The Wakodahatchee Wetlands is a park located in
Delray Beach, Florida
Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles ...
. The park was created on of unused utility land and transformed into a recreation wetlands open to the public with a three-quarter mile
boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...
that crosses between open water pond areas, emergent
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
areas, shallow shelves, and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting. The boardwalk has interpretive signage as well as
gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands.
Etymology
The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries (website), Oxford D ...
s with benches along the way. This site is part of the South section of the
Great Florida Birding Trail
Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail (''GFBWT'') is a 2,000 mile (3200 km) long collection of more than 500 locations in the U.S. state of Florida where the state's bird habitats are protected. The trail promotes birdwatching, environmenta ...
and offers many opportunities to observe birds in their natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s.
Mycteria americana nest with chicks.webm, Wood stork
The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found in ...
nest by the boardwalk
Water reclamation
Each day, the
Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...
Water Utilities Department’s Southern Region
Water Reclamation Facility pumps approximately two million gallons of 90% treated water into the Wakodahatchee Wetlands. This water, which is free of organic contaminants but still contains excess mineral content, is naturally purified by the plants and algae in the wetlands, then released into the surface water supply.
Fauna
Over 150 species of birds have been spotted inside the park, including
wood stork
The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found in ...
,
pied-billed grebe
The pied-billed grebe (''Podilymbus podiceps'') is a species of the grebe family of water birds. Because the Atitlán grebe (''Podilymbus gigas'') has become extinct, the Pied-Billed Grebe is now the sole extant member of the genus ''Podilymbus'' ...
,
snowy egret
The snowy egret (''Egretta thula'') is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, , which is a diminutive of , 'heron'. The species name ''thula'' is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, app ...
s, and
black-bellied whistling duck
The black-bellied whistling duck (''Dendrocygna autumnalis''), formerly called the black-bellied tree duck, is a whistling duck that breeds from the southernmost United States, Mexico, and tropical Central to south-central South America. In the ...
s. The park is also home to
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
s,
alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
s,
rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s,
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s, and
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
s.
Flora
Plants within the park include
pond apple,
sabal palm,
live oak
Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks.
...
,
pickerelweed,
duckweed
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose ...
, and
giant bulrush.
References
*Wakodahatchee Wetlands brochure
Gallery
Image:Annona glabra fruit.jpg, Pond apple
Image:G81 4870 DxO.jpg, Gray-headed swamphen
Image:Great Blue Heron 0887.jpg, Great blue heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...
Image:Tricolored Heron 0919.jpg, Tricolored heron
The tricolored heron (''Egretta tricolor''), formerly known as the Louisiana heron, is a small species of heron native to coastal parts of the Americas; in the Atlantic region, it ranges from the northeastern United States, south along the coast ...
Image:Snowy Egret flying 0587.jpg, Snowy egret
The snowy egret (''Egretta thula'') is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, , which is a diminutive of , 'heron'. The species name ''thula'' is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, app ...
Image:Pied-billed Grebe 0561.jpg, Pied-billed grebe
The pied-billed grebe (''Podilymbus podiceps'') is a species of the grebe family of water birds. Because the Atitlán grebe (''Podilymbus gigas'') has become extinct, the Pied-Billed Grebe is now the sole extant member of the genus ''Podilymbus'' ...
Image:Double-crested Cormorant 0553.jpg, Double-crested cormorant
The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes, and in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alas ...
Image:Anhinga portrait 0446.jpg, Anhinga
The anhinga (; ''Anhinga anhinga''), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word ''anhinga'' comes from ''a'ñinga'' in the Brazilian Tupi language and means ...
Image:Redeared slider.jpg, Red-eared slider
The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States, ...
Image:Apalone ferox swimming.jpg, Florida softshell turtle
Image:Mycteria_americana flying.jpg, Wood stork
The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found in ...
Image:Gallinula galeata walking.jpg, Common gallinule
The common gallinule (''Gallinula galeata'') is a bird in the family Rallidae. It was split from the common moorhen by the American Ornithologists' Union in July 2011. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals, and other wetlands in t ...
Image:Plegadis falcinellus foraging.jpg, Glossy ibis
The glossy ibis (''Plegadis falcinellus'') is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek ''plegados'' and Latin, ''falcis'', both meaning "sickle" a ...
Image:Himantopus mexicanus foraging.jpg, Black-necked stilt
Image:Butorides virescens perching.jpg, Green heron
The green heron (''Butorides virescens'') is a small heron of North and Central America. ''Butorides'' is from Middle English ''butor'' "bittern" and Ancient Greek ''-oides'', "resembling", and ''virescens'' is Latin for "greenish".
It was long c ...
Image:Dendrocygna autumnalis pair.jpg, Black-bellied whistling-duck
The black-bellied whistling duck (''Dendrocygna autumnalis''), formerly called the black-bellied tree duck, is a whistling duck that breeds from the southernmost United States, Mexico, and tropical Central to south-central South America. In the ...
External links
*
{{Coord, 26.47879, -80.14343, type:landmark_region:US-FL, display=title
Delray Beach, Florida
Parks in Palm Beach County, Florida
Wetlands of Florida
Landforms of Palm Beach County, Florida