June 4, 2017 - Wakulla Springs State Park

During our stay in Florida last winter, I made a visit to Wakulla Springs State Park which is south of Tallahassee. It was the middle of February and the Azalea bushes were in bloom. As a Minnesotan, I’m still amazed to see flowers outside in February.

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The park offers a boat ride on the Wakulla River and I always take it when I go there. One of the big attractions during the boat ride is seeing Alligators sunning themselves on the banks.

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Toward the end of the boat ride, our guide pointed out these baby Alligators. They are so well camouflaged that it is hard to pick them out. Can you find all four of them?

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Spiderlilys grow along the river and here is one in bloom.

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Suwannee Cooters are a common turtle species at Wakulla. These three Cooters were sunning themselves on a log.

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This chicken-sized bird is called a Common Gallinule. It used to be called a Common Moorhen but recently had its name changed. The red and yellow bill always makes me think of Halloween corn candy.

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I heard from my Florida birding friends that the number of ducks wintering there was very low this year. That was certainly true when I visited Wakulla. I did see a few Hooded Mergansers; this is a female.

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Here’s a male Hooded Merganser. He just popped up from a dive and you can still see the drops of water clinging to his feathers.

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