Florida Doesn’t Seem So Bad

     Has the onset of another Maine winter got you down? Then head for Florida.

     If you're like me, the name Florida conjures up an image of too many seasoned citizens crammed into a place where juvenile criminals prey on tourists with an alarming regularity. While that’s sadly true for parts of the Sunshine state, Florida does have places where you can mingle with active folks of all ages and feel as safe as you would on Sand Beach at Acadia National Park in January. The Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is one of them.

     But wait a minute. Isn’t this column supposed to be about camera hunting for Maine wildlife? Well it is: some of Maine’s birds head to Florida for the winter. Why shouldn’t we?

     This Maine camera hunter is headed south to photograph. Actually, I’m attending a nature photographer’s conference, the annual Summit of the North American Nature Photography Association, held in Jacksonville, Florida this year. While I’m there, I also plan to go to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to look up some other possible Maine residents – the kind with lots of feathers!

Ding Darling NWR

     Ding Darling NWR is located on Sanibel Island, in the Gulf of Mexico near Ft. Myers, on Florida's southwest coast. You can get there by flying to Southwest Florida International Airport in Ft. Myers, where you can rent a car, or by a long two to three day ride from Maine.

     It's not all that expensive to fly to Florida these days. Make arrangements a few weeks in advance and stay over a Saturday night and you’ll get very reasonable jet fares from either Portland or Bangor.

     Accommodations in the Ft. Myers area away from the beaches are much less expensive than those at either the Sanibel or Ft. Myers beach motels. See the Ft. Myers Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.fortmyers.org/  for information on where to stay. Or if you have the money, check for some great accommodations that are available at Sanibel on the Sanibel-Captivia Islands Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.sanibel-captiva.org/ .

     Once you get to Ft. Myers, it’s a short drive across the toll causeway to Sanibel Island. And as you cross that causeway, you enter a different world. Two words define Sanibel: quaint and clean. Small resorts stretch along part of a beach world famous for shell collecting.

     The Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge occupies 5030 splendid acres of this subtropical barrier island. The Refuge offers 4 miles of hiking trails, 6 miles of canoe trails amidst a red mangrove forest and a 5 mile one way Wildlife Drive that is open to foot, bicycle and motor vehicle traffic every day except Friday from just after dawn until dusk. For information on present hours and usage, contact Refuge Manager, J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, 1 Wildlife Drive, Sanibel, FL 33957 (813) 472-1100. Also see the description of this and other special places to enjoy wildlife on www.wildlifewatcher.com

     Cruising the Wildlife Drive and hiking the trails around the Bailey Tract at Ding Darling are two musts for camera hunters. To describe the species one might see would take more space than exists for this column. Some favorites include: roseate spoonbills, birds that look as if someone jammed a hunk of cotton candy onto a pair of stilts and stuck a spoon in it backwards; osprey that grab fish out of the water right in front of you; brown pelicans that pose unconcerned five feet from the camera and stare at you with beady eyes; alligators that sun along the banks or lurk beneath the water with all but their eyes and nostrils submerged; and red shouldered hawks that hunt intently from low branches of the mangrove trees along the Wildlife Drive.

     You can often capture many birds on film full frame with a 400mm lens. Coincide a trip along the Wildlife Drive with low tide to expose the mudflats beside the road and an early morning or late afternoon peak feeding time for best results.

     Remember that the Wildlife Drive is closed to all traffic on Fridays: foot, bicycle or automobile, to “give the birds a rest.” But the Bailey Tract is always open, and there are lots to see there if you’re ever unfortunate enough to wind up stuck in Sanibel on a Friday.

     Catch yours in the good light.

Bill Silliker, Jr. teaches wildlife & nature photography for L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools and has done the photography for 5 books, several of which he also wrote. He is editor of the website www.wildlifewatcher.com as well as for his own website at www.camerahunter.com

© Copyright 2002 Bill Silliker, Jr. all rights reserved.