With or Without the Camera?
Cooper’s Hawk not more than fifteen yards away. Dove in her talons. A mockingbird circling predator and prey.
Everglades National Park, Shark Valley hike
As I hiked back along the loop trail at Shark Valley, I put my hat low to keep the sun out of my eyes. Here the land is as it would have looked a century ago. But I began to think about how it might have been different. I think about the small changes in the stream that ebbs–moving slower than a quarter of a mile per hour south–through and under the tall grass and sapling cypress and the rocky soil.
Winter colors at Savannah NWR
These wild flowers gave some color to the marsh about halfway along my hike–just south of John Hill Canal at Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. 
Essay on the Everglades Snail Kite
An essay I wrote on the Everglades Snail Kite was published today on Sugar Mule Literary Magazine’s Web site. The essay is about this unusual Everglades hawk, but it is also about what happens when we let a species start to slip away. “In Peril: An Essay on the Everglades Hawk” began as a post on this blog, and morphed into a journalistic endeavor as I became more obsessed. Read more »
The Long Trail
A man stopped his red Ford pickup beside me as I was pumping air in the tires. I had my head down trying to get the bike setup quickly so I would had a good two or so hours on the long canal trail at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, before I pedaled back with the orange sun fading beyond the everglades. “Pardon. How far does that trail go?” he asked.
Bluffton Birds 3: Male Painted Bunting
Last but not least, here is the Male Painted Bunting, the most colorful of songbirds: 
Blue eyes
White Ibis at the LILA research restoration facility at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Virginia Key planned as Port project’s dumping site
UPDATE: This post was picked up by the industry news Web site Dredging Today after it was posted on this blog. Virginia Key Park’s North Point is the targeted site for excavated debris drilled from the billion-dollar Port of Miami project. The North Point proposed dumping site is located on the northern stretch of the mostly-undeveloped 1,300-acre barrier island adjacent to a state-designated critical wildlife area.
