Tuesday January 10th 2017

Today started out in the high 40s and peaked in the mid 70s. It was full sunshine in the morning and cloud covered in the afternoon. In general a very nice day.

While running errands around midday I was up north near the Manatee Viewing Area at the Tampa Electric Company. Since it has been cold recently, I thought it would be a good day to check how many manatees were enjoying the warmth of the exit canal. Quite a few others had a similar idea. I got one of the last spots in the main parking lot.

Once again I didn’t find any manatees in the prime viewing area. The last two years I’ve had success see several manatees right below the viewing area and many others out in the canal. This is the third time I’ve stopped by this year. Each time the manatees have been out in the middle of the canal away from the viewing areas. Today, at first I didn’t see any animals out in the middle either.

Believe it or not the dark area in the middle of he picture is the best Manatee picture I got today.

When I walked out on the tidal viewing boardwalk that parallels the canal I found the manatees. They were in the middle and far side of the canal. It wasn’t really possible to see them in the water. You had to wait for their noses to break the surface to take a breath. If you were lucky you’d get to see their back or tail flipper when then dove back down. I tried to get a few pictures but ended up with the sun reflecting on the wind blown waves most of the time.

While watching for the manatee many other examples of sea life made appearances. Schools of fish swam by the boardwalk on a regular bases. Out in the canal the water would occasionally boil with smaller fish breaking the surface. It was apparent that some predator was below them forcing them to flee. Later a dorsal fin could be seen in the canal. I’m guessing Black Tipped Shark from the identification board, but it could have been another good size predator fish.

Snowy Egret

The birds were also putting on a good show today. A Snowy Egret was in the main viewing area poking around in the shallows for lunch. Out in the inlet area a Brown Pelican was swimming around near the mangrove line. Both of these birds were drawing the attention of the people with cameras like me.

Brown Pelican

On each of my previous visits I’ve noticed an observation tower on the other side of the inlet. Today I found the nature trails that went out to the tower. It is about three quarters of a mile out to the observation tower. I went out one way and came back another. Along the trail and boardwalk there are placards identifying some of the plants and palm trees. It appears the electric company has put a few dollars into restoring the natural habitat and creating the nature trails. Should I applaud the action or dismiss it as a drop in the ecological bucket compared to the emissions from the power plant? I think I fall on the it’s better than nothing and we need power side of the issue.

Observation Tower

The view from the tower was disappointing. It had clouded over by the time I got out there. I really didn’t see anything from the tower I hadn’t already seen from ground level. Nothing inspired me to take a picture either.