More Wonderful Days at Wekiwa Springs

December 9-December 13, 2022                                   Most Recent Posts:
Wekiwa Springs State Park                                 Back to December – Wekiwa Springs
Site 47                                                                      North For the Holidays
Apopka, Florida

The days went by easily at Weikwa Springs.  Most mornings I walked the sandy paths down to the spring basin.  Usually the little pied billed grebe was there to meet me.

 

I saw some of the same birds each day on the water but the black crowned night heron and the Limpkin were rare.

I was lucky to pick out the limpkin in the fog on this morning.  It’s one of my favorite pictures of my time on the river.

On another day I got this clearer picture of him.  Google Limpkin call if you’d like to hear how much he sounds like a screaming woman.  He was not making any noise at all either day I saw him.   That’s pretty unusual as they are often quite noisy.   And sound in great distress.

There are two ways to go on the Wekiwa Spring Run.   You can go down the run to where it intersects with the Rock Spring Run feeding into it and turn left to paddle up stream against the Rock Spring Run or you can take the easy way and just paddle straight ahead into the Wekiva River.   Doing the latter you will go under this bridge and on your right you will find Wekiva Island with sun chairs, a bar and other party essentials.  Pay as you go.

When I went by it was all decorated for Christmas and offering “sleigh rides” on a pontoon boat.

Plenty of Christmas Trees though the lights were not on.

Further along the river, in the direction of Whoville,  is a true “house boat”.

It’s a tranquil water way and of course going away from the spring you are riding the current.

I particularly like the light in this picture.

And these two of how different herons can look.

It’s a challenge to be looking in every direction to spot the wildlife on the river.

And rarely can I get this wingspan in flight.  It’s amazing how big this bird is.

For me, the kingfisher is a very hard bird to catch sitting still long enough for a photograph.   His chattering rattle always alerts me to his presence as he zips up and down the river but rarely can I manage to get his picture.

Because I was on the river so often, I was able to get another perhaps even better shot of the kingfisher.  I may have caught him chattering here.

I am less likely to see alligators early in the cool mornings but if I am on the river long enough, I can sometimes spot them sunning along the river’s edge on my way back.

On non paddling days I might take the trail to Lake Prevatt, shown in my previous post or to Sand Lake.   All trails start out as sand.   I love that I can start out right from my RV and hike to so many different spots.

The habitat changes to forest and can become quite muddy as I go.

This lovely bench over looking Sand Lake makes for a very tranquil place to read or write.

You can follow a trail all around the lake.

And there is Winnona at the end of the trail.   One of the reasons I particularly like this site.

I paddled the river nearly every morning and each day was different.  I did often see the same birds but nearly every day I also saw something I had not seen before.  

Every day I went out, I looked for the River Otter.  He is so fast and so sleek that although I saw him twice these are the only pictures I was ever able to get.  But they remind me of the wonder of seeing him darting across from one bank to the other with his undulating way of swimming.

If you look very closely you can see his nose, eye and ear as he swims from right to left across the river.   I’ve blown the picture up in the second shot. 

This is definitely the most exciting thing of my kayaking and I was just shooting blind.  So I’m lucky to have gotten it.

Usually this is all I get, the streak he leaves in his wake.

On another day I saw an exciting non encounter between the little grebe and an alligator.  But this post is already too picture heavy so that will have to wait for the Wekiwa Springs PS.