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.