Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Wetlands

One of the best things about living in Florida is being able to be outdoors year round.  One of our favorite places to take a walk in the morning or late afternoon is Wakodahatchee Wetlands or Green Cay Wetlands and Nature Center.  Wakodahatchee is a derived word from the Seminole Indian Language and it means “created waters”.  The wetlands park was created from unused land.  The land is from Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department’s Southern Region Water Reclaimation Facility (say that 3 times fast!).  They pump treated water into the Wakodahatchee Wetlands. The wetlands are a natural filter and cleanse the water.  These wetlands have a boardwalk over them and you can walk through them on the boardwalk and see a lot of wildlife.  The boardwalk at Wakodahatchee is about ¾ mile long.

Green Cay Wetlands and Nature Center is a nature park in West Boynton Beach.  This is just down the street from Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach.  The family who owned the land and farmed the land sold it to the county at a discounted rate.  They did this on the condition that it would be restored to wetlands.  The park is larger than Wakodahatchee at approx. 100 acres and the elevated boardwalk through the park is about 1.5 miles long.  On the boardwalk there are several pavilions and a Seminole Indian Chickee hut.  The wetlands have examples of several of the Everglades habitats including cypress swamp, tropical hardwood hammock, and cabbage palm hammock.  Green Cay Wetlands has a visitor’s center with interactive exhibits and a larger parking facility than is available at Wakodahatchee.

Both places are popular for nature photographers.  You can usually see them walking around with pretty large camera gear and huge telephoto lenses looking to take a great photo.  If you would like to see some of these wonderful photos, you can see them in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Nature Preserve Facebook Group.  Sometimes these beautiful photographs are on display in the Green Cay Nature Center as well.

These are perfect places to take out-of-town guests. This way you don’t have to spend a whole day in the Everglades,but still get to see an Alligator.   The highlight of both places is the excellent bird watching.  Every time we go, we see many types of birds and my boys can even recognize many of them now.  Both parks have many signs throughout to help you identify the animals and plants throughout the park.  The signs also teach about the value of wetlands and the role they play in the water cycle.  When we take the boys, we take turns reading the signs out loud.  Both kids have learned a lot about Florida wildlife from these parks.

At Wakodahatchee, we will walk through the park in about 20-30 minutes.  It can take longer depending on how much wildlife we see that day.  Also how long we take to read signs and talk about what we have read.  Green Cay typically takes us 45 minutes to an hour to walk through the boardwalk completely.  At Green Cay there are smaller sections that can be walked instead of the full boardwalk.  This is great for kids who get tired easily.

Examples of wildlife we have seen at Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Wetlands include:

• Bird – Many species of birds at both parks. We have seen anhingas, several varieties of herons, ducks, moorhens, red headed woodpeckers, sparrows, roseate spoonbills, white ibis, least bittern, great egret, purple gallinule, moorhens, pelicans, owls, doves, and vultures. We have also been lucky and seen red shouldered Hawks gliding a few feet above our heads.  A full list of bird that can be seen at Green Cay Wetlands is available here)
• Iguanas – We usually see iguanas on the grass sunning themselves. Occasionally, we have seen them in trees with nesting birds.  Iguanas like to eat the eggs and young of nesting birds and since they are invasive, there is a concern regarding the natural bird population and iguanas eating their young.  Keep your eyes open for these animals, they can range from Orange to brown to brilliant green.
• Alligators – We have seen Alligators in the water and on the grass sunning themselves. Usually, they aren’t moving around, but on occasion we get lucky and see them swimming or walking around on the grass.
• Marsh Rabbits – We have only seen these a couple times, but the boys get terribly excited every time. They are more active than most of the other animals and super cute.
• Turtles – 3 or 4 main varieties. We usually see turtles swimming or sunning themselves on partly submerged trees.  We once got to see an alligator eating a turtle!
• Fish – lots of fresh water fish, if you are lucky you can see a bird catching and eating one.
• Snakes – We have seen snakes just once or twice in the water. They have been very small and non-venomous.  I have heard of people seeing water moccasins, which are venomous, but it is very rare.  If you are afraid of snakes, I’d still go, we have been dozens of times and I can count the times we have seen a snake on one hand.
• Frogs – we have seen a few frogs. Most times we see a bird eating the frogs.
• Other animals that can have been seen include Raccoons, Bobcats or Otters. We have seen Raccoons once, any have tried to see the Bobcats and otters multiple times and always seem to just miss them, but we will keep trying!

Both boardwalks are open 7 days a week from 7am to sunset.  The Nature Center at Green Cay is only open Wed – Sat from 9am – 3pm.

We find the best times to visit these parks are early morning or close to sunset.  The birds and other animals are more active at these times and the weather tends to be a bit cooler early in the morning or late at night.  Please remember that both parks close at sunset and you may be asked to leave if you are there while they are closing.

Wakodahatchee Wetlands is located at 13026 Jog Road, Delray Beach, FL.

Green Cay Wetlands and nature center is located at 12800 Hagen Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL.

One of the best things about these parks, they are both free!