Ranger Wayne's Field Notes To: Journey North From: Ranger Wayne Hartley Season Summary: April 12, 1999 Ranger Wayne Hartley The season ended with the record number seen during the season at 114, last year's was 106. A record ninety-nine spent the whole winter with us. Up from ninety-two last season. We had a record ten calves for the season, up from eight several previous years. The highest single count was eighty-six, one short of the record set last year. The season began on 15 December and ended on 18 March. A month late beginning but a fairly normal end. I may add a few after I look at the pictures I took of the manatees during the winter but for right now the number of boat strikes I could identify as occurring during the season is thirty-seven. This is high, especially compared to the past two years, but not uncommon. The last two winters were mild but cool nearly every day. This winter the manatees came in on 15 December and by Christmas we had put scuba divers in the run to clean up litter because they had left again. We had the high count of eight-six around 6 January and seemingly the next day it was summer in winter as air temperatures reached over eight-five. With the weather so nice not only do the manatees go out in the river but the boaters go out on it. Forty animals had boat hits that seemed to have taken place during the summer season that I could still recognize. Minor wounds from the spring of the year could be healed and invisible to me by fall. This is 35%, sadly normal. Seventeen of these I consider bad enough to be visible the rest of their lives. Georgia (discussed last year) finally left with her calf and the yearling that had adopted her. They are still together and hanging out at boat houses and marinas along the river. She seemed to be getting weaned from human attention and then during the capture of Jessica she got in the middle of things and received a lot of handling. It seemed to set her back about a year. She started beaching her self when she heard people again and started climbing steps after them again. Jessica and her calf Mossback appear to be doing well at Sea World and hopefully will be back in the wild for my first report next season ! Ranger Wayne Hartley Blue Spring State Park Orange City, FL Copyright 1999 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form