Mid-February Gulf-Coastal Alabama Delights!
Judy and I visited Alabama’s Gulf Coast on February 21 and 22, 2025, inhaling spring breezes, experiencing hints of the season’s first gentle vernal touches to Alabama’s south shore, and contemplating Hopkins Law tracking vernal progress north at 120 miles per week! I captured still images and brief videos of treasured elements of the season of renewal: Mobile’s live oaks; Fairhope’s Bay gusts and waving Spanish moss; Bellingrath’s lush gardens along the Fowl River; and laughing gulls congregating at the open maw of the Gulf of America.
Join me on this Yellowhammer State visual tour of early spring along both sides of Mobile Bay. In contrast to most of my weekly photo essays, this one incorporates little of my normal Nature interpretation and education.
Mobile (February 21, 2025)
Live oaks merit reverence for their unequalled beauty, awe, inspiration, magic, and wonder. No other tree species can enliven cityscapes like mature live oaks. New England American elms matched their elegance before the 1930 onset of imported Dutch elm disease. Other visitors may marvel at Mobile’s architecture; I see little beyond the majesty of her live oaks.
The Cathedral-Basilica of the Immacualte Conception, flanked by the beckoning arms of magnificent live oaks, literally drew me to her bosom. I felt the spirit of the trees and the blessed cathedral. A higher force engulfed me.
Please don’t permit the sound of city traffic to engulf you on my 33-second video of the nearly 200 year old cathedral:
The photos and video below require no narrative from me.
My 57-second video of the cathedral interior.
Individual live oaks and park squares with live oak groves stirred my soul.
Fairhope (February 21, 2025)
Unlike most visitors to Mobile that weekend, we decided to exit downtown before the afternoon Mardi Gras festivities. We drove east across the Bay to Fair Hope, a city that seems to recognize and amplify that its essential character and identity are Nature-based: its trees and gardens; Mobile Bay; the Gulf of America.
Here is the 58-second video I recorded on that breezy blue-bird afternoon.
Again, who needs my feeble narrative to spur wonder and appreciation? Spanish moss clings, sways, and inspires. Despite its moniker, spanish moss is neither a moss nor a native of Spain. It is an epiphytic flowering plant native to the southeastern USA.
I recorded this 50-second video of a Spanish mossy breeze.
A beutiful afternoon to catch a southern Alabama thrust of spring, catching the season as it surges northward at 120 miles per week (Hopkins Law).
Bellingrath Home and Garden (February 22, 2025)
As we departed our motel a few miles west of Mobile, a great blue heron bid us farewell from its perch atop a live oak.
We had not visited Bellingrath Home and Gardens since I served as Director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service (1996-2001). I recorded this 57-second video within the historic gardens. A Carolina wren and a distant shooting range competed for our audio attention. Try to block out the firearm discharges.
A deep South winter favorite, the camelia is an Asia native, adapted to our climate and endeared to southern gardeners..
I recorded this soothing 39-second video of the featured Bellingrath fountain.
Its water-music and nearby spreading live oaks set the Bellingrath mood of peace, traquility, and seasonal magic.
The home speaks the same language of the South.
My 59-second video along Fowl River further deepens the mood and magic.
On this cool mid-February day, I wondered how often Fowl River gators sun along this riverside flagstone path.
I captured the wonder of the estuary circuit with this 57-second video.
I love these extraordinarily productive southern Alabama ecosystems fueled by long warm summers, elevated humidity, and frequent tropical downpours.
A pleasant walkway loops the frshwater lake, offering yet another ecosystem element.
We left Bellingrath with plenty of time to explore Dauphin Island. The Gulf and its Nature treasues awaited!
Dauphin Island (February 22, 2025)
My iPhone navigator places my Madison, Alabama home 385 miles from Dauphin Island, or 3.21 weeks according to Hopkins Law of seasonal latitudinal transition. Hopkins Law also includes an elevation factor: one week per 700 feet. My 805-foot Madison elevation adds another 1.15 weeks to the northward sojourn. I reside 4.36 weeks north of Dauphin Island at sea level!
I felt like Dauphin’s laughing gulls were aiming their raucous hoots of delight at me for my next morning’s drive a month back into winter. I recorded this 43-second video of their mirth.
This individual countenanced a more sober face.
I wondered where the prodigious flocks of gulls seek shelter when the warm Gulf waters ignite tempests of fury. Even 400 miles north of this wild storm nursery, the Huntsville area receives 55 inches of liquid precipitation annually, much of it injected into southerly winds whisking evaporation from the Gulf. Here is my 57-second view of the Gulf from Fort Gaines. Northery breezes gave no hint of the power residing within tranquil waters.
Judy and I are not creatures of the sea shore. Judy claims to love the beach…except for the sand, heat, humidity, traffic, noise, and summer hordes of people. We view Februray as a good time to visit every couple of years.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
- I am inspired by Nature’s panoply, her infinite variety of substance and expression. (Steve Jones)
- A student of Nature knows enough to appreciate that he knows little. (Steve Jones)
- We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us. (Albert Einstein)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron. All Rights Reserved.”
I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com
A reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause
If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied by untold orders of magnitude:
Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.
Vision:
- People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
- They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.
Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!
Steve’s Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2025) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
- I love hiking and exploring Nature
- I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
- I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
- I don’t play golf!
- I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
- Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
- And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future