'd six, no adoptees. BUT, according to park staff, Brutus was in again in the last two days, as was Georgia and her calf. Go figure!

March 10, 2012
Today I went in for an interview postponed from earlier in the week, so I slept late and passed on a river temp but, as we left the beach at 10:00 a.m., it was a good count. We saw four manatees. We passed over Brutus at 10 feet from the shore. I was amazed! I was being interviewed by Lesley Hayman, a second grade teacher from Ohio who had adopted Brutus in the past. Brutus and company had decided to see what we were up to. So, not many manatees, but a big and important one!

March 9, 2012
Well, 67° F river yesterday, 69° F river today. There were 62 manatees yesterday, but only 10 manatees today. What a difference a day makes! I ID'd four: Doom, Chad, Sharkbite, and Phud, but no adoptees. Often, I console myself for coming in to count so few by seeing something special.

Often, I see something special because with so few, there is time to look. Today I ID'd Chad for the first time this season, but as I got closer, I found he had been here all season as U85/11, an unknown. At the angle I approached, I only saw his old scar pattern, but all season I have combined an old scar and a new scar into one unfamiliar scar. This is the difficulty and the fun of what I do.

March 8, 2012
I was amazed to find the river down another half degree to 67° F. I counted 62 manatees and ID'd 49. Howie and Dana were in again, and I think they have a thing going. Also in were Margarito, Lucille, Lucy's calf, and Brutus. Everyone is close to the river and ready to go as the warm weather rolls in.

March 7, 2012
Much to my suprise, the river temp dropped half a degree over night. My official count was 60 manatees. Margarito was the only adoptee on it, but Howie and Dana came in late. The wind was awful. It blew me and the canoe on Sofie and her calf, startled them, and caused a mild panic. The manatees threw about a gallon of water on me with their tails. My papers and I absorbed half, and the other half sloshed around in the canoe for the rest of the count.

March 6, 2012
Excellent day! I counted 54 manatees and ID'd 45. Howie was back, along with Paddy Doyle, Dana, Georgia, Georgia's calf, and Phyllis. I think I even saw Deep Dent beating it out of the run. The wind was terrible, but I was persistent. Here's how my morning went: Get near the manatee, wind blows me across the run, get near the manatee, wind blows me across the run. This happened over and over until I would get the manatee ID'd.

March 5, 2012
Well, with frost on my lawn, the river went down to 69.5° F. I counted nine manatees and ID'd seven, among them our stalwart Howie. Amber and Squeaky (her calf) were also there, but more on that later. A tremendous effort was made last week to capture Jessica at Lake Woodruff to get her monofilament off, but mud, vegetation, and a clever manatee defeated it.

March 1, 2012
The park staff counted nine manatees today, and I counted 13. The St. Johns River was 69.5° F. No adoptees, season over? We shall see.

February 29, 2012
River was 67° F with 48 manatees in. 39 manatees were ID'd, among them was Howie, just Howie! Jessica has been tagged again. She is located in the Norris Dead River (West of Deland), and her capture is set for March 1st.

February 27, 2012
It was raining today and though I counted 93 manatees, I am sure there were many more. The river was only 67° F, but that was down from 68° F. Lucille, Lucy's calf, Phyllis, Nick, and Flash were among the present. Jessica was also there but, unfortunately, without her tag.

February 26, 2012
River temp still essentially 68° F, but there were 57 manatees by my count. The park staff counted 10 from the boardwalk. The only adoptee was Georgia with her calf, and she came over and bumped the canoe.

February 24, 2012
With a river temp just above 68° F, the park staff counted one manatee, and I counted five. I ID'd three manatees and two were unidentifiable juveniles. None of the manatees ID'd were adoptees, but one was Peaches, Georgia's first calf born in 1998.

February 22, 2012
A good day. The river temp was up, but I still counted 58 manatees and ID'd 49. Phillip, Margarito, Deep Dent, Howie, Phyllis, and Georgia were among the manatees ID'd. Amber and her calf were together and inseparable today!

February 21, 2012
As I hoped, it was better today. I counted 59 manatees and among them were Howie and Georgia with a calf. An oddity: yesterday I saw Amber's calf but no Amber. Today I saw Amber but not her calf. As she had with for two days recently, Amber was again nursing a different calf with a small scar on its right flipper.

February 20, 2012
With a river temp of 67° F today, I saw 14 manatees as compared to 235+ a week ago. None were adoptees. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Eleven of the 14 manatees were ID'd. Considering the wind, that was good.

February 15, 2012
The river temp rose two degrees to 63° F. The wind came up, and I got a count of 183 manatees. The wind blew so hard that I spent more time counting than identifying! Flash was the only adoptee ID'd at roll call. As I prepared to leave, I saw Lucille and Lucy's calf just off the beach. FWC staff got the transmitter back on Jessica, and I feel good about it. I think FWC and SeaWorld will capture her and get that line off of her.

February 14, 2012
The river remains 61.5° F, and I counted at least 226 manatees. Brutus, Howie, Robin, Lily, Elaine, Phillip, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Georgia, Georgia's calf, Whiskers, and Phyllis showed up today. I picked up Jessica's tag and tether about 15 feet from her. The belt is still firm, so hopefully something can be rigged to easily reattach it. The manatees are moving toward the river, as they know it is getting warmer.

February 13, 2012
The river temp dropped to 61.5° F. The park staff counted around 175 manatees, and I counted 235. I felt my count was low as conditions were bad with wind, cloudy water, and clay in suspension from rowdy manatees. Lily, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Flash, Nick, MERLIN, Lenny, Floyd, Doc, Elaine, Whiskers, and Phyllis made roll call. Georgia, Georgia's calf, and Paddy Doyle were late. I think Georgia was there the whole time, but I missed her while I was being "attacked" by juveniles. Georgia turned up under the canoe, pushing her head into the USGS photographer who was there doing manatee research work. While I jumped and cheered on the beach, FWC got a tag on Jessica. Maybe it will stay on, and we can do a capture and get the line off her flipper.

Some of you have asked about the scarred manatee on the manatee cam that keeps hanging out with the large alligator. That is Sir Duncealot. Really, the young fella is U25/11. He is the 25th unknown manatee for the 2011-12 season. He is due a name and number for the six white scars, and now he has a new scar over them that looks worse than it is.

February 10, 2012
The park staff counted 83 manatees today, and I ID'd 68. The river temp was down to 68° F, and the manatees know it is getting colder soon. I saw Robin, Margarito, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Phyllis, Georgia, and Georgia's calf. I had a Daytona Beach News Journal photographer with me, so we may have some of his pictures in the Sunday paper. A Silver Glen manatee named Anvil was in after a three-year pass. I'm told he stays at Salt Springs now.

February 7, 2012
With a river temp of 69° F, when the magic number that gets them here is 68° F, only four manatees were in. Amber was visiting with her calf. She no longer has the little free loader she kept for two days.

February 3, 2012
Not much joy. The river temperature was 66° F today and 47 manatees were in, but none were adoptees.

January 30, 2012
63° F river today! A three degree drop. I counted 89 manatees and ID'd 53 as winds rose as the count progressed. Paddy Doyle was in and so were Doc, Lucille, Lucille's calf, and Nick. The last two I saw were Amber and her adoptee. Her own calf was in as well, but she is a pistol and all over the place, rarely with mama. The lone calf was in with the crowd. Hopefully it is nursing on someone and will be alright.

January 29, 2012
The river temp was down two degrees to 66° F and 27 manatees were in and more showing as the day went on. Zuzu and Rocket were in among manatees of note, also Amber with an extra calf. It looks like half of the mothers are trying to adopt out their young! Club staff and volunteers were sure they spotted Howie crashing around in the fallen trees accross the way at some point. I ended up with a total of 40 for manatees seen.

January 28, 2012
With the river 68° F, we were lucky to have 16 animals. No adoptees, but Zuzu was chasing Jackie, and my lonesome calf was hanging with Kathy, the manatee from Jax.

January 25, 2012
The weather is warm and the river temp is up to 65° F. From the boardwalk, I was only able to count six manatees, but I counted 19 from my canoe. The park staff counted 12 on their canoe run. Five to seven manatees came in with me to play "knock the canoe around" after I measured the temperature of the river. Of the 19 manatees ID'd, there were no adoptees present.

January 20, 2012
You can see the river temp increase in Celsius, but it is still 59° F. The park staff counted 186 manatees today, and I counted 212! I could only ID 93. Wind and clay clouds again. The transfer manatee from Jacksonville is coming in to the spring now, so that is good. We have a calf circling the boil and the rescue folks are going to take a look at it. It's difficult to know which calf in any case, but with conditions so bad for IDs, it is impossible to do more than guess. Deep Dent, Whiskers and Robin were the only adoptees ID'd.

January 19, 2012
As temperatures warm, the number of manatees at Blue Spring is declining, but slowly. Today the park count was 238 and mine was 194 with a river temp at 59° F. Conditions were better, but far from good. I ID'd 156 manatees. There was Robin, Phyllis, Lily, Phillip, Lucille, Lucy's calf, and Whiskers. Spotted late were Lenny and Nick. The chief thing I am learning with the new camera is when it is not worth filming because of the clay storm!

January 18, 2012
River temp 58° F, the park staff counted 250 manatees. I counted 189 under conditions of wind and stirred up clay and could only ID 76. I was using a small camera out of the canoe on a pole to film underwater. I filmed Paddy Doyle, Phyllis, Lily, Doc, Georgia, Georgia's calf, and Elaine. Also present and possibly on camera was Lucille. The wind was almost bad enough to cancel the count. It should be a good test of the camera as I should see things I could not see from above water! Late yesterday, the park was suprised with a manatee from Jacksonville. The Jax manatee hit the water and took off, not even saying hello to the other manatees. So far it is still in the vicinity, which is good. The place the manatee stayed at in Jacksonville would not be appropriate for full winter.

January 17, 2012
Today was the webcam kickoff, which took up the morning, and it was too windy to ID by noon. I walked the boardwalk and ID'd thirty three manatees including Deep Dent and Phyllis. The park staff counted 168 today.

January 16, 2012
230 manatees with a river temp of 56° F. Park staff counted 241 and were probably closer to correct. For roll call, we had Nick, Lucille, Lucille's calf, Deep Dent, Robin, Margerito, Dana, and Floyd. For late comers, we had Doc, Lenny, Elaine, and Howie. Manatees continue to make first appearances for the season -- at least three came in today. Amber's calf joined the mob of other calves playing with the canoe and rolled over to show she is a little female!

January 13, 2012
The river was 60° F today and 131 manatees were counted. The ones ID'd included Howie, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Paddy Doyle, Phyllis, and Phillip. This was the calmest day in some time. Almost no clay clouds churned up but a mild breeze hindered IDs. Nancy Sadusky from Save the Manatee Club came along to get some new photos and videos.

January 10, 2012
118 manatees in today. New ones for the season still coming in. Robin, Dana and Brutus were in, and Phillip and Georgia were seen after roll call was over. Adjusting the river temperature to make up for dropping the thermometer gave me 59.5° F for today and 59° F for yesterday. Once at home, I was notified that a manatee was in with a fish cork and line attached. Later that night, I found out that it was Jessica, and she was entangled in a fish bobber and four hooks. They got the line and bobber off her and a tag on, though not as firm as preferred. The park staff called for help and biologist Melody Fischer was able to come through.

January 9, 2012
The river was up to 56° F today and 131 manatees were in. A lot of frolicking and dashing about going on -- easy to get a canoe turned over! Lucille was in as were Deep Dent, Phyllis, Dana, Nick, Brutus, Robin, Lily, and Floyd. We are up to 360 animals for the season. Two or three more are arriving every day.

January 6, 2012
I counted 230 today, stopping the count halfway as the manatees were in an uproar. The cause for this was the U.S. Geological Survey Sirenia Project doing underwater photos for research and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trying to tag Jess for capture. With everybody still on and in the water all calmed down, I was able to ID a lot of manatees. Nick, Paddy, Robin, Lily, and Phyllis were there for roll call proper. Doc, Phillip, Floyd, Flash, Brutus, Lenny, and Dana were seen after the water cleared.

January 4, 2012
I counted 207 today but must have missed many in the clay clouds. Three more old timers made it in to bring the season total to 255. The watch was on to get a tag on Jessica in order to get monofilament line off her flipper, but she appeared to leave as soon as she was spotted. Phillip said hello, also Phyllis and Dana. The river temperature was 56° F, the coldest yet.

January 2, 2012
The count was 123 but many were missed in the worst and earliest morning clay cloud they have ever churned up. Adoptees in attendance were Paddy Doyle and Whiskers. Phyllis missed the count but appeared out of the clay cloud after the count was over. I noticed a problem with a camera housing and was allowed to put a ladder in the water and swim out and fix it. I was cold and wet all the way home. Need to carry a change of clothes! I could also be pitched from the canoe any day. This is an interesting problem as anyone that keeps large livestock could tell about. Cows run through fences and horses scratch their backs on them and level them. A manatee can bump the camera housing but I can just see them scratching on one. Makes me smile but we don't have unlimited cameras.

December 30, 2011
231 manatees were counted today, and it looks like we have a new record for manatees seen in a season! I have not digested the info yet but we only needed three more for the record, and I'm sure we got that. Paddy Doyle, Nick, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Phillip, Whiskers, Georgia, and Georgia calf were in. Also in were Jessica and her yearling. Jess lost a left flipper to line entanglement and now she has line on her right flipper. We hope to get a tag on her so she can be captured in the river. Capture in the refuge would be too disruptive.

December 29, 2011
Today I counted 143 manatees. Among them were: Dana, Robin, Brutus, Lucille, Lucy's calf, Paddy Doyle, Flash, Deep Dent, Nick, Margarito, Elaine, Georgia, and Georgia's calf. Manatees are still making first appearances. I have seen 342 animals this season -- two off the record set last year. 22 are calves.

December 28, 2011
My count for the 28th was 36. No adoptees. We are studing how to keep the webcam free of bubbles and algae. A manatee nosed it and all the bubbles floated off. On a sad note. Webster, released at Blue Spring last February, was found dead of cold stress near Jacksonville.

December 26, 2011
Ten manatees were in for the count and four were identified, among them was Nick. Also identified were Amber and her calf. Amber was a twin abandoned by her mother Ann in the spring run and raised at Sea World for many years. After her release, she had a still birth at the spring head. Pregnant again, she came to the spring in the summer and gave birth successfully. SMC staff and volunteers helped watch over her and the calf as they went among the canoes, kayaks, and swimmers. We have been worried as the season continued and Amber did not show. She is back now, and she and the calf are fine.


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.


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