For me, 2019 was packed with adventures as I explored Florida beyond my southern base in pursuit of animals to photograph for my new book project with the University Press of Florida, Wild Florida: The Animals of the Sunshine State. As I continue my quest...
On land the town of Steinhatchee offers visitors little more than a food mart, gas station, and a smoked mullet stand, but on the river things are different. Marinas are well-equipped, the public boat ramp runs like clockwork and every accommodation is booked from June...
Bold blue and yellow flowers, as well as delicate pink and purple, peeked through brown grass. South Florida’s native blueberry offered small but luscious fruits. Young, new leaves promised renewal of a cowhorn orchid that was thought to have been lost to the previous year’s wildfire....
I wanted to visit Dry Tortugas National Park long before I understood what or where it was. It sounded exciting - a tropical island far removed from the rest of the Florida Keys and an oasis for marine and bird life. It sounded like my...
Our goal was to see 100 bird species in and around Everglades National Park by the end of the day - The Fifth Everglades Century Day by a core team of Floridians and Marylanders. We’d succeeded on our last venture, eking out a couple of...
My first post-Hurricane Irma trip to the Keys was in early December. There were still a few signs of the storm in Miami - walls crumbled by giant trees whose roots had gathered the surrounding earth and raised it to the sky in their sinking;...
I’m not sure what caused me to glance up at that moment, nor how I noticed the writhing gray amidst the foliage but it stopped me in my tracks. I watched as tiny wings coated in fluff beat vigorously, but the bird went nowhere. Talons...
It’s been about a year since I relocated from my proven wildlife-friendly yard in Key Biscayne to a new home in Coconut Grove. I embraced the challenge of incorporating as many of the recommendations included in my Attracting Birds to South Florida Gardens book as...
Clear skies and a low chance of rain. That’s what the weather forecast claimed. Yet even in the pre-dawn, there was no denying the thick blanket of clouds enveloping Miami. We entered the channel and sped past Cape Florida, aiming our bow toward Fowey Rocks...
Pineapple envy started my pineapple patch. A friend’s homegrown fruit captivated my taste buds with the sweetest juice I’d ever encountered and I vowed to wean myself from the hit-or-miss grocery store offerings. I sawed a scraggly top from a store-bought pineapple and shoved my...