West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus)
The best, and easiest, place for bird photography is the Anhinga Trail.
Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and their prey, the spotted gar fish (garpike), Lepisosteus oculatus
Herons and egrets:
Great blue herons (blue and white morphs, Ardea herodias)
Green heron (Butorides virescens)
Tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor)
Little blue heron (Egretta caerulea)
White ibises (Eudocimus albnus)
Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcirellus)
Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
Wood stork (Mycteria americana)
Purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica)
American crow (Corvus brachyrhyncos)
Belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
American coot (Fulica americana)
Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchus)
Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
Turkey vulure (Cathartes aura)
American kestrel (Falso sparverius)
Bald eagle, juvenile (Haliacetus leucocephalus)
Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus)
Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Least flycatcher (Empidonax minimus)
Tennessee warbler (Vermivora peregrina)
Palm warbler (Setophaga palmarum)
Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
Insects:
Halloween pennant, Celithemis eponina
Queen butterfly, Danaus gilippus
Reptiles:
Florida redbelly turtles (Florida redbelly cooters), Pseudemys nelsoni, which eat spatterdock flowers
Florida softshell turlte (Apolone ferox)
Alligators (Alligator mississippiensus)
American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Plants
Florida swamp-lily (string lily), Crinum americanum
Pickerelweed, Pontederia cordata
Spatterdock (cow lily, yellow pond lily) (Nuphar advena)
Cardinal airplant (Tillandsia fasciculata)
Sunset over the sawgrass prairie:
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Contact us at mermaid@underwater.org.
Last modified 5 April 2026