Many new and beautiful birds have joined our feathered families: 6 Mute Swans, 4 Osprey, 4 Screech Owls, 3 Black Crowned Night Herons, 2 Royal Terns, 2 Cormorants, 1 Barn Owl, and (a partridge in a pear tree! Erm, no…) a Ring Bill Duck and a Black Duck!

The swans will get a new, fenced-in waterways area near the boat dock at the Visitor’s Center, but all of the other new birds are on exhibit inside the Park. See if you can find them all!

An incredible donation of 24 snakes is currently being classified by our Wildlife Care Rangers. They include several Rat Snakes and Mole King Snakes, and some non-Florida snakes that we are trying to find homes for.

Finally, and possibly most impressively for a State Park, we are now home to a Florida Panther (see photo)! His name is Don Juan, for reasons I will leave to your imagination. Currently, he is hanging out in Sheena’s area, the quarantine habitat behind the main panther exhibit. Needless to say, Maygar is QUITE interested in her new neighbor (she purrs at him), and only time will tell if the feeling is mutual.

The new Burrowing Owl exhibit should open to the public in the coming months and bring with it a new Burrowing Owl to join Zuni, our newest Burrowing Owl currently living in the mew. And a new Fox Squirrel exhibit is in the works.

n Nov 17th, we hope to welcome our highly anticipated new residents: three Red Wolf pups. Art says with their arrival, we will become the only State Park to have two of the most endangered mammal species in North America: the Florida Panther and the Red Wolves.