Things along the bike trail

On October 1, 2025October 1, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was late May when I started my bike ride on the northern section of the Pinellas county bike trail. The first thing I saw far out in the cow pasture was the sandhill crane family. The 2 babies were almost as big as the parents but didn’t have the red face yet and were still acting a little awkward.

I had never noticed these tiny shells all along the trail until this spring. The plants were covered in them. They are referred to as ghost shells or peanut shells and are are considered a pest. They are invasive and reek havoc on native plants and citrus and in only recent years taken over central Florida.

Yucca bloom out on the trail.

The rosary pea plant is invasive and toxic. I’m surprised these plants haven’t been pulled out along this trail. It runs along the cow pastures. I’m assuming birds avoid it.

We were in the middle of a drought. The lake was low and the spillway (in front of the wall) should have water in it. It’s usually overgrown with plants but it was a sand pit this morning.

This beautiful katydid was posing on the fence post and stayed there while I got a great shot of it with my 400mm lens. I’ve only seen these guys a few times in the last 20 years.

When I got back to the front end of the trail I noticed the sandhill crane family had crossed the trail and was on the other side of the fence (on the horse pasture side). One of the babies had not figured out how to get over the fence yet. There was a small opening in the fence and after pacing back and forth a few times she finally saw the opening and squeezed in to join her family.

They all finally made it back to the horse side and the almost dried up pond they hang out at. Little baby was pooped and plopped down on the ground for a rest while the others continued looking for food.

A quick look at a harmless black racer before he slid under the fence.

Biking along the fence

On August 20, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

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.

Sandhill cranes everywhere

On June 21, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In early April I was out biking on the northern part of the Pinellas County bike trail (the part that runs through cow pastures and a horse farm). Sandhill cranes are common here and I usually see several pairs. The first pair I saw was far out in a horse pasture right at the beginning of the trail. I stopped for a few minutes and noticed they had 2 tiny babies. They looked to be under a week old. Unfortunately they were on the sunny side of the trail.

A horse started walking towards them (really heading to the pond) and the parents started yelling. The horse stayed on the far side of the pond and then wandered back towards the stables. The little babies stayed close to the parent, right under his legs.

Turkeys were far across the cow pasture.

Farther down the trail I passed by another sandhill crane couple. They did not have any little ones.

While I was taking pictures of the cranes I noticed the bushes around the area were covered with these small snails. There were tons of them all over the bushes and sticks. I don’t remember seeing these here before.

Towards the end of the trail I found another crane couple. They were standing in the shade right along the trail. I stopped my bike and started taking shots of them.

They started flirting and dancing around. I stood there for about 10 minutes hoping they would mate but then some people walked up behind me with dogs and got too close so the cranes so they took off flying across the pasture and over the trees. I was crushed but not surprised. There’s a lot of foot traffic here as well.

Cattle egrets along the fence.

As I was leaving I saw the crane family again and they were a little closer to the trail but I figured they wouldn’t leave that pasture and get on the trail until those babies were bigger.

Cranes and old houses

On September 4, 2023April 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

It was early May and I was heading up to the Chinsegut Conservation Center to see if there were any migrating birds. I wasn’t sure if I would see sandhill cranes there. I hadn’t seen any there since early 2022. I was sitting quietly on the bench behind the nature center, waiting for birds to come to the feeders and this family came cruising through the area. They slowly walked around looking for bugs to eat. It was fun watching the two young ones acting like toddlers.

They were not shy and walked really close to me. I pulled out my phone and snapped the above.

I left the nature center and was heading back home on a back road when I saw more sandhill cranes out in a cow pasture. I pulled over and snapped a few shots of them and realized they were eating bugs off the cow poop. Yum!

I had heard there was a haunted house in nearby Brooksville so I made a quick stop. The May-Stringer house is said to be the most haunted house in Florida. You can read all about the house here. The house was built in 1855 and went through many owners before it was sold to the Hernando Historical Association in 1980. It was beautiful on the outside and they were closed the day I was there so maybe I’ll get back here and take a tour.

There is an old grave on the backside of the house.

The Saxon Manor house is another old historic home that was built in 1877. It’s now a wedding/event venue. There’s a lot of great old houses in Brooksville. I’m going to try and get back up here in the winter and do a tour of the old houses.

Sandhill crane twins

On April 8, 2017March 14, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I stumbled on to this sandhill crane family walking down the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in early March. The parents were teaching the babies how to look for bugs and eat them. A few people were standing by but the parents did not seem to mind. As long as you didn’t get too close they just went on their way. I sat down on the trail to get the pictures and several times I had to get up and move back since they were walking right towards me. It looks like lunch was mostly dragonflies.

The 2 above were taken with my cell phone. They were too close to get with my camera and if I tried to move back any farther I would end up in the swamp. They strutted down the trail for while before heading back out into the marsh.

A sad circle of life.

On April 16, 2014April 10, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I had read that there was a new sandhill crane family at Circle B Bar Reserve. As soon as I walked out on the trail, I saw them slowly making their way towards me. The little babies were so cute. One was much younger than the other. Maybe by a few days.

The smaller one was all wet. They must have been in the marsh.

He looked tired and plopped down for a rest while the parents and older sibling were looking for food. Maybe he was just tired since he was younger.

The oldest sibling stayed close the parent and was getting fed a few bugs.

They looks so funny, all wet.

The parents started cruising down the trail and closer into the marsh. I started taking pictures of a flock of vultures close by that were eating a turtle.

I looked over a few minutes later and noticed both babies were down in marsh and it looked like they were playing. The above and below were extremely cropped.

After a while I realized the older baby was hitting the younger one on the head with his beak. He was pulling out fuzz. At that point I realized that the older one was attacking the younger one. I stood there at a loss of what to do. I took a few steps closer into the marsh but the parents came towards me and seemed to be guarding what was going on down there. Do I risk getting eaten by an alligator or poked in the head by a parent sandhill crane? The family started to move on and I thought maybe the little one would be okay, maybe the older one was just play fighting a little too hard.

We headed down the trail and a few hours later, we stopped by that same area and the entire family was gone. We thought they must have kept going and that the baby was okay. Later that night I had read on the Circle B Bar Facebook group that someone had seen the little one alone on the trail. The parents and older sibling had eventually left him behind. A ranger was called and she rescued the baby and took it to a bird rehab facility. The baby did not survive. Apparently this is common in sandhill crane families like it is in other birds such as eagles and hawks. I have seen a mother snowy egret drop the youngest of her 3 babies into the alligator pond at Gatorland so I shouldn’t be shocked but it is still sad.

If you need some cheering up after that, check out Jess’s blog. She was recently able to get pictures of a sandhill crane coming out of the egg. So cute!

Sandhill crane babies at Circle B Bar Reserve

On March 18, 2013March 30, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography29 Comments

Here’s mom with a dirty beak. Always keeping her eye out for any birds of prey flying around in the sky.

Yummy bug for breakfast!

Taking turns eating.

“I get the next bug.” “No, it’s mine.”

“Mom, there’s not a bug under my butt.”

“I hate being wet, don’t you?”

“This stick does not taste good.”

Coming back down the trail later, I saw this. It feels like these people are too close. I know the birds are pretty tame and use to people being on the trail but can they get too tame? Most people were across the trail from the babies and the babies were running around being curious and walking right up to people. I heard later that one of the babies sat down on a person’s foot. I know the guy above in the middle had a 500mm lens but chose to use his short lens and sit really close to them. Families were walking right up to them and taking pictures with their camera phones. The cranes could just leave and head out into the marsh but that marsh is full of mean and hungry alligators so I think it’s better if they stay on the trails but I felt a little off that people were getting so close. I only had my fixed 300mm so I kept having to get up and move back. Maybe the crowds of people will keep the hawks and eagles away. Anyway, they were so cute and fuzzy. And funny and curious. They picked up every stick and checked out every bug. I took a ton of pictures so I’ll post more later.

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