Birds, no. Manatees, oh yes!

We did more chasing after birds yesterday and this morning. We saw almost nothing in the trees, but reveled in our walks through three of the many parks and reserves hereabouts. It's a dynamic landscape, with very different scenery just a few blocks apart.

Like marshes:

Also scrubland:

And what we've learned to call hammocks: raised areas with enough soil to support actual trees, mostly live oaks, red cedar, and the lovely-barked slash pine:

A lot of stereotypes about Florida have been dwelling uncontested in my brain, mostly involving rednecks and lots of old people. So I've been pleased and humbled to discover that Florida does a great job of conserving lots of land, especially fragile environments and critters. In a week of pretty strenuous adventuring, we still haven't been to all the appealing green spaces within a half hour of the condo. Educational programs are everywhere. And yesterday I noticed for the first time this announcement on my fridge:

Plus, the folks at the Reserves do a great job of signage:

Yesterday we also went to Blue Spring State Park, where manatees winter in inlets of the St. John River. They like Blue Spring because it's an actual spring, with a uniform temp of 72 degrees, just right for them. The water is the clearest and greenest (no, not blue) I've ever seen. Unlike our missing birds, the manatees made a nice appearance. They look like large slugs in my photos, so you'll just have to trust me that they were awfully cute.