Nancy Edmondson is on my list of the people I admire most. When I volunteered to help with the Florida scrub jay survey at South Venice Lemon Bay Preserve, I never imagined falling into fabulous like with Nancy. Yeah, I know she works for Sarasota County, but her dedication and her passion to preserve the land goes above and beyond just doing a job. Nancy oversees specific refuge areas in Sarasota County and has excellent records of the Florida scrub jays inhabiting these areas. At the time of this writing, there are 13 families and 39 adult scrub jays there, plus 10 juveniles.

When Nancy asked me to be the official photographer/writer for a special event, I jumped at the opportunity. The event was a bird walk at SVLBP to help folks learn about the area and also introduce them to the endangered Florida scrub jay. This is event was promoted by Viva Florida 500, a statewide initiative to highlight 500 years of Florida history since the arrival of Juan Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon named this land La Florida in the year 1513. Nancy’s comment to me was that the real stars today are the scrub jays, the eagles, our preserves and all the visitors and residents in this great area.