San-Cap Nature Calendar for sale
The 34th edition of The Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar is now available for purchase, as well as a limited “Blind Pass Tide Edition” that includes the daily tides, sunrise and sunset times, and more.
Publisher Jim Fowler explained that in addition to the same beautiful photographs and narratives, the limited edition contains the daily tide predictions for Blind Pass and conversion times for 24 other points along the Southwest Florida Coast. It also includes selected sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, and the four eclipses that occur in 2022.
The cover of the upcoming year’s calendar features a photograph of roseate spoonbill taken at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge by local photographer Robert Kimbrell. The rear cover shows a dramatic sunset photographed off of West Gulf Drive on Sanibel by seasonal visitor Lisa M. Stevens.
“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,” Fowler said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Inside, the calendar features nine of the most often observed island birds, two reptiles and a butterfly. A dramatic head shot of a red-shouldered hawk for January opens the year, followed by the February photo of a snowy egret feeding at the Sanibel Lighthouse Fishing Pier. Transition to the refuge’s Bailey Tract for a white peacock butterfly and a family of anhingas nesting off of Wildlife Drive. This edition’s shorebirds include snowy plovers, a piping plover and royal terns. There is a mottled duck surfing off the east end, plus loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings rushing for the safety of the Gulf of Mexico’s waters. The month of October displays a great crested flycatcher, and the year ends with an American alligator.
As usual the July “centerfold” photograph is a group of wading roseate spoonbills.
“My favorite photograph this year are the loggerhead sea turtle hatchings scamping across the beach to the Gulf waters,” Fowler said. “Photographed on a blustery day, the high surf shows just how perilous their life’s journey is with less than one in 100 surviving to adulthood.”
The featured photographers are Theresa Baldwin, Marianne Bargiotti, Cliff Beittel, Robert Kimbrell, Sara Lopez, Dick Fortune, Lisa M. Stevens and Don Thompson. Writers and residents Betty Anholt and Charles LeBuff and Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Shorebird Program Coordinator Audrey Albrecht have written the monthly photo narratives.
First published in 1988, the calendar is sold only in Southwest Florida. Each photo contains subject information such as: description, nesting, breeding and feeding habits, range, habitat, status and health.
Every fall a portion of the publisher’s proceeds are donated to a regional conservation organization. Last year, a donation of $800 was made to the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel. To date, the publisher has donated about $25,689 to conservation organizations in Southwest Florida.
Again this year, the calendar will be available, upon request, with a shipping envelope made from trash. Make-ready sheets were saved from the press setup and used to create custom-fit mailing envelopes.
“It is the best calendar in the world, and probably the best calendar that ever was,” Fowler said. “It is the only calendar that truly represents what Sanibel and Captiva are all about — nature.”
The 2022 calendar retails for $15.95 and is available in fine book stores and gift shops throughout Southwest Florida. Only available on Sanibel, the “Blind Pass Tide Edition” retails for $18.95.
For mail orders, send $15.95 plus $2 for shipping and handling to: Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar, P.O. Box 356, Sanibel, FL 33957. For the limited edition, send $18.95 along with the $2 for S&H.
For more information, contact Fowler at 859-846-4164.