Last week I left before dawn and drove down south to explore. My ultimate destination didn’t open until 10am so I decided to swing through Myakka River State Park first.

There was a line of cars waiting patiently for the park to open at 8am. Good thing I wasn’t there for alligators, as I didn’t see a single one. Once the rainy season starts to fill the watershed, they spread out across the park’s 37,0000 acres.

Since sunrise was 30 minutes earlier, the first flurry of hunting and scavenging was over and most of the birds were absorbed in their postprandial ablutions.

A pleasant start to the day…

Uncharacteristically, Florida has decided to participate in Fall this weekend. Since that nor’easter is bringing us cooler, dryer weather I have a bunch of outdoor plans.

Sadly though, most of them are yard and house chores that I’ve been delaying because of the heat. So, I thought I’d share photos from the beginning of the month when I had time to play.

Started that weekend with yoga on the rooftop of St. Pete’s newest, old hotel. The Cordova Inn is an innovative property that blends new amenities with a historic building (and welcomes locals for special events).

From the top I caught a glimpse of Tampa Bay, the water I would later be kayaking with friends. We launched from the municipal marina downtown and paddled out to a sandbar just offshore. As we relaxed in the shallow water a dolphin cruised by, a ray made a splashy jump, we found some living sand dollars and even a small sea star.

Just another great weekend in St. Pete!

Every second Saturday galleries and art studios stay open late in St. Petersburg. This month I joined a mural tour centered on works in the warehouse district, just south of downtown.

Our tour was hosted by the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which runs Wild Space Gallery. The motivation behind the gallery is that art can help us relate to, appreciate, and even fall in love with nature – all of which will hopefully encourage us to protect it.

Our guide, Jenee Priebe, former director of the Shine Mural Festival, is a passionate supporter of the arts and her energy was contagious. All the murals and public art around town are part of why I love this area. Since its inception in 2015, the Shine festival has added 199 colorful murals and they aren’t done yet.

The evening was bracketed with murals by Ernesto Maranje, a self-taught painter from south Florida. I was absolutely captivated by his most recent work, The Panther and Egret. While the basic shape of the panther is easily identifiable from a distance, Ernesto has the outline dissolve into the swamp and forest, as though one is not separable from the other. An even closer look reveals a myriad of other Florida natives that rely on this shared environment.

Hopefully the Florida Wildlife Corridor can expand protections for these important wild spaces…

The weather report said rain wouldn’t start until 9pm, so I figured I had plenty of time for a sunset beach walk.

Nature has a sense of humor though and big drops started falling right after I caught this photo. I barely made it back to the car before the downpour. It was worth it though…

Thought I’d share what my yard looks like now compared to when I bought the place six years ago.

It was a neglected weedy lawn but I’ve always liked a challenge. I’m pretty proud of how it’s turned out. It makes my heart happy that birds, bees, and other wildlife consider it home as well.

For the record, I do not have an irrigation system. I sculpted my yard with berms and swales to take advantage of rainwater. These are drought tolerant plants (mostly native) that not only survived saltwater flooding two years ago but our recent five month drought. Since rainy season started they are absolutely thriving…

When I need some quiet contemplation, I head here, to my favorite beach. Walking barefoot on the sand, with that ever-changing but always amazing view, soothes my soul…

I feed the birds first thing each day. What began five years ago with one feeder has evolved into two feeders (one in the front yard, the other in the backyard) and a crow station.

Crows will eat most anything (dumpster divers that they are) and two years ago I noticed them stealing the crunchy food I put out for the neighborhood cats. So, I built a little platform for their own serving of cat food (hoping they’d leave my furry friends’ portion alone).

Now, every morning crows perch on the power lines overhead, impatiently waiting for me before descending on the platform and scooping up protein-rich bits. After the big birds fly off, jays, grackles, and starlings swoop in to grab whatever crumbs are left behind.

However, this was not a typical morning. Shortly after feeding I heard the crows making an unusually loud ruckus. So, I stepped back outside to see what the fuss was all about. Boy, was I surprised!

Not only was a White Ibis on their platform daintily eating their cat food but my crows, which clearly outnumbered him, were doing nothing about it. Crows are known bullies so I found this rather interesting. Apparently ibis is above crow in nature’s pecking order. Who knew?

The other thing I found odd was how the ibis knew about the free buffet. I occasionally see ibises in my yard, poking around in the soil looking for bugs and small reptiles. But until today, I hadn’t noticed them near my feeders.

If this keeps up I wonder what kind of feeder I’ll have to build next…