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Near Naples Florida, I'd had this place on my list for awhile. It is kind of off the beaten path, but well worth the long trip off Interstate 75, Most of Florida's Bald Cypress were harvested and birds shot during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Audubon Society bought this land to keep the feather hunters from harvesting the truly amazing birds. The trees here aren't so shabby either, rising straight up hundreds of feet. They saved those, too. According to the Audubon Society, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary occupies approximately 13,000 acres in the heart of the Corkscrew Watershed in Southwest Florida, part of the Western Everglades. It is primarily composed of wetlands. These include the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in the world (approximately 700 acres), which is the site of the largest nesting colony of Federally Endangered Wood Storks in the nation. In addition to the Wood Stork, Corkscrew provides important habitat for numerous other Federal and St...

I love to tell stories. About twenty years ago I had my first freelance travel article accepted by a magazine. Much to my surprise, the magazine expected photos along with words. I had not taken any during the preliminary work for my article. I drove back to the site and took the photos for the article with my little Olympus digital camera. The article was published with those very amateur photos. In time, I bought an Olympus OMD-EM5, a great camera for nature and travel photographers and discovered that I enjoyed telling stories with pictures more than I did with words. The last twenty year have been an incredibly exciting time as resources for photographers have exploded. I have been lucky enough to have some great teachers along the way...