Author: Kathleen

We visited Battleship Park in Mobile, AL to check out another site of the Coastal Alabama Birding Trail. The trail starts in the field behind the outdoor displays and concludes with a boardwalk leading to a two story covered observation deck. As we started walking we could see the Canada Geese in the distance, in a field filled with flowers and surrounded by tan blobs. As we walked closer, the older geese immediately stood at attention watching us, and with the 400mm lens and binoculars we saw identified the blobs as chicks, a lot of them. We kept our distance, walking to the boardwalk and deck, spotting several birds including a Downy Woodpecker quite close on a tree.

As we left, we saw the Canada Geese moving around the field, as one fluttered its wings to herd the youngsters along.

We heard the Great Horned owls calling in the early morning, so knew they were in the area. For the third year in a row, we camped at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort Alabama, this time at site 50, directly cross from the Delta Boardwalk trail. We visit in the spring, but the timing varies, and we always heard but rarely saw the owls. Heading out on the Boardwalk with binoculars and camera that first chilly morning, I found two owls sitting on branches in full view, several yards apart.

As I walked back to the RV another birder asked what I saw. I mentioned seeing the pair, and asked if she knew of a nest. She then told me that the baby owl had been seen in the pines near her campsite, not too far from ours. Later, another person told us they nest year each year.

We kept watch on the pines and later in the day realized the young owl moved to the tree directly across from us. At first it hugged the trunk of the tree, but later moved out further. Many people stopped to look up at it as they walk by, but located high enough up in the tree with Mom and Dad nearby it never looked upset or nervous, just watched them as they watched it.

Rounding a curve in the trail, we looked up (for birds of course) and instead saw a fish. Apparently one of the birds, we assume an Osprey, caught a fish wrapped up in fishing tackle. With the hooks and weights, maybe it dropped it rather than attempt eating it? It hung quite a way up the tree, so we doubted a human prankster did it. It caught our eye, and that of several hikers as they came up on it.

We took a day trip to Manatee Springs State Park, a favorite of ours for camping when we camped in the van. We take longer trips now, and drive by this wonderful park too often on our way to other places. The sunny day often seemed cool with the north wind, but perfect for a hike so we decided to visit. Spring arrived and the trees are starting to slowly green, but winter colors still predominate.

We saw several manatees, and heard and saw many birds. We guessed a local school system had spring break that week, since families with younger children filled the campground and roamed the trails. We all enjoyed the weather and the outdoors.

On our hikes this past autumn I saw a lot of butterflies. This series was taken on the barrier island off of the Florida Panhandle. I saw mostly four species, the Cloudless Sulphur, the Buckeye, and the Gulf Fritillary, and Monarch, but numerous individuals of all four. The white butterfly which I have not been able to positively identify flew on its own, as far as I could tell. I took most of these in the mornings, which were cold but sunny.

Our mid-February hike at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park started cold, 41 degrees with a nice, brisk 10 mph north wind. Luckily the sun shone brightly with no clouds in the sky. Our trip here was not one of our usual hikes; we were asked to appear in a segment of “Florida on a Tankful”, a Spectrum News feature in Florida featuring places to visit in the area. The unique feature of this park: wild bison and wild horses. Karl and I hiked here many times over the past 20 years or so, and saw the horses many times. We often saw the bison too, mostly in the distance. Our closest sighting of the bison occurred in 2019. Since we shoot our photographs from trails and areas open to the public, we know it is possible for any visitor to see them. Both the horses and bison roamed this area in early Florida history, but died out as civilization encroached. In 1975 ten bison were reintroduced and the herd has grown since, and in 1989 the Florida Cracker horses also found a home here.

We met Randy Rauch, the journalist from Spectrum, at the Visitor’s Center where we talked to the staff about the park and where we might find the bison and horses. We hiked and explored together, and from the Observation Tower on the Bolen’s Bluff trail spotted some of the wild horses. The bison did not made an appearance this time. If you would like to see the segment, click on this link: Florida on a Tankful 2/28/25.

The story of our closest sighting with the bison is in this blog here: Paynes Prairie Bison

In photography, the Golden Hour occurs just after sunrise and shortly before sunset. Some days the better light manages to be just a little bit better than other days. I experienced an exceptional sunset while walking the beach and took the above shell photo, and the shorebird, along with many others.

The Ghost Crab appeared just after sunrise on another better than average day. The gold of the sun appears on the sand mound just to its left. Mornings tended to be cold during this visit, and this guy turned out to be the only one I saw, or at least the only one who wasn’t a blur as they quickly ran into their burrows, though it is apparent by the pose that he was just waiting for me to move. When I did, he disappeared.

Though I walked the beach several times daily during our stay on the barrier island, the morning of dense fog proved the most interesting. I felt somewhat disoriented standing on the beach, hearing the water only a few feet away but unable to see it, surrounded by dense whitish gray. Startled by a lump in the fog, I moved closer until it formed. A man fished, a gray outline in a gray sea with gray air.

The Great Blue Heron I saw each morning standing in about the same place on the dune still kept watch through the fog.
The shoreline with the deadwood snags took on an eerie air, even more than usual. The dense fog lasted all day, dispersing only very slightly around mid-day.

Our carefully planned travels and photography ran into reality during 2024. Our preferred mode of travel, in our RV, is now the preferred mode for many, many others so the campgrounds we like fill faster and earlier leading to changed destinations. We can’t forget to mention the weather this year which resulted at different times in a 24 hour notice to evacuate a campground due to impending flooding, another canceling just before our arrival due to weather damage, and watching TV from a couple of hundred miles away as our home area experienced a hurricane wondering we would have a home upon our return. We did, and consider ourselves very fortunate.

We have some photography programs lined up for 2025, a gallery exhibition retrospective of some of our work (more on this as plans solidify), and a continuation of our nature and travel photography primarily in the southeast U.S. but maybe a surprise trip or two.

Saying good-bye to 2024, here is some of our photography from our hurricane interrupted travels. Have a wonderful and safe 2025, and we hope you will stop in to our blog and website for our photography and stories.

We were lucky, twice within two weeks. Our home took minor damaged but remained intact. The photograph above represents the scene not only in a neighborhood we knew, but in many places throughout the Tampa Bay area and the Big Bend area of Florida.

Just before our annual month long October RV trip, Helene formed. Our area declared mandatory evacuations later than other areas, and we scrambled to find a hotel room. Helene severely affected the coastal areas but spared those of us even just a few miles inland. It devastated the area we planned to travel, mostly with power outages. We left a few days later than planned, and with changed destinations and unsure of anything beyond two weeks of the planned four week trip.

After a few days of hiking and photography, we became aware of another tropical depression. Everyone we spoke with said it would not be strong, just a rainmaker. It quickly turned into a storm, then hurricane, then a hurricane headed toward our home area as a major hurricane. The next several days passed slowly as we watched reports of its strengthening and its path, realizing that had we known our trip would turn into an evacuation we would have packed much differently. We tried to continue with the plans of our trip, but mentally found it impossible. We saw what happened to houses where Helene hit only a week before on our travel north, and realized we could be homeless in a few days. That weighs heavily. Within a day or two our half empty campground suddenly filled with RVs of all kinds, most with both of their cars along and clearly many of their household belongings.

It struck further south than forecast, and spared our home the worst of it, though our street, not a in flood zone, did flood. As soon as the water receded enough and we confirmed the availability of fuel along our route, we returned from our trip, a week early. We needed to ensure our house did not take in any water, fix a couple of minor screen problems from the hurricane, and check on friends. As we drove to our regular shops and other places, we saw debris, furniture, household furnishings along the sides of the roads. We visited our old neighborhood to see friends, and discovered that our former home of 24 years (we moved further inland only 1.5 years ago), flooded along with those of many of our former neighbors.

We saw a lot in our area, but took only two or three photographs. It just hit too close to home.