Links
First we want to give a shout out to our longtime (but not old) friend, editor, and occasional blog contributor April Kirkendoll. She's a marine biologist and aquaculture specialist who has written three books. Her latest even uses some of Nancy's imagesannounced. You can find out more at her web site, www.lysmatapublishing.com.
Brian Rapoza, another good friend, former colleague, fieldtrip coordinator for Tropical Audubon Society, and our go-to birding expert has written an excellent book, "Birding Florida", that even uses three of our photographs. To check out the book, go to Amazon.com.
(We have a small offer for those who have these books. See "New Offer", the last section in blog post Nancy's Photos Are In Book About Bees.)
The mother of young science researcher Kara Boyd sent me a couple of Kara's favorite findings. I liked Official Birds of the United States (although we think the Florida scrub jay should be our state bird).
Other Links That Should Be Interesting And Relevant.
Travel
- Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris is our favorite tour group. They have a no-smoking policy, are photographer friendly, and are very focused.
- Natural Habitat Adventures is another great group. They too are well organized and treat you well. They have a relationship with World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Environmental Groups
We are active with the following groups in the Miami area:
- Tropical Audubon Society. To find your local chapter of the Audubon Society, go to https://www.audubon.org. They are far more than just a birding organization.
- Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. They have a link to the state organization, Florida Native Plant Society. Click on the map icon in the menu to the left of that page to find your local chapter. I don't know if other states have similar organizations.
- Miami Blue Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). At the top of their Links page is their parent organization, NABA. Click on "NABA Chapters" in the left side menu of that site to find your local chapter.
We also contribute to the following environmental groups:
- National Wildlife Federation,
- The Nature Conservancy,
- Natural Resources Defense Council,
- Ocean Conservancy,
- Purple Martin Conservation Association,
- Rainforest Action Network,
- the Trust For Public Land
- World Wildlife Fund (has been protecting wildlife for fifty years.)
When contributing to various causes, there are a lot of horror stories that make you wonder if your hard-earned money is really going to the right place. We get important information about a prospective charity from Charity Navigator. Another resource is CharityWatch.
Photography
Here are some outstanding photographers and groups that have been helpful to us:
- Robert Holmes, a.k.a. "Digital Bob" is a South Florida photographer that specializes in Gigapan (large, detailed panorama) cityscapes, and has mentored us with Gigapan and other technical issues.
- Robert Chaplin is another South Florida photographer and guide who spoke and judged at the Kendall Camera Club (see below) and helped start the South Florida National Parks Camera Club. He has also helped us on our journey. As with many busy photographers, however, his website has been virtually untouched for several years.
- John Moran is a better-known photographer of natural Florida and an environmental advocate. It doesn't look like he's done much to his website since 2014 though.
- Constance Mier is another fine nature and wildlife photographer based in South Florida. Most of her work is from a canoe. From her website you can access her two active blogs and a YouTube channel, from which she dispenses sound photography advice.
- Finally, we are with our local Kendall Camera Club, and would suggest any active or aspiring photographer join such a club. One way to find a photography group is to go to Meetup, click on "Find a meetup group", type something like "photography" and your zip code in the appropriate boxes and see what comes up. Happy hunting.
