[Music] Welcome to Between the Covers summer# series where we shine our spotlight on South Florida authors.

I'm Anne Bocock and# joining me is conservationist, writer, and award-winning photographer Kirsten Hines.

Her# latest book is Wild Florida and Animal Odyssey.

It is a beautiful look at the array of species# that call Florida home.

It's told with insight and personal stories.

And Kirsten, thank you# so much for being here and for writing this book.

Thank you for having me and thank you for# reading it.

I appreciate it.

Can you give us, I guess, the Cliff notes version of your journey# starting as wildlife biologist gravitating to sharing your work through through stories and# photographs?

Yeah, I mean I started off as a biologist.

I went to graduate school to be a# scientist.

And then somewhere along the line, I just realized it didn't it wasn't exactly right.# You know, I loved it, but it didn't feel exactly right.

And I realized that what I wanted to do was# speak to larger audiences.

Um, and so I had always been a writer.

Um, and after graduate school, when# I was trying to figure out, well, what's next, uh, my friends gave me my first ever camera and# I went traveling around the world and ended up traveling for three years, um, and discovering I# loved photography and was thinking about, well, how can I use these things that I love together?# And the culmination ended up being, okay, well, I could be a storyteller.

I can use my writing and# my photography and concentrate on the things that I care about, which is nature.

Um, and so this# book in particular came about um, actually first of all because of the photography.

I had already# done a book with University of Florida Press um, on how to garden for wildlife in South Florida and# they I was at a conference and they saw me there with my book and they were like, you know, we we# love your photography.

We'd like to do another book.

And I was like, yeah, sure.

And they were# like, you know, give us an give us some idea.

Give us pitch us a pitch us an idea, basically.

And# um so I went off and I looked and I was surprised to realize there wasn't a comprehensive book on# Florida's wildlife and its natural history that covered the entire state um and had really# good photography associated with it.

And so I decided that that was going to be what I# would do.

Good for you.

This book, Wildflower, it really illuminates how diverse our state is.# How many species did you include in this book?

Oh wow.

Uh I know it's about a hundred.

Yeah, there's# a there's about a hundred species that have individual animal essays and then I also have the# more large thematic essays like what does it mean to be a native species or a non-native species# or where do our tropical species come from for and about 200 photos as well.

And I know you can't# judge a book by by its cover, but you really can on this book when you look at that cover.

It is# the most adorable red f Yeah.

Gray Fox.

Gray Fox.

Gray Fox.

Gray Fox.

Who looks like he's looking# right at you.

You are a great photographer.

Well, he was looking right at me, actually.

The irony# is he was in the historic Miami Cemetery.

Um, and I was there to take pictures of a whipperwill.# Um, a bird that had just been released.

I knew in the area and I needed it for a different book# project on, you know, identifying birds of Florida.

Um, and so I was there looking for that# bird and I see this tail hanging down.

I'm like, what on earth is that?

And I had to work my way# around the tree until I could finally see who it was.

And this fox was looking down at me like,# "What are you doing here?"

And I was kind of like, "What are you doing here?

This is I mean, it's# in the middle of the city.

It's in the middle of the day, actually."

I mean, it was it was pretty# amazing.

And he there was nowhere for him to go.

He was way up in an oak tree, so he just he let# me Yeah.

What else is he going to do?

He's like, "Okay, I'll just sit here."

Is there a species now# or or a habitat that you feel is overlooked but urgently needs attention?

I mean, I think the# beauty of Florida is we have so many truly unique habitats, right?

So, for down here, uh we have# the rocklands, pine rocklands, um that extend from northern Dade County all the way down into# the Keys.

And that's an extremely unique and rare um habitat that's been mostly built up because# it's where the pinelands are.

It's the highland.

it's where everybody wants to develop.

Um, but# in central Florida, we have our scrub habitat uh that occurs nowhere else in the world.

Um, and# then even up north, there's really unique habitats as well in our um ravines and cliffs up in the# panhandle area.

And so each of these are really unique and each of them are facing their own# set of threats.

Um, and you know, let's face it, there's no other state like Florida.

We are very# different.

And part of what I discovered on this journey was how many species we have of plants and# animals in addition to those habitats that occur nowhere else in the world.

And so in fact, Florida# leads in the state and in all of the United States as being one of the top states for having species# that occur nowhere else.

You have job security.

There's there's no question.

What can we do people# who are not conservationists and not scientists to help?

And I I say this, I I'll look at one thing.# The encroaching that we're doing on on certain spaces perhaps like like the Gulf Coast with# Florida Panthers.

Is there some little thing we can do?

Yeah, I actually include in the book a a# table of all the different things you can do.

But I think the biggest things are are one, you know,# helping to protect the areas that are already protected and encouraging us to connect those# areas so that we have a corridor all across the state that connects those patches of of habitat so# that our wildlife can move freely all across the state.

Um, and that's important and maintaining# it.

not just buying it, but maintaining it because we have a lot of non-native plants here that# would encroach.

The other thing, and I think this is maybe even more important, is putting native# plants in your lands because a lot of our upland habitats like those pine rocklands I was talking# about, um, those are in private hands.

And so if we plant native plants on those lands, uh, it's# essentially recreating habitat that has been lost.

And so if each of us did that, even just in a# little piece of our yard, we could connect those habitats as well that way.

So we there are things# we can do.

Absolutely.

I don't know about climate change.

Are things shifting?

Is the landscape# changing?

And can you see it?

Yeah.

And actually there's a lot of these animals that are displaying# that.

Um Rosette spoon bills, for example, historically 90% of their nests were in Florida# Bay.

Um, and over the years they've started not nesting there.

The nails nests were failing.

The# chicks were dying.

People were worried that their population was going to decline.

But in fact, what# they did was they shifted to new areas.

And so now there's not so many of them in Florida Bay, but# you can find them in St. Augustine and Tampa Bay, and they're they're moving to other places in# response to climate change and the effects of sea level rise.

you tell those people who see in# their own residential communities the ones they would call invasive, the iguanas, coyotes, even# a fox sometimes, do we need more education?

Well, we definitely need more education because part# of it is people have a hard time distinguishing what are the things that should be here versus# the things that are not supposed to be here.

And a lot of people are like, "Oh, it's an animal.

We# should either we should get rid of it because it's an animal or we should love it because it's# an animal."

But but if you're looking at it from a conservation perspective, there's nuances# there.

And um you know, some non-native species are not a problem.

Some like the python# are a huge problem.

And fox, for example, the gray fox is native to South Florida.

And you# know, they too need habitat.

Um and they're they can actually remarkably live well with people.

Um# you know, I have them living in my neighborhood and half the time you never even see them.

They're# just they're secretive.

Um, and so learning to live with wildlife and and educate ourselves as# to what is good and what isn't good and you know, should we be fighting for every single tree?# No.

There's some trees that would be better off getting rid of them and replacing them with native# trees that would have more ecological benefits.

Kirsten, what's the most difficult situation or# dangerous situation that you were ever in when you were trying to get a photo?

Um, I mean honestly# the most dangerous situations were for humans, frankly, but I assume that's not what you were# asking about.

Um, I think the I I was trying very hard to take pictures of bears and I ended up# taking those pictures in people's yards and they were very tolerant of people and so I thought# that they wouldn't be intimidated by people and so I was sitting outside not too far from a# mother bear with her cubs and um and she warned me.

She let me know that she didn't she didn't# want me there.

It is a great picture.

I'll give you that.

And I'm sure she did warn you.

Yeah.# So, that was probably the most um actual threat because she she was protecting her young and and# she was very kind about it.

She kind of barked at me and lunged at me a little bit and as soon as# I was like, "Okay, I'll leave."

We were good.

But that was probably the most the closest it got# from a wildlife perspective.

I don't know if you were using a zoom, but it looked pretty close# to me.

It was both.

There was a zoom, but it was probably closer than I should have been.

Is there# any Florida species or even a location perhaps that you haven't written about or photographed# that you really want to?

You know, I I mean, I'm always willing to see say that there's somewhere I# haven't seen um and places I would love to explore more.

Um but I felt like I did a really good# job of covering.

I mean, I ended up spending, you know, essentially three years hiking and and# camping and and driving all over and really really exploring the state in a way that I hadn't before# this project.

So, um, yes, I'm sure there's other places that I just haven't gotten to yet, but# I feel like I very much covered it.

I think you covered it in this book.

And I know that your work# in the field is solitary, but if you ever need a sidekick, I'm your person.

Okay, I will take you# up on that.

Watch out what you offer.

The new book is Wild Florida, an animal odyssey.

Kirsten Hines,# this has been such a pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's been a delight.

I'm Anne BCO.# Please join me on the next Between the Covers.