Pelican Island Audubon Society took part in St. Lucie Audubon Society’s annual tour of Adams Ranch that included a Cowboy Breakfast on 21 February 2026.

The Pelican Island Audubon contingent traveled from Audubon House in the Society’s luxury van to Adams Ranch. Before even leaving Audubon House we had a sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker in the dead tree across the street as the Sun came up.

From the Adams Ranch web site: “Founded in 1937, Adams Ranch is a fourth-generation cattle business operating in St. Lucie, Madison, Okeechobee, and Osceola Counties, headquartered in Fort Pierce, Florida. Florida cattle has been an Adams family passion for 4 generations. The ranch today encompasses approximately 40,000 acres of Florida pasture and is now the 15th ranked cow-calf ranch in the country and is ranked nationally in the top 50 seed stock ranches.

As developers of the Braford breed of cattle, Adams Ranch is today one of the top producing cow-calf ranches in the United States. Adams Ranch is committed to preserving the natural vegetation, wildlife, and its Florida heritage through environmental stewardship and a program of total ranch management.”

Adams Ranch President Mike Adams was our ranch tour guide and bus driver. Participants had the choice of having the Cowboy Breakfast first and then take the tour or vice versa. The first ranch tour, this one, was the better choice since it was cooler and the bus was only partially filled allowing for moving back and forth across the bus to take photographs from either side.

What’s a ranch in Florida without Cattle Egrets? This was probably the most common bird seen in the pastures.

The ranch is just far enough away from the coast to be on the edge of Crested Caracara territory that can usually be found in the interior of the state between Orlando and Lake Okechobee.

A flock of Tree Swallows were actively foraging for flying insects over a cow pasture.

Great Blue Heron atop a dead tree in a cow pasture.

The bus rattling through the back country caught the attention of the various cattle herds who always eyed us with interest and suspicion.

According to Mike Adams, this large alligator is one of the smaller ones they have on the ranch.

The bus did not stop as we passed this Red-shouldered Hawk so this image was taken hurriedly as the bus bounced along on the rutted dirt roads.

When the bus did stop the Red-shouldered Hawk was still in view.

Eastern Phoebe perched in the shadows of a palm/oak hammock.

Portrait of #600.

A reflective moment as three bulls watched the bus go by. The bus’s shadow caused the lead bull’s reflection to really pop out of the water.

More curious cattle.

The clear waters of a small pond fed from an artesian well drawing water from the Florida aquifer deep in the Earth.

A replica of a Florida Cracker ranch house that would have been found on Florida cattle ranches in the early 1900s is nestled in a hammock amongst the pastures.

Detail of a sign on the cracker house.

The horse barn and cow pens.

Two ranch horses curious about all the greenhorns walking around.

The parting view is of the Adams Ranch store, the Beef Shop, that is open to the public and sells all sorts of beef from the ranch along with souvenirs.

Thank you to Adams Ranch and St. Lucie Audubon Society for the opportunity to visit the ranch.