a manatee on my street

The only place I have ever gotten a full view of a manatee is at our local South Florida Museum where the oldest known manatee lives-click the museum link to see Snooty! More about the 65 year old manatee here and other info and photos are available via the National Geographic. They are such interesting creatures.

I've heard about the manatees splashing around and coming into shore to eat the grasses at Lucas Boatworks where you could really see them, but I've not experienced this myself. There is an underground spring in the river in front of Lucas Boatworks where we think the manatees come to drink fresh water. The Braden river is brackish; half fresh and half salt. Although manatees are found in fresh, brackish, or salt water, they don't drink salt water. Research suggests that manatees in salt water can go without drinking fresh water for extended periods. On average, they must return to fresh water every one to two weeks to drink. Their intake of water occurs while eating aquatic plants as well as actively drinking. This may explain why manatees can go so easily from freshwater to marine environments. I think I saw a manatee once in the bayou where my mom lives, but I was never sure as they mostly stay under water.

But the other day around 6:00 pm when Steven and I were sitting outside in front of the river, our street, we heard a noise -a splash, much louder than a mullet jumping! We soon realized 2 or 3 manatee had travelled up into our canal. We tried for 20-30 minutes to take video and/or photos with some success, but not a lot. We were very happy & excited though to have them so near! They really did not stick much above the water except their noses and they stayed under water a long time in between. We think there might have been a smaller baby one with it's mom. Above is the best photo I could get of a manatee sticking it's nose up on our street! Definitely a must view in large for best photo.

In other local news, I just uploaded the most delicious homegrown cherry tomatoes -enjoY!

I am adding this entry to the One Street project. Find out more about it here.
View all of my one street photos here. My street is our river.



Whatever comes, this too shall pass away.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox