A Complete Year

Bonnie and I got around as much as we could last year. We squeezed in a few days in the Everglades and a few at St. Marks NWR in the panhandle. We’ve explored new forests and returned to old favorites as often as we could. We’ve run across countless potholes. My car has started to pay the price, there’s more than one loud rattle. “It’s the hamsters under the hood,” I explain to passengers.

Among the year’s highlights:

• Spring migration at Ft. DeSoto Park. Have never seen so much color and so many new birds. Also so many birders.

• The St. Mark’s trip, and staying at the lodge in Wakulla Springs State Park. A stay at the lodge is like stepping back in time, from the creaky elevator to the historic rooms to the big band music wafting through the dining hall. One disappointment: the swim area is gated and locked during the evening and early morning hours. We’d been looking forward to seeing the springs packed with manatees, but there was no access. On the way out of the park, though, we pulled over to photograph a small spring. While we were there, a manatee drifted a few feet from the bank. I think of it as one of the “magical moments,” like when a flock of birds flies close overhead, or hearing the sound of wing beats in still air.

A manatee swims a few feet from shore at Wakulla Springs State Park

• Running across our first bobcat, on the Florida Trail.

• Discovering a family of Snail Kites in Plant City.

• Getting a photo of a Crested Caracara on a fencepost, on a day we set out to find a Crested Caracara on a fencepost.

I’ve printed the annual 2wingpictures bird calendar and sold a few photographs at the Boyd Hill Art Arbor. I’ll be displaying and selling photos at Suncoast Arts Fest, at the Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel, Florida, Jan. 19 & 20. Come on by!

I’m grateful for your encouragement and support. I’ll keep working on this photography stuff in the New Year.