The Habitat of Wakulla Springs

Take an exciting look at one of the world's largest springs, Wakulla Springs in Florida. This video shows you the park's animal habitat.

The Habitat of Wakulla Springs Wakulla Springs is a wilderness but it is only 14 miles south of Tallahassee, the capital city of Florida. It is fortunate that Wakulla is still unspoiled and surrounded by rural landscape. Down river is roam of quiet mystery. Within the park’s 3, 000 acres and beyond the range of riverboats, the Wakulla River is a remarkable habitat. The beauty is at once majestic and hidden. A white-tailed deer forward the river at great risk. They swim as fast as they can. Many of the tour guides of Wakulla have seen an Alligator overtake a deer in the river. No time to waste. Keep those hooves moving and get across. Sometimes you can outsmart the alligator. In the spring, alligators tilt their heads to the sky and bellhop. The responses from males and females as much as a half mile away reverberate through the cypress. Water dances off the trembling backs of the massive reptiles. And sometimes when the signals are just right, there is a union. Spring greens up the swamp but among the verdant hues, the blooms of many plants are also popping out. Willow catkins are interesting to the Palm Warbler who might nip a bit of pollen or snatch a small insect. You can recognize the Palm Warbler by the constant bobbing of its tail. The Purple Gallinule is not well-designed for parching but it too will maneuver the willow branches when catkins are blooming. When wild rises right and standing tall along the river, young gallinules find ways to trample the stocks and make the grains reachable. Don’t get the idea that these birds are vegetarians, a grasshopper or frog could be the next meal. By early summer, moorhens have hatched their clutches of eggs and they are facing the challenges of raising tiny chicks in a dangerous world. The Wakulla River is nearly choked with aquatic vegetation. The buoyant weeds complicate both travel for the park. But for the moorhen, even the detestable hydrilla is a delectable meal. The moorhen may start with a dozen young but predators soon fin the brewed to a few members. The babies are able to swim the day they hatch. From then on, life is an adventure. For the baby moorhen, the challenge is knowing how to explore and have fun with the other guys without straying too far. This chick is flirting with danger. This is much safer. Winter is the best time to look for ducks on the Wakulla, most are migrants from north and will leave at the first signs of spring. The colorful male American widgeon, with a shimmering patch of green can trash sharply with his drab mate. The emphasis on color in male ducks is even more splashy with the wood duck. The wood duck is a swamp bird and a permanent resident here. In the spring, female wood ducks with their flotillas of young are scurrying about the river looking for safe places to feed. The female wood duck lays up to 20 eggs, one per day until her clutch is complete. She sits on the egg for 30 days. After they hatch, the chicks stay close to the attentive mother but predation is very high, even a bass may arise and take one.