The cover of The 2019 Sanibel-Captiva Nature Calendar features a spectacular photograph of a roseate spoonbill in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge by local nature photographer Robert Kimbrell. The rear cover includes a beautiful Bowman’s Beach sunset by longtime Sanibel visitor and natural history photographer and writer Lynn Stone.
This edition of the calendar spotlights six of our island’s year-a-round avian residents and three juvenal alligators photographed in Sanibel Garden Preserve! Also pictured, are seasonal visitors to our beaches; a nesting least tern, a lesser black-backed gull and a migrating black-throated blue warbler. Rounding out the monthly photographs are a tropical checkered skipper in the Bailey Tract and a scrawled cowfish on a coral reef in the Gulf off Sanibel.
Jim Fowler, the calendar's designer said “I love showing both seasonal, migrating and year-a-round birds and animals on our islands in the same calendar edition. It shows the great diversity of wildlife we are so fortunate to share the island with.” Fowler also announced the addition of a third writer for the photo narratives – SCCF shorebird program coordinator Audrey Albrecht. Fowler said “I am very excited to have Audrey as a contributing writer for the calendar. Her extensive knowledge of birds and experience in the field will add a wealth of knowledge and interest to the photo narratives. Added to the writing of long-time island residents Betty Anholt and Charles LeBuff the calendar contains a wealth of information and writing styles!”
Photographers featured in this edition are Theresa Baldwin, Marianne Bargiotti, Cliff Beittel, Dick Fortune, Peter Hawrylyshyn, Robert Kimbrell, Sara Lopez, Lorraine Sommer, Lynn Stone and Don Thompson.
Fowler says "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!”
“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 31st edition of this popular calendar. Sold only in Southwest Florida, it continues to set the standard for other 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 September $1,000.00 was donated to the “Ding” Darling Society on Sanibel.) To date, the publisher has donated $23,289.25 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.)
Purchase the 2019 calendar here!