The Upper Pinellas Trail runs through cow pastures.  It’s usually a nice quiet bike ride and sometimes I get to see something cool like maybe a new bird.  In early November I got there just after the sun was up.

It was peaceful on the trail this weekday morning.

A kildeer was close to the trail. They are plentiful on the cow pastures and most of the time I hear them before I see them. It’s rare for them to get close to the trail.

Far out I could see turkeys and sandhill cranes hanging out together. There must be good bugs in that area.

The eagle couple hadn’t started nesting yet and they were together on one of the utility towers along the trail.

I saw a lot of pine warblers this morning. They were busy catching bugs.

I heard the sandhill crane’s loud chortle from across the pasture as they flew by.

A few deer were scattered along the back fence line.

Gopher tortoises have homes deep in the dirt along the trail. Most are sleeping far down in the hole and are hard to see but this one was half out. I could just barely make out his eye through the grass. Gopher tortoises are protected in Florida and are a threatened species. They are land animals and we lost a lot of them when Hurricane Helene came through and flooded many of the parks so every one of these are important.

I had heard there was a rare alder flycatcher at the beginning of the trail. I have never heard of one in Florida. They migrate through the central part of the states so this one was a little too far east. There were several other people there looking for him so he was easy to spot.

There was a large flock of cattle egrets flying back and forth across the pasture. I’m not sure what kept causing them to get spooked and fly away. Maybe the eagles were cruising by.