Biking along the fence

In early May I went out for a bike ride along the north end of the Pinellas Trail.

My first stop was right before the horse barn on the right. I was looking around to see if the almost grown sandhill cranes were around since that family usually hangs out in the nearby pond. I saw this cute fox squirrel right along the fence. I rarely see them in the Tampa Bay area but they are know to live along this trail area. I’m assuming this is a Sherman’s fox squirrel, one of four subspecies that live in Florida. They are bigger than our common squirrels and have a black face.

Little critters along the fence including the robber fly in the bottom.

A cattle egret was posing for me and he still had his breeding orange feathers.

Farther down the trail I found a pair of sandhill cranes.

A lone Canadian goose was sitting along a pond near the golf course that runs along part of the trial.

I usually see meadowlarks along the fence or at least hear them calling from far away.

There are a lot of gopher tortoise burrows along the fence. I don’t see them out of their holes often but this time I saw two walking around.

On my way back I spotted the crane family far out in the horse pasture. The two babies were getting big fast.

I could see a deer near the crane family and when I cropped up this picture I realized the fox squirrel was in the grass in front of the deer.

SkyWatch Friday

 

Early morning at Lettuce Lake Park

The lake was low in early June. The summer rains weren’t in full swing yet. The birds above were standing knee deep and they were pretty far out in the lake.

A few spoonbills were feeding close to the boardwalk.

Other birds along the boardwalk were storks and a tricolored heron, posing on a snag.

I saw this northern parula singing his heart out.

A very young titmouse.

Black bellied whistling ducks were cruising by the overlook tower and landing in the trees. They kept hopping from tree to tree, calling out to each other. I saw them when I first got to the park and was on the boardwalk. They were gone 20 minutes later so timing is everything.

My first robber fly sighting. What a cool bug. Although I probably would have freaked out at first if he flew on me. I saw him land on this branch and was wondering what it was.

Views from the boardwalk, not so early in the morning. Although I was there right when it opened at 8am and before there were lots of people on the boardwalk. It was so hot. I can’t image being out here after 11am in June.

SkyWatch Friday