provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Jim Fowler announced publication of the 36th edition of The Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar.
This special post Ian edition with a theme of “Sanibel Reborn” has 14 photos of some of Sanibel’s most iconic birds, animals and marine life. Each inside month photo is accompanied by a narrative discussing the effects of Ian and the prospects of recovery.
The Spiral Bound Blind Pass Tide Edition! is also available. This “Limited Edition” presents the same beautiful photographs and narratives with the daily tide predictions for Blind Pass and conversion times for 24 other points along the Southwest Florida Coast. Also included, are selected sunrise/sunset times, moonrise/moonset times and the four eclipses that occur in 2024.
The 2024 front cover features a great egret with two chicks photographed at Audubon Venice Rookery Park by islander Kyle Sweet. Fowler said…. “When I saw this image, I just knew it belonged on the cover of the first post-Ian calendar. There has never been a nesting great egret in the calendar. It truly represents rebirth after a natural disaster. It is such an iconic beautiful bird on these Islands.”
On Sanibel great egrets nest within Tarpon Bay on the aptly named “Tarpon Bay Keys” from February to August. During the 2022 nesting season, U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists observed ten great egret nests at Tarpon Bay Keys in April. The effects of hurricane Ian on this rookery in Tarpon Bay has yet to be determined.
Also in the 2024 edition are six other photos of chicks or juveniles. All of the images show birds and other animals in different states of their lives on these very special wounded, but soon to recover, barrier islands.
Photographers featured in this edition are Theresa Baldwin, Marianne Bargiotti, Cliff Beittel, Sara Lopez and Dick Fortune, Lisa M. Stevens, Kyle Sweet and Don Thompson. Appearing for the first time are photos from islander Shane Antalick and Dr. James Douglass, professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. Well known and prolific writers Betty Anholt and Charles LeBuff plus SCCF shorebird biologist Audrey Albrecht have written the monthly photo narratives.
“It is the best calendar in the world, and probably the best calendar that ever was! It is the only calendar that truly represents what Sanibel and Captiva are all about – nature,” exclaimed Fowler.
“Created from an idea that took seed during my island experiences since I first came to Sanibel in the early seventies, I have tried every year to put together a calendar that truly shows the natural beauty of the islands. It continues to be my goal each year to publish a calendar that not only is beautiful and useful, but also promotes wildlife conservation through interest, information, and education.”
First published in 1988, this is the 36th edition of this popular calendar. Sold only in Southwest Florida, it continues to set the standard for other nature calendar publishers.
First to include full-featured narratives by experienced nature writers. Each photograph is accompanied by complete subject information including: description, nesting, breeding and feeding habits, range, habitat, status, and health.
First to help support local and regional environmental organizations. Each fall a portion of the publisher’s proceeds are donated to a regional conservation organization. (Last fall $1,000.00 was donated to The International Osprey Foundation to help rebuild nest destroyed during hurricane Ian. The year before $1,000.00 was donated to The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. To date, the publisher has donated $27,689.25 to conservation organizations in Southwest Florida.
Recognizing that paper manufacturing and printing can have harmful environmental properties, this publication was:
• First to print a four-color photographic calendar on recycled paper in North America; the 1991 edition printed in May 1990.
• First to reduce consumption and waste by using thinner paper than any other four-color photographic wall calendar.
• First to refuse to individually shrink-wrap, use wasteful stiffeners, and pre-box each calendar. Total reduction in paper materials used to manufacture this calendar when compared to other similar-sized wall calendars is a full 66%. (Limited corrugated stiffeners, made from used boxes, are included with some mail orders.)
Plus, the inside photographs are not coated with an extra varnish – just the bare ink; and it is soy-based ink. (The cover photos are coated with a water-based film.)
And again, this year the calendar will be available, upon request, with a shipping envelope made from trash! No kidding. We saved the make-ready sheets from the press set-up and created custom-fit mailing envelopes. This paper is usually sent through the printing press once then on to recyclers or the landfill. Now this paper will be used a second time as envelopes, thereby further reducing waste.
The calendar retails for $16.95 and is sold throughout Southwest Florida in fine book stores and gift shops. The Blind Pass Tide Edition (sold only on Sanibel) retails for $19.95. Mail orders send $16.95 (plus $2.00 S&H) directly to the publisher at: Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar, PO Box 3828, Midway, Ky 40347. For the custom Blind Pass Tide edition send $19.95 (plus $3.00 S&H).
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