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.

More from Bok Tower Gardens

On September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Vacation5 Comments

Peter Rabbit still hanging around long after Easter.

Some different plants growing at the Bok Tower Gardens in early May. The first one is a balloon cotton bush. I would love to have one of these in a pot in my yard but they are not native to Florida. The 2nd one is a type of pitcher plant. I just recently got a hanging pitcher plant and repotted it so we’ll see how that one does.

This tiny black racer ran across the trail in seconds, before I could even get my camera up to my face to take a shot. I found him in the bushes a few minutes later. He was really skittish.

One of the big koi fish looking for a handout.

I’m not sure what these are. They were in a different pond and there was a feeding station next to. Luckily I had a few quarters so I fed them a handful of fish food while I was snapping these with my phone.

One of the many views at the top of the hill near the carillon.

Palm tree reflections in the big pond in front of the carillon.

I always snap a few shots of the carillon when I visit.

Before heading home I took a little road trip to the cow pastures to look for the wild whooping cranes. I had recently heard that one of them had disappeared and had been missing all winter. The one was still there, far out in the pasture. It was sad to see it all alone. I hope it finds a mate soon.

In the backyard

On July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

I didn’t plant these sunflowers on purpose. I didn’t think we had the right kind of soil since our dirt is so sandy. Of all of the years with a bird feeder, this is the first time I had a rogue sunflower seed take root. The double one came up first but wasn’t very big. The bigger one came up right next to our petunia pot a few days later. I think an animal, maybe a squirrel, ate it after a few days. It was all torn up on the ground near the feeder.

A macro fly on the leaf.

Taking some shots around the backyard with my macro lens.

I had to get even more shots of my hibiscus plant.

One night I went out to move the garbage can to the street and saw this black racer cutting across my driveway. I was glad I had my phone in my pocket so I could quickly snap this.

We’ve had a lot of duck families cruising past our dock. This was one of the first in early May.

Little hummers and other things

On January 11, 2021March 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

My second ever rufous hummingbird sighting. This one and the one before were both at Bok Tower Gardens. Rufous hummingbirds are fairly rare around this area. This is only the 2nd time of hearing about one and I was happy to have seen it even briefly. I caught him high up on a tree taking a break. When he went to feed, he would go deep in the bushes or the other side making it impossible to get feeding shots. At one point I could barely see him feeding deep in the firebush.

Ruby throated hummingbirds are pretty common. I caught this male feeding near the carillon tower.

He buzzed off and disappeared. I stood under a pine tree for a long time waiting for him to come back. At one point I looked up and he was sitting right over my head.

Birds with yellow. The top one is an easy one, a yellow throated warbler. The 2nd I think is a red eyed vireo with a bug. The last is a a female common yellowthroat.

An ovenbird and blue gray gnatcatcher.

A usual sight, a harmless black racer crosses the sidewalk in front of me.

A bee house in the garden. Used by mason or other solitary bees, they lay their eggs in the holes.

Deer in the woods

On January 2, 2021December 11, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was cutting through the woods at Chesnut Park to get to the big lake and caught movement off to the side. I stopped and saw a big family of deer feeding along the small pond. They checked me out for a few seconds but then kept eating. I stood for a few minutes just watching them, glad no one else was around to spook them for the little time I was trying to take some pictures.

I caught this phoebe in the bushes with a bug in his beak.

Another phoebe out in the open.

Little flying critters. I don’t see red ones often.

I think I woke this guy up. A harmless black racer was sleeping near the trail.

It was starting to look like fall in late November. You could see a glimpse of red.

The backyard in June

On July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

There’s a duck couple that’s been spending afternoons sleeping under our tree in the backyard. Sometimes I peek out the bedroom window to check on them but they are very skittish. They can see me barely move the blinds.

A few of the birds that have been visiting the bird feeder.

I looked out the window and saw something moving in the channel. I grabbed my camera and ran out to the dock to catch 2 manatees rolling around at the end of the channel. After I snapped the above they started heading out to the bay.

Some of the critters in the yard including this juvenile black racer that was climbing up the wall next to the front door.

A faint rainbow in the backyard. It’s the beginning of rainbow season with the summer rains starting in June.

An osprey on my neighbor’s sailboat mast just after the rain.

The sun was trying to peek out.

A Christmas snake

On February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Waiting for Brett’s family to come over on Christmas day, I looked out the glass sliding door and saw what I thought was a snake in the muhly grass up against the screened-in porch. My phone was close by so I ran out and snapped the above. It was just a small harmless black racer. They are good to have around because they eat any rats (our neighborhood gets fruit rats due to all of the citrus trees). Since he looked like he wasn’t going anywhere I ran inside and got my camera.

A few closeups taken with my 300mm lens.

Taken through the screen.He eventually left that morning.

A few of the plants around the yard. The bottom one is growing in my neighbor’s yard. Not sure what type of fruit that is. I think it’s a papaya.

As I’m taking pictures of the snake, an osprey cruises by.

The wolf moon in January, taken in my driveway when I got home from work.

My first copperhead? I don’t think so.

On June 29, 2019June 14, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

All of the above are baby anhingas at different ages. Seen from the boardwalk tower, the nests are right over the water at Sawgrass Lake Park. There were many nests along the lake and luckily there a few close to the tower.

One of the Mom’s sitting close to the overcrowded nests.

Not many other birds around during my walk after work in late May. A few green herons were close to the tower.

Other critters at the park. Someone told me that the snake is a copperhead which is a first for me. He’s one of the 6 venomous snakes in Florida. His head shape doesn’t look like a copperhead on line so I’m not sure if it was one. He slid back under the boardwalk quickly so I didn’t get a shot of his body. Any confirmed ID?

In my backyard

On August 20, 2018August 21, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Taken through the bedroom window, I caught this little blue heron eating worms.

Out on our dock, this green heron was creeping around the channel at low tide.

Some type of moth on our wall.

I saw this guy through the kitchen window when was cleaning up one afternoon. I grabbed my camera and quietly went out to the back to snap this. I hadn’t seen a black racer in a while. It was a tiny one. Good for eating bugs and mosquitoes.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Bunny and the beasts.

On May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 Comments

Saw the little piggies again on another trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in early March. They had gotten just a little bit bigger. They were venturing out farther away from Mom but she kept her eye on them.