Owls and Panthers and Iguanas, oh my! On the Water Daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Day on the Water
7" x 5"
acrylic on Panel
$150 with FREE shipping and handling in the US

Today's daily painting, A Day on the Water, was inspired by the fact that so many Marco Islanders spent Memorial Day weekend on a boat or near the water. We're really a water community, and sometimes this time of year canal traffic can rival the streets! People congregate on the beaches and in boats and on the surrounding islands enjoying our natural environment.

Other creatures of our natural environment have been making the news this week. Our burrowing owl population is down, in part because their food source has been affected by drought, and in part because of the heavy hand of man. This photo, taken near my home was an active burrow until the city repaired a storm drain on the site with heavy machinery compacting the soil. As a result, no owls this year.

But the little peanut shaped birds are active in other burrows, and we're hoping for a good wet season and a comeback for this charming population. As you can read here, our owls bring birders from near and far.

A rare sighting of an endangered Florida panther also made the news this week. Early morning volunteers on the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Boardwalk were surprised and delighted to see a female panther on the boardwalk in front of them. They were able to get some surprisingly good video of the animal. Wow!

And then, there's the Green Iguana. They're exotic, and gorgeous, and have growing populations in several places on Marco. They're in invasive species that climb trees easily and eat the eggs of our local birds and have no natural predator. Birds, or Iguanas? Should the City eradication program continue? It's ugly, but my vote is for the birds.