We had a great visit to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. It’s one part park and two parts zoo, but was really interesting and had a lot more diverse wildlife than we expected. There are a lot of things to do in the park too, including boat tours, free tram rides, kayak rentals and tours, visiting the underwater observatory, and walking on the 3/4 mile Pepper Creek Birding Trail, one of 20 birding trails in Citrus County that are part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Click here to read more about activities in the park: Homosassa Springs activities.

Near the start of the Pepper Creek Trail you’ll see the underwater observatory. This floating underwater observatory, also known as the “Fish Bowl”, is made from cast iron and weighs 180-tons. It was built in Ocala and assembled on-site on a ramp.

View of fish from underwater observatory

We initially visited because we read that there were a lot of Manatees sheltering from the cold in the springs there. There were quite a few Manatees in the water near the gazebo at the South end of the trail in the Homosassa River. There is also a Manatee Care Center in the park where they care for injured Manatees. But, it was closed to the public when we were there.

Manatee in Homosassa River

What we found when we visited the park was that Chicago businessman, Bruce A. Norris, had bought the property in 1963 and expanded the park into “Homosassa Springs, Nature’s Own Attraction.” As a part of that attraction, he added a zoo-like park, which was filled with exotic animals such as lions, bears, hippo, monkeys, deer, goats etc, some of which still live in the park. The original zoo animals are joined by lots of more native Florida wildlife like alligators, herons, egrets, pelicans, and flamingos, so it was a fun place to visit and take some photos. You can read more about the history of the park at this link: park history.

In the center of the Wildlife Walk, North of the Visitor Center there is a large water area with an island that is a great place for Florida birding as it’s home to a lot of indigenous Florida bird species. We saw a ton of White Pelicans,

White Pelican in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

a similar number of Flamingos,

Flamingo in park

quite a few Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons

Great Egret at Homosassa Springs

and mating pairs of Whooping Cranes and Sand Hill Cranes, among others.

Whooping Cranes doing mating dance

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is a unique and interesting location and a great place to spend a few hours. Its only about a 90 minute drive from Tampa/St Petersburg, Orlando, or Gainesville, making it an easy destination for a day trip from many parts of the state.