Around the State
Florida offers so many opportunities to explore. We’ll chronicle our encounters with nature and interesting places and share our stories about the fun events we attend.
Our Most Recent Report
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2026 Roar Before the Rolex 24
The 2026 racing season is underway. We kicked it off with a trip over to Daytona International Speedway to shoot the Roar Before the Rolex 24. The Roar is a 3-day practice session for teams preparing for the Rolex 24, the iconic 24-hour endurance race.
40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 It seems like every year the Roar manages to land on the coldest weekend of winter. This year was no different as temperatures started off near freezing. But skies were clear, so the sun helped to warm things nicely. Although it never reached 60 degrees, the lack of wind helped immensely.
9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini in Garage Area at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 The Rolex 24 is an amazing motorsports experience. It brings together drivers from around the world to compete in the ultimate team racing event. Drivers from many of the other top series like IndyCar, F1, and NASCAR join the regular teams in the Weathertech IMSA series for the 24-hour race. The incredible part of endurance racing is that 4 different classes of cars race at the same time. There are 61 cars entered. The high-tech hybrid GTP cars are the fastest. They are million-dollar machines with many advanced features that eventually find their way to passenger vehicles. The remainder of the field is comprised of cars from Lamborghini, Ferrari, Corvettes, Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes AMG, Lexus, BMW, and Mustang GT.
4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Heading Toward Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
93 Meyer Shank Acura and 8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 The Roar and the Rolex 24 are amazing fan-friendly experiences. Not only are ticket prices very affordable, but fans have open access to the garage areas, and they are allowed on pit lane to view the cars prior to the race. There is even a huge camping event for Boy Scouts during the Roar and parking for all fans during the Roar is free. It is definitely one of the best events for families in all sports. It’s also a great opportunity for photographers without credentials. Using a small step ladder, we can get over the fences around the infield to get clear shots of the cars as they fly past.
What is truly incredible about this event is that after 24 hours of continuous high-speed racing, from daylight through darkness and back to daylight again, sometimes through periods of pouring rain, the margin of victory for the class winners is often just a few seconds! If a person was looking to attend a marquee auto race, this one should be very high on the list.
31 Whelen Cadillac Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
7 Penske Motorsports Porsche Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Heading Toward Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
6 Penske Motorsports Porsche and 8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 Exiting the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
93 Meyer Shank Acura Heading Toward the International Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026 
52 Bryan Herta Autosport LMP2 Heading Toward the West Horseshoe at Daytona International Speedway – 2026
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Bahia Beach Nature Preserve
This past Monday, my friend Art Nadelman and I made a visit to Bahia Beach Nature Preserve in Ruskin. The preserve is less than a mile from Tampa Bay and has become one of favorite winter spots for waterfowl. We often see many other species of water birds like herons, egrets, gulls and shorebirds. Occasionally…
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Florida Snail Kites
As promised from my last post, here is the story about our recent trips to the Fort Myers area to look for snail kites. I’ve written about snail kites in the past because they are such fascinating birds with an equally fascinating story. The Everglades snail kite subspecies is unique to central and south Florida.…
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Peculiar Spring Season
It’s been over 6 weeks since my last post. We always anticipate the winter and spring seasons to be some of the best times for wildlife photography here in Florida. Many birds migrate here, while many more migrate through our area in April and early May. But this year has been oddly quiet in several…
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Reddish Egret at Fort De Soto
For the past 9 days, our daughter and granddaughter have been visiting us from Japan. Of course, anyone who comes here wants to go to the beach so last week we took a trip to Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg. They have a huge beach that is good for shelling. While the ladies…
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IndyCar Returns to Florida
Most of the major auto racing organizations begin their seasons here in Florida. A few weeks ago, the IMSA sports car series kicked off their year with the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR followed up a couple of weeks later at the same venue with the Daytona 500. This past weekend, IndyCar started…
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Little Winter Wonders
One of my favorite birds is the green-winged teal. They are beautiful small ducks that migrate here every winter. While green-winged teal are a common species, they can be difficult to find because they prefer smaller shallow ponds with plenty of cover. Last year we were dealing with the high water left over from hurricane…
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Roar Before the 24
Every year the IMSA WeatherTech sportscar racing series kicks off the year with the famed Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. On the weekend before the race, all the teams participate in several practice sessions. This prelude to the 24-hour endurance race is known as the “Roar Before the 24”. Last Saturday I headed over…
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
As the end of 2023 approaches, it’s time to reflect on the past year. Although I didn’t get out as much as in years past, some of the photo opportunities were amazing. In February we located a bird that I had never seen in the wild. In fact, in 2022 we drove over 3 hours…
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Tampa Riverwalk
Last night I had the opportunity to participate in the annual KelbyOne Worldwide Photo Walk. It’s an event created by Kelby Photography and features local photo tours and instruction in communities across the globe. My group met in downtown Tampa and featured nighttime photography along the Riverwalk. It was a great chance to meet some…
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Bok Tower Gardens
This past week we took a trip over to Lake Wales to visit Bok Tower Gardens. It’s one of our favorite spots to go for hummingbirds. Bok Tower Gardens is a beautiful place built atop one of the tallest areas in all of Florida. It was originally built by Edward and Mary Bok in the…
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Hurricane Idalia Flamingos
Every now and then there is a silver lining to a major hurricane. Despite all the damage that occurred with hurricane Idalia last week, there were some positive things that happened that astonished communities all along the Gulf Coast. For the first time in decades, American flamingos were spotted in several places after the storm.…
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Highlands County
There is a great park located near Sebring, FL called Highlands Hammock State Park. The topography of the park is like a lot of areas across Florida with a very diversified landscape. At the far back of the park is a flooded swamp with a large tree canopy. It has a jungle feel. In the…