Saturday's Critters # 649

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters! Hello and Happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

This is Memorial Day weekend in the USA, have a safe and happy weekend. Monday the 25th is the actual Memorial Day to honor all those who served our country.

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I am celebrating today May 23rd World Turtle Day. I am joining in to increase awareness on the importance of protecting turtles and tortoises and their rapidly disappearing habitats.  This includes sea turtles, fresh water turtles and land dwelling tortoises. I am including a link for Maryland DNR Turtles and Tortoises. 

Eastern Painted Turtle in Maryland, seem to be a common turtle seen during my travels and nature walks. 

Eastern Painted Turtle in Maryland 

Eastern Painted Turtle in Maryland 

Another Red-eared Slider these two were seen on the shore at Prettyboy Reservoir. 

The Snapping Turtle is Maryland's largest freshwater turtle.

The Snapping Turtle has a Large head and a long tail with three spiky tubercles. They nest on land from late April to mid June.

The Eastern Box Turtle has a high dome shell, colors of yellow, orange and olive. Males can have red eye but not always. They are found in woodlands, my sightings have been off the local fire road walks.

The Florida Gopher Tortoise likes sandy soil, dunes and coastal grasslands. They dig a burrow and spend most of their lives in the burrow. This Tortoise shares it burrow home with possibly as many as 360 other species including snakes, mice, fox, skunk, frogs, rabbits, armadillo, lizards and burrowing owls.  The burrow can be 52 feet long and 23 feet deep.

During our travels in Florida we saw the Gopher Tortoise in various places, most places were near the beach and sand.  

Florida's Soft-shelled Turtle found in fresh water. This turtle's body looks flat and has a long neck and a snorkel like nose. 

Florida's Soft-shelled Turtle with a Red-bellied Cooter

A tortoise seen in the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson. The Aldabra Tortoise, endemic to the island of Aldabra off the coast of Africa. Zoos are crucial for conserving these species. 

Below is the Green Sea turtle seen on a beach in Kauai!

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday   I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Check out  Catblogosphere.com

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations."

Watkins Glen State Park, New York

"The hard days are what make you stronger."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 648

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters! Hello and Happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

Click on images for better viewing.

1. Our walk on the local fire road with hubby and Miney. Hubby has his favorite rest stop, Miney is like the Energizer Bunny, she can keep going on and on. 

2. Back at home on the deck and on our roof, the Peacock always feels at home.  

3. I have been seeing a Northern Flicker pecking away at our grass and weeds, I assume finding bugs to eat. 

4. The Chipping Sparrows were one of the early Spring birds to arrive in my yard. They are cute and have a pretty sound too. 

5. The Pine Warbler is one of my favorite yard birds, the male is seen below with his pretty yellow color. Images are new, they may look like I have shown on previous posts.

6. Miney is always on guard while sitting out on our deck.  

7. One morning, we took our walk on the local George's Creek trail. George's Creek dumps into the Prettyboy Reservoir. It was a good morning, filled with bird songs, my Merlin App picked up 36 different bird songs.  It was a mixed of our winter birds like the Ruby-crowned Kinglet bottom left photo, White-throated Sparrow, Brown Creeper and some summer birds like the Gray Catbird, Barn Swallows, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher top left photo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and Louisiana Waterthrush. 

The Merlin App was on while we hiked the George's Creek trail. It was neat to hear the wild turkeys across the creek.

8. On our walk we saw some wildflowers and ran into one of our neighbors Linda out walking her two labradors. Linda pointed out the trout lilies in the top photo on left, bottom left are the May Apples they were not in bloom at the time , there were lots of the purple violets and dandelions.  

On the NCR bike trail , I saw and heard the Belted Kingfisher along with some other regular birds.

Merlin App on the NCR trail in Parkton, Md.

"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday   I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Check out  Catblogosphere.com

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"Things to remember, tomorrow is a new day."

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah. 

"Remember, Making mistakes is part of life."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Happy Mothers Day 2026!

 

Happy Mother's Day to all  moms, includes all the Moms of sweet furbabies. 

Wishing you a beautiful Mother's Day filled with love and joy!

"Wishing you a day filled with joy and appreciation for all the love and care you have given."

Comments are off, enjoy your day!!