Cruising by the cows

I bought a bike in early April, mostly to cruise around the neighborhood but since I can fold it and put it in the back I decided to take it out on a bike path. There’s a parking area about 15 minutes north of me that picks up the northeastern end of the Pinellas Trail. The path goes through cow pastures and a golf course and I didn’t think I would see too much else so I only had my phone with me the first ride. Above are taken with my phone. I was not surprised to see sandhill cranes along this path since I had heard there were a lot of them up here.

A week later I came back up here with my camera and longer lens in my backpack. Far across the cow pasture I could see a juvenile eagle sitting high up on a utility tower. I saw several eagles when I was riding the week before. Next fall I’ll have to look for a nest although it’s probably in a utility tower like the one by my house.

I love seeing the cattle egret hanging out with the cows. They are hoping the cows churn up some bugs as they chew the grass.

I found several meadowlarks along the fence.

I’m assuming the sandhill crane couple I found was the same one I saw the week before. They were in a cow pasture farther down the trail. This is a fun trail to ride and there’s not much traffic during the week so I’ll be coming here quite a bit.

SkyWatch Friday

A quick stop to see the funny faces

Checking out some pretty white pigeons at Horsepower for Kids (rescue/animal sanctuary/petting zoo/farm) in late June. They weren’t in a cage but they were banded. I guess they know they can get a handout here.

Some of the funny faces.

Looks like this is a baby emu. I wonder where they got this from. They take in all kinds of strays or abandoned animals.

It’s always fun seeing the peacocks running around.

“No, I’m not giving you a kiss” I told him. I was there early so once the kids get there he’ll get lots of attention and snacks. He loves a good scratch.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkupOur World Tuesday Graphic

Hot morning at Horsepower for Kids.

The ducks were cooling off with a bath at Horsepower for Kids Animal Sanctuary in late June. It made me want to jump in with them and go for a swim.

I decided not to jump in the pond since the geese own the pond and they are aggressive.

Even the tricolored heron was cooling off in the water.

I’m not sure if this white pigeon was a resident or just a visitor. He wasn’t in a cage. 

Some of the chickens hanging around.

Jealous of this guy sleeping (maybe not in the dirt though).

Close ups of the faces at the petting zoo.

A Saturday morning walk around the petting zoo.

 

A fun morning at the petting zoo.

The last time I was at Horsepower for Kids petting zoo/animal sanctuary was in early March.  At the end of May I stopped by right after they had re-opened up.  I figured this was a good place to get out and stretch my legs and it wouldn’t be crowded. Everything is pretty spread out and there were only a few other people there first thing in the morning. These above juvenile geese were growing up in the safety of a pen with a small pond before being released in the big lake.  I realized that they were just eggs when I was there in March and now they were almost grown up. It would have been fun to see them as tiny fluff balls but at least they were growing up to be handsome loud annoying big geese.

The best was seeing the baby peacocks although they were pretty shy and stayed under the bushes. I”m sure the neighbors close by wouldn’t think more peacocks were the best though. So cute!

This goose let me know to stay back (taken with my 400mm lens and cropped).

I only saw one baby chicken wondering around with the adults and she was pretty big.

A few of the other smiling faces.

This beautiful bird was a rescue that the sanctuary had recently taken in. It was a former pet and was very friendly.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Our World Tuesday Graphic

 

Out in a cow pasture

On my way back from my road trip to central Florida to look for the whooping cranes, I stopped along a quiet rode when I saw the above sandhill crane family far out in a cow pasture. The two babies were already big and could keep up with the parents. These are all extremely cropped pictures.

The cow was looking at me like I was crazy.

Central Florida is full of cow pastures and citrus groves.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also linking to Sharon’s Souvenirs.

“Farm living is the life for me”

I’m having fun hanging out with the farm animals. Having not grown up around them, I find them interesting. With that said, it’s fun to watch them for a while and then go home to my house near the city in Tampa. I’m not sure if I would love them if I had to do the chores that go with keeping them.   These were all from my trip to Sweetfields Farm north of Tampa one Sunday morning in late May.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World