provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Jim Fowler announced the publication of the 38th edition of The Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar. The 2026 edition presents 14 photos of some of Sanibel’s most iconic birds, animals, and marine life including five post-Ian photos. Each inside month photo is accompanied by a narrative that includes nesting, description, breeding, feeding habits, range, habitat, status, and health.
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 in 2026.
The 2026 front cover features an adorable pair of yellow-crowned night heron chicks photographed in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge by resident photographer Cliff Beittel. Yelow-crowned night herons are common in the Refuge year-round.
Fowler said, “When I first saw this image, I just knew it had to be on the cover.” Photographed at the nest, these lovable chicks eagerly wait for their parents to return with a meal of crustaceans.
Post-Ian photos in the 2026 edition include a rare visit by a pair of American flamingos in the Refuge, pileated woodpecker nestlings also photographed in the Refuge, American avocets on Bunch Beach, reddish egrets and white ibises off Middle Gulf Drive, and a reef with robust ivory tree coral off Sanibel in the Gulf of Mexico. The images show birds and other animals in different states of their lives on these very special, wounded, but recovering barrier islands.
Photographers featured in this edition are Shane Antalick, Theresa Baldwin, Marianne Bargiotti, Cliff Beittel, Dr. James Douglass, Cheri Hollis, Kyle Sweet, and Don Thompson. Well-known and prolific writers Betty Anholt, Charles LeBuff, SCCF shorebird biologist Audrey Albrecht, and Dr. James Douglass have written the monthly photo narratives.
Fowler says, “With 14 stunning images photographed on Sanibel and Captiva, this edition is just spectacular. It is the best calendar in the world and probably the best calendar that ever was. It is the only calendar representing what Sanibel and Captiva are all about – Nature.”
“Created from an idea that took seed during my island experiences when I first came to Sanibel in the early seventies, I have tried every year to put together a calendar that truly shows the islands’ natural beauty. It continues to be my goal each year to publish a calendar that is beautiful and useful and promotes wildlife conservation through interest, information, and education.”
First published in 1988, this is the 38th 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, $500.00 was donated to the Sanibel Sea School. The year before, $500.00 was donated to Turtle Time on Ft. Myers Beach. To date, the publisher has donated $28,689.25 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, further reducing waste.
Printed in the United States the calendar retails for $17.95 and is sold throughout Southwest Florida in fine book stores and gift shops. The Blind Pass Tide Edition (sold only on Sanibel) retails for $21.95. Mail orders send $17.95 (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 $21.95 (plus $3.00 S&H).
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