A cold morning bike ride

On June 8, 2026May 30, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Beautiful skies hovered over dead vegetation in cow pastures in mid-February. I went for a bike ride along the northern end of the Pinellas Trail that runs through cow pastures.

This is the deadest I have seen the fields here. This was a week after our big freeze where we had 3 nights in a row below 30 degrees here in central Florida. This is the first time it’s happened in the 24 years we’ve been living here. I’m thinking most of it will come back by the end of summer.

The invasive brazilian peppertrees were full of berries. The cardinals, blue jays, robins and cedar waxwings will eat these.

Another invasive plant, the toxic rosarypea vine was also popping with seeds so there was a lot of bright red along the trail.

Savannah sparrows were along the trail.

I wasn’t expecting to see pretty blue flowers on this trail on this cold morning. I don’t remember seeing this here before. It was on the other side of the fence. Native skyblue lupine blooms here in the winter.

I could barely make out two young eagle heads on the nest. Mom was sitting higher up on the left.

Wood storks along the trail.

I usually see meadowlarks near the eagle’s nest.

A horse was out in the pasture and it looked like he was eating spanish moss that he must have pulled out of the tree.

He had a tiny friend out with him.

I passed a gopher tortoise right before getting back to my car. He was out of his hole and must have been trying to stay warm in the sun.

Wearing your heart on your head.

On February 14, 2026March 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Here’s a bird that celebrates Valentine’s Day every day with that heart on his head. I was out for a bike ride on the Pinellas Trail in November. This part of the trail goes between cow pastures for several miles and sandhill cranes are common here all year.

I saw 3 couples along the trail this morning.

I saw several eagles this morning as well. This one was sitting on the tower that has it’s nest in it. The parents were already doing some rebuilding on this nest.

Farther down the trail I had an eagle circle over my head and land on a utility tower right in front of me.

I could see another eagle landing on the tower next to it and sat for a while. I was hoping they would end up on the same tower but that didn’t happen while I was there.

Cows have been grazing on the farthest pasture. I miss them being much closer to the trail. I don’t see them often anymore since they are much farther back.

I was taking a break on my way back and was looking at the sun coming through the old oak trees. I saw movement high up on the branches and I’m glad I looked twice because it wasn’t a common gray squirrel.

I zoomed in with my camera and realized it was a fox squirrel. I only see them on this trail and not very often. Look at those front teeth!

Bitter melon (also called bitter gourd) is an invasive plant in Florida. It’s common to see along fencing and I usually see bugs on it. It’s pretty when it splits open and you can see the red seeds.

I’m not sure what this is but it was growing along the trail.

I was almost back to my car when I saw something gray on the wire far out in the pasture. At first I thought it was a dove but when it started flying around I could see the peach color under the wings and that forked tail. I knew it was a scissor tail flycatcher. I was able to get some shots of it flying around and coming back with a bug for a snack. He’s really pretty.

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.

An early morning bike ride

On June 30, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I was out on my bike in early April watching the sun come up on the Pinellas County bike trail. It was a little too early to see any migrating birds but I might see something else fun.

I had just started out and up ahead I saw an alligator crossing the trail. This is the first time I’ve seen one on the trail here but since there are ponds on both sides I wasn’t too surprised to see him crossing. I was afraid I wouldn’t have time to take my camera out of the backpack so I took the above with my phone.

A quick video of him strutting across. After this I pedaled over to where he went in on the other side.

I was able to catch him down in the ditch as he crawled under a hole in the fence and went into the pond.

Farther down the sun was coming up over the horse pasture.

Evening primrose was blooming along the fence.

The sun far up across the field. The lake in the back is Lake Dan.

The pattern on this juvenile bald eagle is striking. I saw him across the cow pasture and at first I thought it was a red-tailed hawk but when he turned around I could see his eagle beak. I was hoping he would fly off but after 15 minutes he looked like he wasn’t going to move so I continued on the trail.

A red headed woodpecker was in the same big dead tree.

This not-quite adult eagle was sitting high up in the tower right on the trail. Based on the coloring in his head he must be around 3 years old. See chart below for age identification.

Bald eagles don’t get their all white head until they are 5 years old.

He started yelling at the crows that were bothering him and took off.

More flowers along the trail.

I love seeing the horses out in the pasture. It makes me feel like I’m farther out in the country (or really just suburbs here).

Cattle egrets taking a break from feeding on bugs around the cattle. Many had their pretty bright orange breeding feathers and beaks.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

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.

Cruising past cow pastures

On January 29, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The Upper Pinellas Trail runs through cow pastures. It’s usually a nice quiet bike ride and sometimes I get to see something cool like maybe a new bird. In early November I got there just after the sun was up.

It was peaceful on the trail this weekday morning.

A kildeer was close to the trail. They are plentiful on the cow pastures and most of the time I hear them before I see them. It’s rare for them to get close to the trail.

Far out I could see turkeys and sandhill cranes hanging out together. There must be good bugs in that area.

The eagle couple hadn’t started nesting yet and they were together on one of the utility towers along the trail.

I saw a lot of pine warblers this morning. They were busy catching bugs.

I heard the sandhill crane’s loud chortle from across the pasture as they flew by.

A few deer were scattered along the back fence line.

Gopher tortoises have homes deep in the dirt along the trail. Most are sleeping far down in the hole and are hard to see but this one was half out. I could just barely make out his eye through the grass. Gopher tortoises are protected in Florida and are a threatened species. They are land animals and we lost a lot of them when Hurricane Helene came through and flooded many of the parks so every one of these are important.

I had heard there was a rare alder flycatcher at the beginning of the trail. I have never heard of one in Florida. They migrate through the central part of the states so this one was a little too far east. There were several other people there looking for him so he was easy to spot.

There was a large flock of cattle egrets flying back and forth across the pasture. I’m not sure what kept causing them to get spooked and fly away. Maybe the eagles were cruising by.