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The places which immediately come to mind when you consider nature photography in south Florida are the Everglades and Big Cypress National Parks, Corkscrew and Venice Audubon Sanctuaries, the National Wildlife Refuges, Loxahatchee, and the Ding Darling Drive on Sanibel Island. These places are usually the most reliable ones for consistently finding good subject matter.

Mrazek Pond, a famed spot in ENP (Everglades National Park), has for the past three years not had the huge influx of birds that it used to have, for some reason. Even when the needed dry-down occurred, the pond did not attract many birds. Eco Pond, which is actually the third stage sewage treatment pond for the Flamingo area, is badly overgrown with cattails and other vegetation despite the park's attempt to keep it cleared. It is a fine place for "Auduboners" who are happy with a small image and do not mind cluttered backgrounds. For the past five years, there have been a few American crocodiles hanging around the Flamingo marina. There are usually a few osprey nests in the Flamingo area, as well. There are a number of osprey nests high on the utility poles on the way to Key Largo (US 1), but they are not the best for photographers because of the highway hazard. Farther down on Summerland Key we have found some in areas where you can safely pull off the road or in our case set up a tripod on top of the camper.

The Shark Valley section of ENP is a place where you may see limpkins and a fair number of night herons. However, the bank between the drive and the canal is usually overgrown with brush so you cannot easily get clear shots. You will see more wildlife, including southern whitetail deer, by bicycling the 15-mile drive early or late in the day, but this poses a problem when carrying a lot of photo equipment. Riding the tram is not rewarding for serious photographers.

All along the Tamiami Trail (US 41), which runs from Miami to Naples and beyond, you may observe a lot of wildlife perched over the bordering canal. Likewise there may be some on the Turner River road which turns off the Trail, but the birds are very skittish. There was an eagle's nest in the Fakahatchee Strand (near Naples), but it has not been ideally located from a photographer's standpoint.

Corkscrew Audubon Sanctuary used to be a very reliable place to catch nesting woodstorks, but these birds do not nest if they know that they cannot easily obtain the necessary food for their chicks. Storks did nest in Paroutis Pond in ENP, but the chicks may not have fledged.

Fort Myers Beach can yield some excellent shore bird pictures, but you need to monitor the tide status and the wind direction. Sanibel Island's Ding Darling Drive, a typically reliable mecca for photographers, was most disappointing in the winter of 2001. Manmade changes in the water flow made the usual appearance of large groups of wading birds close into shore very sporadic. During the summer of 2001, the refuge started a road rebuilding project, which is to include a better flow between the sides. Lighthouse Point on the opposite end of Sanibel is a most rewarding spot when the fishermen are reeling in huge catches. The pelicans and egrets may be so thick that you cannot isolate a single one, but if the wind and tide conditions are not right, you may not see a single bird. Walking along beaches, particularly on Florida's Gulf side at the right time of the tide and the wind in early AM or late PM, will allow you to see all sorts of small shore birds but they are easily spooked. Usually at least a 400 mm lens is needed for good sized images.

The Audubon rookery on an island in a pond just west of US 41 in Venice is a marvelous place to get a lot of nesting great blue herons and great egrets and fewer other birds. You will need a tripod and long lenses and will find the light is really only good until about 11 AM. After that it gets flat. In January you will find mostly great blue herons, but by March and April egrets will predominate. These birds congregate here of their own volition and are not restrained in any way or fed so pictures can be classified as true wildlife on a salon entry form. The presence of alligators in the surrounding pond keeps most predators away from the birds.

Myakka State Park near Sarasota often has sandhill cranes, as well as other wildlife. By the time you get that far north you will notice a distinct change in the vegetation and the landscape overall.

The Black Point Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on Cape Canaveral can be quite rewarding at times, or not, dependent again upon the weather and the time of year. Various ducks, wading birds, otters and other small animals may be seen there. However, when NASA has a scheduled liftoff the drive may be closed. There is another colony of wood storks on this cape and they are also fairly common around the Tampa Bay area, other parts of northern Florida, and even up into Georgia and South Carolina. During January and February, manatees normally congregate in the Blue Springs State Park near Orange City because of its warm water.