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It's only natural to him

If it flies, swims, slithers, crawls, creeps or prowls, he knows it and probably has wr itten a book about it.

By RICK FOLSTAD
Published December 26, 2006

MORRIS BRIDGE WILDERNESS PARK

We're hiking along the banks of the Hillsborough River on a warm December morning when the short, stocky guy with the graying hair suddenly stops and points at something.

It's a spider dangling in a spiderweb. A pretty big spider actually, gold with black bands on its legs. It looks, well, kind of nasty.

"It's a golden orb spider, a female," Tim Ohr says. "It's also called a golden silk orb and a banana spider. When the sun strikes it at a certain angle, the gold really comes out."

Oh, yeah, right.

About then a hawk silently sweeps down and buzzes us before landing on the dead limb of a tree a few yards down the trail.

"A red-shouldered hawk," Ohr says.

"Red-tailed?"

"No, red-shouldered. See the bands on the tail?"

It's a different kind of nature hike when you're with someone who can actually identify what you're looking at or trampling through.

Ohr, who lives in Temple Terrace, has hiked, biked and floated enough to fill a few books. Maybe you've seen some of his work in the Florida section of your favorite bookstore.

Published by World Publications, he's the author of Florida's Fabulous Natural Places, Florida's Fabulous Trail Guide, and Florida's Fabulous Canoe and Kayak Trail Guide. A fourth book, Florida's Fabulous Lighthouses, is due out next year.

He co-edited Florida's Fabulous Insects, Florida's Fabulous Fishes, Mammals of the Northeast, and, of course, Florida's Fabulous Spiders.

Ohr spends time in the woods because he likes it, he's comfortable there. He's been doing it for most of his adult life.

A nine-year U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Ohr says once he was out of the service, he started jogging in the woods around the University of South Florida to stay in shape. And he says that after you spend enough time in the woods, you start to ask yourself, "What is that? And then you want to learn what it is."

He learns every day.

"There is so much to see in this state," says Ohr, who was born in New Jersey but grew up in Florida. "I've hiked or biked in more than 400 places in Florida, and I've canoed and kayaked in more than 130 locations."

In the woods, Ohr has a lot of answers.

We approach a bush with several clusters of purple berries on it and he stops.

"Beauty berries," he says. "Find something colorful, and I probably know what it is."

In all his hikes and all the miles he's covered on foot and by bike, Ohr's only real scare came when a couple of snarling, rogue dogs threatened him at a park near Tallahassee. It's why he now carries a can of pepper spray with him when he hikes in the woods.

Back at the trailhead, we take a last look at the river, but we don't stay long. It's still early with a lot of daylight left.

Ohr has another park to visit, another trip into the woods planned. His mountain bike is clamped to the back of his car, ready to go.

This time he'll head to the Flatwoods and do 17 miles on his bike.

He can't wait.

[Last modified December 25, 2006, 23:03:29]