Homosassa Springs is a Florida state park dedicated to educating the public about animals that are native to Florida. There is only one animal there that is not a native, and that is Lucifer, a hippopotamus that was already living in the wildlife park before the state took over. When the wildlife park became a state park, there was an attempt made to relocate Lucifer, but the local people protested so much, that he was granted Florida citizenship and was allowed to stay. He is now in his 40's.
DH thinks hippo noises sound a lot like Jabba the Hut.
There are lots of birds in the park, and since this is Florida, that includes many pink flamingos.
I took a lot of pictures of the Wood Ducks, because I think their coloring is so pretty.
The Park Ranger explained that all of the "birds of prey" in the park were rescued birds that could no longer live in the wild because of injuries, usually to their wings.
If you have read the book or seen the movie, Hoot, this is what the burrowing owls look like that the kids are trying to save in the story.
And these are Barred Owls, the kind that wake us up in the wee hours of the morning all the time. The ones at the park were quiet. The ones at home were particularly noisy a couple weeks ago.
Of course there also has to be alligators. These were much bigger than the ones we see in the lake near our apartment.
I'm out of time for today, but tomorrow I want to show more of our trip, because I haven't shown any of the manatees yet, which are the main focus of the park.
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