Viewing nature with Eileen

SWF>>>Backyard sunset

2012-02-02T04:52:00.000-05:00

My favorite time of the week, I am linking up with Skywatch Friday. HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

These are some sunset captures from my backyard one day this week. The sky and clouds turned a pretty orangy color. I stood on my deck taking photos of the sky and watching the Turkey and Black Vultures make their way back to my woods to roost for the night.

My birdcam picked up my last two visitors for the night. The White Throated Sparrow and the female Cardinal. These are usually the first birds in the morning and the last birds seen in the evening.

To see more gorgeous skies from around the world check out Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting group of Sylvia, Sandy and Wren. I also thank you for stopping by to see my skies. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Hermit Thrush

2012-01-31T17:28:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Sunday morning hubby and I drove around to the other side of the reservoir to hike on a different trail and to see the lake from another shore.

For me hiking and birding go well together. I am also on the lookout for anything that moves, LOL! On this day we watched a large group of Juncos on the fireroad in front of us. They must have found something good to eat. From the fireroad we took a smaller trail down to the lake shore. It was here I found the Hermit Thrush sitting on a log watching us. I was able to snap off two shots before it flew away.

The Hermit Thrush breeds in boreal and high elevation coniferous and mixed wood forest. It forages n the ground for insects and berries. It is the only Catharus that winters north of Mexico. The reason why I am seeing them here during the winter in Maryland. They have spots on their chest and an eye ring. I think they are very similar to the Ovenbird that breeds here at the reservoir. I think they are pretty birds.

Of course it didn't like me taking its photo and took off for parts unknown.

During our hike to the lake we saw a group of Canada Geese and some unknown ducks.

One of my favorite sightings of the day (but no photo) was seeing two Brown Creepers along with a White Breasted Nuthatch in the same tree. Other birds along the hike were Titmouse and Carolina Chickadees.

I will end my birdie post with one of my birdcam shots of two White Breasted Nuthatches and a Goldfinch.

To see more wonderful birds please visit World Bird Wednesday and Natures Notes . Thanks to Springman the host of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle the host of Nature Notes.

Thank you also for stopping by to see my post and birds. I hope the rest of the week is great and Happy Birding.

Birding & Covered Bridges

2012-01-29T18:46:00.001-05:00

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

On Saturday morning I was up early with the birds. On the weekends, the first thing I do (after coffee) is to go out on my deck and feed the birds some extra treats like peanuts and the little peanut suet nuggets. I noticed a pretty pink sunrise and I knew this day was going to be a pretty day to do something outside. I woke hubby up and said lets get out and go for a ride. I already had a place in mind, in fact I had just about the whole day planned.

In the mosaic above is my sunrise, a couple of Bluejays on my deck and the pretty sky and trees around my house.

On the way to the covered bridges I had to stop and check out a field that birders have been reporting seeing Short Eared Owls. No luck on seeing the owls but we did enjoy watching two Northern Harrier hawks hunt over the field.

I had read that there is a riding tour in Thurmont, Md where you can see three covered bridges all within a thirty mile loop. These covered bridges are also close to a waterfalls in the Cunningham Falls State Park in Catoctin, Md. Of course, at all of these places I was checking out the area for birds. When I pulled up to the parking lot for the first bridge. I noticed two Red Tailed Hawks sitting close together in a tree. I tried to get a little closer but one flew off and at least I got in a shot of one of the hawks.

The Covered Bridge in this mosaic is named Loys Station Bridge. This bridge is listed on the National Parks National register of historic places. Each bridge had a different truss system, which I tried to show in one of the photos.

My far away shot of my Red Tailed Hawk. I was checking out all along the stream for a Kingfisher, It just looked like the kind of area they would be found. The only other birds seen at this first covered bridge were some Grackles.

I think we surprised the female Belted Kingfisher and flew away only to land a little further away. I love their telltale rattle sound.

I will do a separate post on all three of the covered bridges and a waterfall on my travel blog. But I just wanted to do a post on how I spent my Saturday in the morning at home and a preview of our little day trip. Covered Bridges and Lighthouses are just a few of the historic places that are definitely worth a trip to see. Oh, and waterfalls are great to see and visit.

To see more wonderful mosaic and beautiful photos please visit Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Critters from the NCR trail

2012-01-28T05:18:00.001-05:00

I saved some of my NCR critter photos for Camera Critters

During our walk on the NCR trail we stopped and watched this Great blue Heron, the chickens are from a nearby house. They seem to roam free around the trail. We also shared the trail with some locals riding their horses on the trail. And of course Goldie Girl got to go on the walk with us.

Goldie Girl always seems to get her leash wrapped around her paws, we stopped to check out the stream and fix her leash. The stream is always a good place to see a Kingfisher.

A group of the chickens taking a walk on the trail. Goldie Girl is not so sure what to make of these chickens. But, they did not see to mind Goldie Girl or having us nearby.

We stepped aside to let the horseback riders go by, Goldie Girl likes to see these big critters go by.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post and to see more wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting and thanks for stopping by to see my post. Happy Weekend!

To see more cute critters check out Camera Critters

SWF>>>NCR TRAIL

2012-01-25T11:20:00.005-05:00

Skywatch Friday at the NCR trail. Hubby and I enjoy taking walks along our local bike and hike trail. It was a beautiful day with a pretty sky. While we are walking, I am usually looking for birds along the trail. This section is near the Bee Tree Preserve and it looks like they are in the process of tree restoration. One of my favorite parts of the trail is where there are some dead old trees left purposely for woodpecker habitat.

Here are some scenes from our walk along the trail and of the pretty sky. There were a few puffy white clouds just hanging here and there in the sky.

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We usually see the chickens in the same spot along the trail.

It is great to see new trees shooting up thru those white tubes.

Here is a list of the birds I saw and heard along the trail: Cardinals, Kinglets, Redbellied Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Turkey Vultures, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Chickadees and Titmouse.

To see more beautiful skies from around the world please visit
Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting group of Sandy, Sylvia and Wren. Thanks, also for stopping by to see my skies. I wish everyone a Happy weekend and Happy Birding.

Pine Warbler

2012-01-24T16:52:00.001-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

The last couple of winters I have had the pleasure of seeing this beautiful male Pine Warbler at my feeders. It seem to prefer suet and sunflowers chips it also loves Meal Worms.

I have a few feeders outside my dinning room and kitchen windows. On this feeder I see my Pine Warbler and a White Breasted Nuthatch.

On this shot above you can see the olive colored streaking on his chest and his yellow spectacles.

On this shot, the Pine Warbler is on the suet cake by my window and a male Downy woodpecker is on the other suet feeder.

I enjoy being able to see my yardbirds up close. Hanging the feeders right outside my window is perfect for viewing the birds while inside the house without spooking them.

I hope you enjoyed my birds and thanks for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone has a great week and Happy Birding.

To see more beautiful birds, photos and nature please visit Springman's World Bird Wednesday and check out Michelle's Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Snow, Birds and my neighborhood

2012-01-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

On Saturday we woke up to a little more than inch of snow on the ground and then freezing rain on top of the snow. The one thing I like about snowy days is seeing my yardbirds and lots of them at my feeders. I have filled my feeders a few times since waking on Saturday morning. The birds are in a feeding frenzy with the snow around and these cold temps.

My yardbirds above are the Carolina Wren, a pretty Pine Warbler, Goldfinches and a White-Throated Sparrow.

Looking out my dinning room window, I enjoyed seeing the Pine Warbler at the feeder.

Above, I have been trying to arrange my birdcam to catch the best birds. I like this shot of the Goldfinches but I do not like my son's ugly pickup truck in the photo. I also noticed I have not changed the date on the birdcam it was not 10/21/11 it was 01/21/11.

Standing at my mailbox, I have always love the view looking up my street . The Pine Trees look gorgeous with the snow covered branches.

Since, the weather and freezing rain was unpredictable, hubby and I took a walk locally in our neighborhood. It was a little difficult walking on the crunchy snow, our boots made a loud crunchy sound with every step we took. I would think that would be enough to warn any birds that we were coming down the trail. The reservoir was partially covered with a thin layer of ice. We did see a large flock of Canada Geese, a yellow-bellied Sapsucker and we spooked a Kingfisher away when we got close to the shore.

Goldie Girl was very happy to take a walk to the lake.

To see more beautiful mosaics and photos please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Thanks to Mary the host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sandy and Sylvia.

Also, thanks to everyone for stopping by to see my post. I appreciate your comments. I wish everyone a safe, warm and happy week ahead!

Snow geese

2012-01-21T05:52:00.003-05:00

For Camera Critters I have some Snow geese from the wildlife refuge.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my followers sometime between this post and my last post I now have 300 followers. Wow!!!!

Edit, sorry looks like I jumped the gun.. And lost a follower..either way I still thank you all!! Blogging followers may always come and go but my Goldie Girl is always following me.

In honor of Critter day here is my Goldie Girl.

Overnight we had a couple inches of snow and as I am typing this post we are getting freezing rain on top of the snow. It looks like winter has really hit us now, it is very cold... temps in the low twenties. Oh how, I wish for those 60 degree days. I hope everyone stays warm and safe...Good Luck to our home team THE RAVENS they are in the playoffs tomorrow against the New England Patriots.

Snow Geese are very common and they are increasing in their range. They breed in the Northern Artic and winter in farm fields and marshes in the US. Sometimes when I see them, it is usually a large flock in the thousands.

I thought it was funny that my field guide mentions they may have dirty faces from foraging. LOL, I guess they need their mommas to wipe off their faces after eating. The immature Snow Goose is variably grayish in color.

To see more wonderful and cute critters check out Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting. Thanks for stopping by to see my critters. I wish everyone a great weekend and Happy Birding.

A Vulture Skywatch

2012-01-19T04:55:00.000-05:00

I am linking to Skywatch Friday with up my backyard sunrise, a capture of the moon and lots of Vultures.

On Sunday morning there were NOT many clouds in the sky but the few that were there are a pretty pink color.

I like the closeup of the moon, it is cool seeing some craters and shadows. Not bad for my handheld Canon Powershot.

I do not think there is a time that I look up at the sky and NOT see a Vulture. Every morning they fly out of the woods next to my house and every evening they fly back. I can almost time their exits and the time they return. It is like they go to work, like I do every week day. It is amazing the numbers of vultures both the Turkey and Black Vultures that roost in the trees near my house.

My youtube video of the vultures.

Another shot of the moon and a pretty blue sky.

I hope you enjoyed my skywatch.
To see more wonderful skies click on my link Skywatch Friday Thanks to the hosting group: Sylvia, Sandy and Wren.

I also want to thank you for visiting my post and blog. I appreciate the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a happy and safe weekend.

Northern Pintail

2012-01-17T04:29:00.000-05:00

My Northern Pintails are linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

It is not often that I have the sun shining in just the right spot, but I think these two Northern Pintails look pretty with the sun shining on them.

The Northern Pintail is known as a dabbling duck and is supposedly declining in numbers. The Pintail ducks can be seen vigorously dabbling for plant food.
The Pintail breeds in Alaska and Canada and they winter in coastal wetlands like at Edwin Forsythe NWR.

A nice reflection of the Northern Pintails.

The adult male has a long elegant and patterned neck and a long tail. The tail is actually two long black feathers. The female has an unmarked head and a marbled plumage.

We saw a lot of winter ducks at Edwin Forsythe NWR during our two day visit. I am amazed at how many different species of ducks can be seen in the winter. The are the Dabbling ducks, Sea ducks, tree ducks, diving ducks. I am not sure why but my field guide book reports that most ducks are in decline except for the Green-winged Teal and the Gadwall. These last two are ducks I hardly see, my most common duck is the Mallard. I seem to see them everywhere and I see them year round. Are you in an area where you see a lot of ducks, if so what species of duck do you see?

To see more wonderful birds and nature photos check out World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

I also want to thank you for visiting my post and blog. I appreciate all the lovely comments too. I hope the rest of your week is wonderful. Happy Birding!!

Barnegat Brants

2012-01-15T16:28:00.001-05:00

I am linking up my Barnegat Brants with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

The Brant is a small goose with a short stubby bill. It's undertail is pure white and the tail is short and black. the Brant's head and neck are black but there is a small white patch on either side of the neck.

The Brant's above seemed to find a perfect spot on the Barnegat beach to eat their favorite seaweed.

The Brant is a coastal bird in the winter and rarely leaves tidal estuaries. They feed on seaweed, sea lettuce and some grasses.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos please visit Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the great hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Sylvia, Sandy, Lady Fi, Gattina and Arija.

Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post, I always appreciate your visit. Have a great week!

More Edwin Forsythe NWR

2012-01-14T05:32:00.002-05:00

For my Camera Critters I have some more birds from our to visit to the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge.

If you want to see ducks or geese a visit to the Edwin Forsythe NWR in the winter is a must. We saw so many ducks, geese, Hawks, Yellow Rump Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, Great Blue Herons and some Coots.

American Black Ducks.

See all the dark black spots in my photo above, well they are American Black Ducks. I think they out numbered the Snow Geese that were at the refuge. In 1967 part of Edwin Forsythe NWR was added to the refuge system to provide wintering habitat for waterfowl, especially the American Black Duck and Brant. The American Black Duck often breeds at the Edwin Forsythe NWR.

One of the few Coots we saw while visiting the wildlife refuge.

Ha, just a few Snow Geese and some Black Ducks in the distance.

We sat and listened to these Snow geese for awhile. They had a lot to say.

I am assuming these skinning legs belong to a Sharp Shinned Hawk.

The Yellow Rump Warblers were hopping along in the trees next to the wildlife drive.

We watched a flock of Cedar Waxwings and a groups of Yellow Rump Warblers eating what I thought was Juniper berries.

On my post below I have my video of the Snow geese during the sunset, this video was taken the next day at Edwin Forsythe NWR.

I hope you enjoyed my birds and critter post. To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy MLK holiday weekend. It is nice to have another long weekend. To all the birders, Happy Birding!

SWF>>>>>>Edwin Forsythe NWR

2012-01-12T03:54:00.004-05:00

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday

These are a sequence of sunset shots taken last Friday at the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge.

The moon looked full and looking east the sky was a pretty pink

I really like how the reflection of the pink clouds made the water pink.

The refuge took in lots of American Black Ducks and Snow Geese for the night.

Above is a video of the Snow geese and sounds we heard while watching the sunset.

To see more beautiful skies from around the world click on my Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the host: Sylvia, Sandy and Wren. Thanks for stopping by to see my skies, I appreciate the visits and comments.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Birding

Just Mergansers

2012-01-10T05:12:00.004-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

During our trip to the Jersey Shores last weekend we stopped at the Edwin Forsythe NWR. If you have a chance the Edwin Forsythe NWR it is an awesome place to visit and see birds. This time of year, there are tons of ducks and amazing numbers of Snow Geese and American Black Ducks. The Common Merganser was one that caught my eye so I decided I would make the Merganser my bird of the week.

I thought it was wild to see this one male with his group of what I assume are females. What does he have a harem or maybe they are groupies? Or they could be his kids, following around behind him. I can almost hear the kiddies saying are we there yet? You can not miss the male, he has the brilliant white below and a green head with a narrow red bill.

The female has a rufous head with a neat crest.

On the shot above you can make out a white chin on the two females behind the male.

Above on the left is the male Hooded Merganser, in the middle is the female Hoodie and on the right a female Common Merganser.

I believe this is the female Hooded Merganser, she has a gray body and a brown crest with a narrow bill.

A pair of Hooded Mergansers. The male Hooded Merganser has a crest that is bordered in black. Which can be raised. The sides are rufous and there are two black bars at the side of the breast.

In this shot the right front is the Red-breasted Merganser. The male has the shaggy crest and a rusty breast. In the back on the left I am pretty sure it is the Northern Shoveler.

Click on my links to check out more wonderful birds and nature photos World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle of Nature Notes for hosting these fun memes.

I hope you enjoyed my post, I appreciate the visits and the comments. I hope everyone has a great week , what is left of it and HAPPY BIRDING!!!!!

Jersey Shore Birding

2012-01-08T08:50:00.002-05:00

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Having off work Friday ( a mental health day) and a forecast of beautiful weather convinced hubby and I to head to the Jersey shores for some birding. Our first stop were the beaches at Avalon-Stone Harbor and then we headed north to Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are some of the highlights from Friday the first day of our visit to New Jersey.

The first shot is of the sunrise at we headed across the Delaware Memorial bridge, in the second photo are hundreds of Sanderlings on the beach at Avalon, the last shot above.. a few Brants at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Sanderlings and seagulls a plenty on the Jersey beaches.

Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones(orange legs) seen along the jetty.

Brants walking along the beach at Barnegat. Winter time is a great time for viewing the ducks along the coast. I do think this warm weather we have been having lately is having an affect on the numbers of ducks we are use to seeing in the winter. I am loving this warm weather and I hope it continues thru January.

In the mosaic above are shots of the Barnegat Lighthouse, A few Purple Sandpipers at the Stone Harbor jetty, a Common Loon and a group of Long-tailed ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Above, a Harlequin couple seen at Barnegat.

The Long-tailed ducks seen at Barnegat. Barnegat Lighthouse beach is known as a great place for birders to see some great ducks like the Long-Tailed, Brants and the Harlequins. We also saw Common Eider, tons of Common Loons and Surf Scotors.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World: Sylvia, Sandy, Lady Fi, Gattina and Arija.

Thank you for visiting my blog and post and for the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a great week ahead and Happy Birding.

SWF>>>Bombay Hook NWR

2012-01-05T04:11:00.001-05:00

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday with a pretty sunset and thousands of Snow Geese seen at Bombay Hook NWR in Delware on Dec 23.

These shots are from our recent trip the the Delaware shores, we stopped for a quickie visit at Bombay Hook NWR. Because it was later in the day we only made it to the the first pool called Raymond Pool. It turned out to be a great stop. We saw thousands of Snow Geese in the distance, Canada Geese, American Avocets, Northern Pintails, Great Blue Herons, Mute Swans, an unknown hawk and a beautiful sunset.

During this visit the Snow geese stayed a distance away, I am use to seeing the Snow Geese in the pools or in the fields closer to the wildlife drive.

I think this group of Snow Geese rivals the largest group of 100,000 I saw at Middle Creek WMA in Pa.

This unknown hawk greeted us on the wildlife drive on the way to Raymond Pool.

Looks like a beautiful start to the sunset, the clouds were turning pink and the blues were pretty. And the reflection on Raymond Pool was gorgeous.

Click on my link to see more beautiful skies from around the world Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the wonderful hosting group of Skywatch and thanks for stopping by to see my skies.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, Happy Birding!!

I'm Loony over birds

2012-01-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

This weeks post is on the Common Loon and a couple of female Surf Scoters I saw during my visit to Delaware's Indian River Inlet.

The Common Loon winters on the coast with a few found on inland reservoirs. I believe my Common Loon is the non-breeding adult/subadult.

A different look at the Common Loon

Two female Surf Scoters. The female shows a distinctive dark cap.

Please visit Springman's World Bird Wednesday and Michelle's Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman and Michelle for hosting these fun memes.

I hope you enjoyed my Loon and Scoters and to see more wonderful birds and nature photos please click on my links.

Thanks for stopping by to see my post, I appreciate all the visits and comments. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. HAPPY Birding!

Happy Birding in the New Year

2012-01-01T18:01:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has a very HAPPY and Healthy New Year!!

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Our January 1 2012 was a somewhat of a mild day and hubby and I had to get out and take a walk. Hubby and I both love to hike and being outside and enjoying nature. Some say they are ringing in the New Year but hubby and I did some birding in the New Year. I started a new list of birds seen for 2012 and I got off to a great start with 25 birds. The day started with my first bird heard was the Barred Owl, I was standing outside at 5:30 am with my dog when I heard the owl.

The photos above are some of my backyard birds, the American Goldfinch, Carolina Chickadee and the Bluejay.

The mosaic above I have some shots from Loch Raven Reservoir. Birds seen here were lots of Canada Geese, Mallard ducks, Ring-necked ducks, Buffleheads, lots of gulls and two eagles.

A closer look at the ring-necked ducks.

Loch Raven is one of three reservoirs that supply water for Baltimore City. On the weekends they close off part of the road around the reservoir so people can hike, bike and jog right on the road. It seemed like a lot of people had the same idea as hubby and I and were out walking their dogs. Goldie Girl was a happy dog today.

I was able to take a video of two eagles playing around over the reservoir.

I had a great day and I hope everyone else did something they really enjoy. I wish everyone all the best in 2012 and a very Happy New Year!!!!

Please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary the host of Mosaic Monday and thanks to the Hosting group of Our World. I will be looking forward to a new year of blogging and visiting everyone's blog. Thank you for visiting me and for the lovely comments.

Delware birds

2011-12-31T05:47:00.002-05:00

I want to wish everyone a very HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR. And to all the birders and ME (ha-ha), I wish many great bird sightings in 2012.

For my last Camera Critters post for 2011 I have some of the birds we saw last week in Delaware.
One of my main birds to look for at Cape Henlopen, Delaware are the Snow Buntings. In the winter they can be seen around the dunes at Cape Henlopen State Park.

Across the bay from Cape Henlopen Park we could see the Lighthouse at Cape May, NJ. The entrance to the Lewes/Cape May ferry is right next to Cape Henlopen State Park.

I did see the Snow Buntings flying around the dunes. It was kind of funny, while we walked toward the point on the bay side I could see the Snow Buntings flying toward the ocean side of the point. So we walked around the point to the ocean side and again saw the Snow Buntings flying toward the bayside. I was beginning to think they were playing games with me, like my dog wanting me to chase her and play keep away. Well, I did not see the Snow Buntings on the ground but I did see two groups in flight. Another bird that can be seen at Cape Henlopen is the Brown Headed Nuthatch. I could hear these birds all around the Nature Center. Sometimes, they would land at the feeder take and seed and fly off quickly. As far as photos of both the Snow Bunting and the Brown Headed Nuthatch it was not happening on this trip.

My only Brown-head Nuthatch photo is a silhouette. You can see their cute little bill.

The white tailed deer could be seen from the nature center's parking lot.

The deer didn't seem to mind me taking their picture.

I had a tough time trying to focus on what I believe is a Cooper Hawk perched in a tree off the seaside trail at Cape Henlopen. Forget the bird, I think I did a good job focusing on the pine tree branches. LOL!

Two female House Finches were chowing down at the nature center's feeder. I was a worried that one of these house finches could have the eye disease.

We were not the only people at the beach we did see a couple of horseback riders and a fisherman driving his vehicle on the beach.

Please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters . Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun critter meme all year round. Being an animal lover, I have enjoyed visiting everyone's critter post.

I hope to see even more cute critters in 2012.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for commenting thru 2011. I appreciate all the visits and comments.

Happy New Year to everyone, Be safe and have fun! Happy Birding!!!

SWF>>>>Dewey, Delaware

2011-12-28T17:06:00.002-05:00

I am linking up with Nature Notes and NF Winged and Skywatch Friday

Last Thrusday and Friday hubby and I took a quick trip to the Delaware shores for some relaxation and birding of course. Thursday we enjoyed a pretty sunset on the bayside of Dewey Beach, Delaware. While enjoying the sunset we watched a few Red-Breasted Mergansers and a group of Bufflehead ducks.

Walking up to the water we spooked these three Red-Breasted Mergansers.

Further out a larger group of Bufflehead ducks. I can make out the white dots on their heads.

Looks like the Mergansers were sailing away into the sunset.

We were happy to watch this pretty sky and beautiful reflection on the water.

Please visit Michelle's Nature Notes to see more beautiful nature photos and posts and to
see more beautiful birds or winged critters check out NF Winged
and for beautiful skies from around the world please visit Skywatch Friday.

Thanks to all these wonderful hosts for providing these fun memes thoughout the year. Thank YOu for visiting my blog in 2011, I have had a great year birding and look forward to seeing more beautiful beautiful in 2012. Happy Birding!

I wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year. And I look forward to seeing more wonderful photos and post in 2012.

My favorite bird photos of 2011

2011-12-26T05:28:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I enjoyed Christmas and a delicious dinner with my family at my sisters house. I wish everyone all the best in 2012.......HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!

I am linking up with Mellow Yellow Monday and Our World Tuesday and World Bird Wednesday

I had trouble choosing my favorite photos over my favorite birds. In this case of these photos are some of my better photos of some of my favorite birds all seen in 2011.

The Eastern Meadowlark is a beautiful bird and I saw this one on the same backroad as the Redhead Woodie below. It can be great to go birding on the backroads in Maryland.

In the Mosaic above I have my favorite photo of the Prothonotary Warbler I saw at Magee Marsh, Ohio. The Hooded Warbler I saw while hiking in Shenandoah, an Eastern Meadowlark seen while driving the back roads in Maryland and a White-eye Vireo seen while hiking near my house.

My favorite juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

In this mosaic I have my favorite photos of the juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron seen in a nearby rookery, three of the five Black Bellied Whistling Ducks that showed up in a lake in a Baltimore City park, the Clapper Rail seen at Edwin Forsythe near Atlantic City and the Virginia Rail seen during the Popular Island bird trip with my bird club.

The Black bellied Whistling Ducks are just the cutest ducks ever seen.

Above one of my better Osprey shots and a cool shot of a Chincoteague Island Bald Eagle, a closeup of a Chincoteague Pelican and a Barred Owl seen on the C& O canal bike trail, a Redhead Woodie seen while driving the back roads of Maryland and the Long-tailed Tropicbird seen in Bermuda.

Osprey seen at the Edwin Forsythe NWR

I really enjoyed watching these Long-Tailed Tropicbirds seen on Bermuda's Horseshoe Bay Beach.

Cool sighting and photo of the Barred Owl

I was happy to catch this eagle sitting in the sunshine.

The Redhead Woodie one of my favorite woodpeckers.

Thanks to Drowsey Monkey of Mellow Yellow Monday and thanks to the hosting group at Our World Tuesday and thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday. All these host have been just wonderful to support the fun memes and I really do appreciate them. I also want to thank everyone that stopped by in 2011 to see my post and for their lovely comments.

I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe New Years and Happy Birding!!

A Ducky Christmas

2011-12-24T09:21:00.002-05:00

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone's Christmas wishes come true!!

I am not sure if there will be a Camera Critters this week but I have my Just Ducky post just in case. A little late but you can check out some winged critters at NF Winged

Yesterday 12/23/11 was a mandatory furlough day for me so I decided to take Thursday as an extra vacation day so hubby and I could head to the Delaware shore. Taking advantage of the warm weather we had a great time walking on the beach and of course I was checking out all the birds. One of the stops we made was at the Silver Lake in Rehoboth Delaware.

The Silver Lake is designated at a waterfowl preserve. Silver Lake is home to various ducks, geese and year round freshwater birds. It is a 40 acre freshwater lake located directly behind the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most common ducks we saw on the Silver Lake was the Canvasback. We had some great closeup looks too.

I believe the ducks coming in for a landing are the American Black Duck

The Canvasbacks have bright white sides, the male has a chestnut red head and a black bill. They pair up in late winter on ocean bays.

To see more beautiful critters please be sure to visit Camera Critters and thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting this fun meme. I also want to thank everyone who stops by to see my post and for the comments. And thanks to the host of NF Winged.

I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years.

Pileated Woodpecker

2011-12-20T16:45:00.001-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Last Saturday I was enjoying the sunrise and watching my yardbirds from my deck. I could hear the Pileated woodie towards the back of my yard before he started flying toward me.

I was able to take a small video of the Pileated. I am still practicing with the video on my camera so the Pileated is more of a silhouette but it is still a cool yardbird. Next I would love to see the Pileated woodie on my suet feeders.

The Downy Woodpecker

The Redbellied Woodpecker

RedBellied Woodie and a Pine Warbler

The woodpeckers are some of my favorite birds. So far in my yard I have seen the Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Redbellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flickers, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers. The only other woodpecker for this area that I have not seen in my yard would be the Redhead Woodpecker. The Redhead Woodie is being seen above where I live.... like in my sisters yard in Hanover Pa and below where I live in Baltimore County. I wonder if I can bring one home from my sisters on Christmas Day. Santa, can you hear me singing all I want for Christmas is a Redhead Woodie for my yard?

To see more beautiful birds check out World Bird Wednesday and to
see more nature photos please visit Nature Notes

Thank you to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

I also appreciate your visits and comments. I wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a great week. Be safe and Happy Birding!!!!

Birding Robert E. Lee Park

2011-12-18T17:10:00.001-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

I was able to finish my Christmas shopping on Friday and my Christmas tree has been up for weeks. So, that left Saturday open for hubby and I to take a walk and to do some birding. I have been reading on my listserve for Maryland that Redheaded Woodpeckers and a Nutmeg Mannikin have been sighted at the Robert E. Lee Park in Baltimore. I have been wanting to visit this park ever since it was re-opened after being closed a long time for renovations. So this was my chance to see the park with the new boardwalk and new bridge near the dam and maybe to see some great birds. The newly renovated 415 acre park has multiple trails and nature programs, a dog park, pavillion, waterfrnt activities like canoeing and kayaking. The one acre fenced dog park seemed to be very popular. Goldie Girl would be very upset if she knew that we went to this park without her.

Sad to say I missed both the redheaded woodies and I could not find the Nutmeg Mannikin. I was not even sure what a Nutmeg Mannikin was, it sounds like a seasoning, LOL! I had to look up Nutmeg Mannikin to see what it even looked like. I found out it is native to southeast Asia and I have no idea how it arrived in Maryland. Previous posters listed this bird being seen with WT Sparrows and Song Sparrows. I did see the sparrows in the area near the boardwalk and maybe this Nutmeg Mannikin was there and was just hiding from me.

I did see a Belted Kingfisher, what looks like a Chipping sparrow, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and pretty bluebird. Other birds, seen were Cardinals, Titmouse, Redbellied Woodpeckers, Carolina Wren, Mallard ducks and a large group of crows.

Since, it so close to Christmas I thought I would show off my Christmas birdie ornaments. I hope you enjoyed my mosiacs. And to see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday
and Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosiac Monday and thank you to the hosting group of Our World: Sylvia, Gattina, Lady Fi, Arija and Sandy.

I wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and for those who celebrate Happy Hanukkah.

El Nispero Zoo, Panama

2011-12-16T18:24:00.001-05:00

I am linking up with Camera Critters

The El Nispero Zoo was included in our week tour of Panama. The zoo and botanical gardens are located on 7 acres and is home to 90 species of animals. We saw exotic birds from Asia and Africa and tropical birds like the macaws, toucans and the parrots. The zoo also includes a center for the study of amphibians like the Golden Frog.

A male Wood duck and a Mandarin duck

I do not usually like taking photos of cages, but this rooster/chicken was really pretty.

I just love the look on this parrot.

The four Blue and Gold Macaws are my favorite, gorgeous birds.

This dude was a cutie.

The Golden Frog is listed as critically endangered. Some individual Golden Frogs have been collected to breed in captivity to preserve the species.

The research center is studying the bacteria resposible for the eradication of the Golden Frog

This Ostrich is saying goodbye and thanks for stopping by.

To see more cute critters check out Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks Misty for hosting! Thanks to everyone for visiting my critter post, I everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

SWF>>>>Backyard sunset

2011-12-15T03:49:00.001-05:00

With my backyard sunset I am linking up with Skywatch Friday

While watching the sunset from my deck, I could hear the Cardinals. Cardinal sounds were coming from all directions.

Zooming in, the colors of the sunset looked more orangy than the pink in the previous photos. My photos were all taken within minutes of each other.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my pretty sunset and skies. Skywatch Friday is one of my favorite memes, I lov seeing beautiful skies from around the world. Happy Skywatching!

Thanks to the hosting group of Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Fishing Guy. And I always appreciate and enjoy your visits and comments on my post. Have a safe and happy weekend!!

Harlequin ducks

2011-12-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

The Harlequins are one of my favorite ducks. They are being seen all along the Atlantic coastline from Maryland to the New Jersey shores. This duck has a beautiful pattern of cinnamon and cobalt blue colors. You can also see white stripes on its head and breast and a white spot at its ear. The female has a round white spot behind her ear.

They breed in some fast moving river in Canada and the Pacific Northwest and winter along the rocky coastlines.

To see more wonderful birds check out World Bird Wednesday and for
more nature photos and post please visit Nature Notes. Thanks to both Springman and Michelle for hosting these fun memes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post.

I hope everyone has a great week and Happy Birding!!!

My New Top Ten

2011-12-10T04:45:00.056-05:00

I am linking up with Camera Critters and Mosaic Monday

I had posted recently that I had seen a lot of the birds that I listed as my Top Ten Most Wanted to see birds. It is very hard to even pick a top ten, there are so many new birds I would like to see.

I made a mosaic of the birds that were on my previous Top Ten list. The Painted Bunting was always my number one bird to see, ever since I saw a photo of this beautiful bird. This Painted Bunting showed up on my listserve as being seen at a bird feeder near Annapolis, Md. I just had to go and see this one, luckily it stayed for awhile and made a lot of Maryland birders happy.

TOP TEN BIRDS...most wanted to see from 2009
1. Snowy Owl.. seen @ Assateague...added Snow Bunting...both seen Maryland and Delaware
2. Whip-poor-will.........Seen at Magee Marsh, Ohio
3. Blackburian Warbler...a male.....Seen at Magee Marsh , Ohio
4. Green Jay....maybe a Texas trip
5. Snipe...Seen here at the Paper Mills flats in Maryland
6. Horned Lark...seen Freeland, MD added the....American Woodcock... seen at Magee Marsh, Ohio
7. Yellow Breasted Chat...seen on a Bird Club outing in Maryland
8. Bittern... any......American Bittern seen with the bird club in Huntley Meadows, Virginia
9. Chestnut-backed Chickadee..changed
10. Whooping Crane.....I might give up seeing this one.

They are the Snowy Owl, Painted Bunting, Horned lark, Blackburnian Warbler, American Bittern and a Woodcock. I have seen other birds that I listed but was not able to get a decent photo of them like the Whip-Poor-Will, Common Snipe and Yellow-breasted Chat. Surprisingly some of my most want to see birds show up in Maryland. The Painted Bunting was seen here in Maryland and the Snowy Owl. Hard to believe but sometimes the birds travel to see me. Ha!Ha! It took me a few years to work on the list I created in 2009, but I think I did well seeing most of the birds on my list.

Above is the Blackburnian Warbler I saw in Magee Marsh, Ohio

The American Woodcock, look at that big eye. I also saw the Woodcock in Magee Marsh, Ohio

2011....Top Ten Birds..Most wanted to see

1. Barn Owl..in the wild
2. Atlantic Puffin
3. Evening Grosbeak....male..I have seen the female Evening Grosbeak here in Maryland
4. Black Rosy-Finch
5. Roadrunner
6. Pine Grosbeak....male
7. Western Tanager....male...I did see the female Western Tanager in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming
8. Green Tailed Towhee
9. GreenJay
10. Townsend’s Warbler

Above, I have my new Top Ten Most Want to see list. Some of these birds can only be seen by taking a trip. Maybe to Texas where I could see the Roadrunner and the GreenJay. Or to Arizona and see the Green-Tailed Towhee and a trip to New England to see the Puffins and the Pine Grosbeak. I assume that some of these birds show up in other states but I am not sure where and what time of year they can be seen.

The Barn Owl seen on a display at Magee Marsh, I would really love to see this bird in the wild. The Barn Owl can be seen in Maryland but they seem to be a rare sighting. Due to farm land lost to housing developments and barns and farms disappearing seeing a barn owl could be a real challenge to see in Maryland. My new Top ten want to see birds will give me something to look forward to and a challenge to see these new birds.

I would love if someone could tell me specific spots where I could see the birds on my new Top Ten list. Then I could add some new places to my bucket list of places to see and visit. Oh wow, I have so many different lists.... my top Ten Bird list, my list of places to travel to and visit. Today, I am off to work on my Christmas list and to shop with my sisters and niece. I plan to knock off as many gifts on my list in one day.

To see more cute and wonderful critters check out Camera Critters and for more of Mosaic Monday. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting this fun meme and thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday. I thank you all for stopping by to see my critter post.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

SWF>>>>Dawn to Dusk

2011-12-08T04:17:00.000-05:00

I am linking up my post with Skywatch Friday

This post starts with the sunrise from my deck, there were a little bit of clouds around that turned pink and the moon was setting. I am always up early and on this day 11/19 hubby and I planned a daytrip to the Susquehanna River to see the eagles. Migrating eagles usually stop at the river below the dam for a break. On this day we saw about 39 eagles, I am sure there were more eagles hidden by the trees and rocks on the river.

I heard from my friend that the following weekend there were over 100 eagles seen at the same spot below the Conowingo Dam. Usually, the perfect time to see a lot of the eagles at this river is when it is really cold and the river is low.

A couple of eagles with a few Black Vultures.

A view of the Susquehanna River and the pretty sky.

Three eagles on the tower at the river

Back at home the view of the sunset from my mailbox and street.

I hope you can take some time to check out some more beautiful skies from around the world.

Click here for Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting group: Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy.

Also, thanks for stopping by to see my skies. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy weekend.

Neighborhood and backyard birds

2011-12-06T05:41:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

This weekend we some family things to do and a friends surprise 50th birthday party so we stayed close to home for our walks. I did some backyard birding and hubby and I took a walk on the fireroad near the side of the house.

Some of my backyard birds were the Redbellied Woodie, Tufted Titmouse and a Junco.

These are some shots from along the fireroad and down to the lake.

One of the two Hermit Thrushes we saw playing along a small creek off the fireroad.

One of the four eagles we saw while out for a walk. The other three were juvies that were chasing each other.

A few of the Canada Geese we saw on the lake. They were pretty noisy, I thought maybe because the eagles were nearby.

My youtube video of the geese and one of the eagles we saw at our lake. Not really our lake but I like to call it ours, it is just a short walk out the back door.

To see more beautiful birds check out World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle of Nature Notes.

Panama lifers and list

2011-12-04T17:22:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

I thought it would be fun to do a post that listed all my Panama lifers and show some more photos. Who knows I might entice some birding blogger friends to visit Panama.

The above mosaic shows the White whiskered Puffbird, Rufous Motmot, female Blue Crowned Manakin, Long Billed Hermit, Violet-bellied Hummingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Blue-footed Booby, Crimson-backed Tanager, Tennessee Warbler, Crimson-chested Woodpcker, Tropical Mockingbird, Purple Throated Fruitcrow, Wattled Jacana, Saffron Finch.

I was not able to get photos of all my lifers, but below I have a total of 38 lifers from my Panama trip. I think 38 lifers is a great number of new birds, since only the five hours on the first day of our trip was designated for birding. The rest of the trip was touring and sightseeing.

A female Blue Crowned Manakin.

Panama Bird List and lifers

1. Neotropic Cormorant
2. Yellow headed Caracara
3. Bat Falcon
4. Southern Lapwing
5. Wattled Jacana
6. Ruddy Ground Dove
7. Greater Ani
8. Long Billed Hermit
9. Stripe throated hermit
10. White necked Jocabin
11. Violet Crowned Woodnymph
12. Violet-bellied Hummingbird
13. Blue-chested Hummingbird
14. White Vented Plumeleteer
15. Rufous Motmot
16. White Whiskered Puffbird
17. Crimson chested Woodpecker
18. Black striped Woodcreeper
19. Western Slaty Antshrike
20. White-flanked Antwren
21. Dot-winged Antwren
22. Dusky Antbird
23. Chestnut backed Antbird
24. Spotted Antbird
25. Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher
26. Social Flycatcher
27. Purple-throated Fruitcrow
28. Blue-crowned Manakin
29. Song Wren
30. Tropical mockingbird
31. Tennessee Warbler
32. Red-throated Ant-tanager
33. Blue Dacnis
34. Scarlet-rumped Cacique
35. Saffron Finch
36. Tropical Kingbird
37. Blue-footed Booby
38. Crimson-backed Tanager

The Social Flycatcher reminds me a lot of the Great Kiskadee but it is smaller in size.

The Black Vulture was the most common bird we saw while in Panama. We saw steady streams of migrating Vultures in flight. I would say they numbered in the thousands, with some Turkey Vultures .

I continue with my list of the rest of the bird species I saw while in Panama.

39. Black bellied Whistling ducks
40. Brown pelicans
41. Magnificent Frigatebirds
42. Great blue heron
43. Great Egret
44. Snowy Egret
45. Little Blue Heron
46. Cattle Egret
47. Green Heron
48. Black Vultures
49. Turkey Vultures
50. Osprey
51. Common Moorhen
52. Laughing Gull
53. Red-Lored Parrot
54. Ringed Kingfisher
55. Great Kiskadee
56. Yellow Warbler
57. Prothonotary Warbler
58. Great Tailed Grackle
59. Barn Swallows
60. Tree Swallows
61. White Ibis
62. Blue-footed Booby.
63.Tern
64. Keel Billed Toucan
65. Willet
66. Sanderling
67. Whimbrel
68. Crimson-backed Tanager
69. Clay-colored Robin
70. Blue-Gray Tanager

I saw a total of 70 species of birds. Being a birder a trip to Panama is a wonderful experience. From what I read there are 972 species of birds in Panama. So, it looks like I only saw a few of them.

Above, we saw a group of White Ibis with some Snowy Egrets mixed in.

To check out more wonderful mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and for more photos from around the world please visit Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary the host of Mosaic Monday and thank to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sandy and Sylvia.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy week ahead. Happy Birding!!!

Common Moorhen

2011-12-03T06:28:00.003-05:00

For my Camera Critters I am showing the Common Moorhen we saw in Panama.

My link for Panama Skyscrapers..Scenic Sunday

Common Moorhens are water birds and sometimes called Marsh Hens. In Panama, we saw both the Common Moorhen and a similiar looking bird called the Wattled Jacana. If it were not for our birding guide I would have mistaken the Wattled Jacana for the Common Moorhen. They do look alike except some coloring on the wings and leg color of the Jacana. The Wattled Jacana has blue-grey legs while the Common Moorhen has yellow legs. They both have the yellow bill with the red head shield. I was thinking my photo was the Comon Moorhen but looking at the color of the legs I am not so sure. The photo could be the Wattled Jacana afterall?

Here is a link to Wikipedia's Wattled Jacana Wattled Jacana I was not able to get a clear shot. But, I was able to see and add the Wattled Jacana to my life list.

Can you find the two Moorhens, in the shot above? They like to hop around lily pads. And they pick up insects off the floating vegetation.

For more comparison photos here is a link to another of my post on the magee-marsh..Common Moorhen.

Another bird we saw in the same area as the Moorhen/Jacana was the Green Heron.

The Green heron will always be one of my favorite herons.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post and to see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting Camera Critters. And thanks for stopping by to see my post. Have a safe and happy weekend. Happy Birding!!!!

SWF>>>>Playa Blanca, Panama

2011-12-01T05:11:00.002-05:00

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday. It is amazing how fast these Fridays roll around. I am not complaining I love the weekends. It is a special Friday for me, my 55th birthday. WOW 55, where did all those years go? Next week on the 7th my son will be 19 years old and my dear hubby will be 55 on the 10th. Happy Birthday to my son and hubby!

I have some shots of the sunrise at the beach at the Playa Blanca resort in Panama.

It was cool to see the sunrise on the Pacific, usually you would see a sunset on the Pacific.

Just like the beach at home, we saw Willets and Sanderlings, Pelicans and some Magnificent Frigatebirds. The sun is starting to reflect on the water and beach.

And in the distance there was an Egret.

A threatening sky did not keep the fishing boats from going out early in the morning.

You can not see them in my photos but while we were on the beach there was a steady stream of swallows flying by. I believe they were different kinds, tree, barn and others. Most likely they were migrating south.

Not sure what these birds were, maybe vultures?

To see more beautiful skies please visit Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting group: Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy. Thank you for stopping by to see my skies. Happy Skywatching and have a great weekend.

On the move

2011-11-29T16:46:00.003-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

It is neat to see different birds during their migrations.... like the winter ducks. But, my favorite bird that is sometimes seen in the winter is the Snowy Owl. I have been reading the Jersey reports and HEADS UP birders a Snowy Owl is being seen in New Jersey. The Snowy Owls breed in the artic but can be found along the Atlantic Coast in the winter months. They are looking for food and they are usually juveniles.

This is my Snowy Owl seen here a few years ago in Maryland. It might be worth a trip back to this spot to see if another Snowy Owl has shown up.

These ARCHIED photos are cropped I was a good distance away from the owl. I wanted to view this beautiful bird so I stayed a distance away so the bird did not flush or feel harassed. I watched this Snowy owl for a while....sometimes it would turn its head and sometimes its eyes were closed.

The Long Tailed ducks are also showing up, hubby and I saw a female this past weekend at Hoppers Island. My favorite place to see ducks is the Barnegat Lighthouse Park in New Jersey. I have seen these beautiful Long Tailed ducks and the pretty Harlequins.

Above is the female I saw last weekend, the male is from Barnegat seen last February.

I just realized I have not change my list of Top Ten Most Wanted to see birds from 2009

1. Snowy Owl.. seen @ Assateague...added Snow Bunting...seen Cape Henlopen...2011

2. Whip-poor-will...Seen at Magee Marsh.. 05/2011

3. Blackburian Warbler...a male...seen at Magee Marsh 05/2011

4. Green Jay....maybe a Texas trip

5. Snipe....seen Baltimore County...2011

6. Horned Lark...seen Freeland, MD....American Woodcock... seen Magee Marsh 05/2011

7. Yellow Breasted Chat

8. Bittern... any------seen April 2009 birding trip with club

9. Chestnut-backed Chickadee

10. Whooping Crane

I have now seen 6 of my top ten list. Now I need to make a new list.

To see more wonderful birds check out World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.. Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. Have a great week and Happy Birding.

Just being thankful

2011-11-27T17:24:00.004-05:00

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

This was the first year in maybe 20 years I did not have Thanksgiving dinner at my house. We were all invited to my sisters house for dinner. I was asked to bring dessert which was my homemade Derby pie and a Pumpkin roll. I am thankful for my hubby and son, my family and my job that allows me to take my vacations. I was even thankful for having a furlough day on Black Friday. Not to go shopping but, hubby and I were able to take a day trip to Blackwater NWR and Hoppers Island on the Eastern shore of Maryland. It was a beautiful day. So below are a couple of photos from my sister's, we had a nice sighting of the white tailed deer in her backyard. The deer were having their own Thanksgiving dinner. Other photos are from Friday's visit to Blackwater NWR and Hoopers Island.

Some of the Blackwater birds above are the Eagle, Killdeer, swans and lots of Canada Geese.

I am thankful for the simple things in life like watching deer and the birds. Seeing beautiful scenery and lovely skies.

A Blackwater NWR scene, birds seen were lots of eagles, canada geese, swans, some shorebirds and Great Blue Herons.

Great Blue Heron at Blackwater NWR

Hooper Island on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

Female Long Tailed duck seen at Hoopers Island, Md. Looks like the ducks are migrating now, we saw this Long-Tailed and the Buffleheads.

I am thankful for the simple things like watching the sunset from my deck.

To see more wonderful mosaics Mosaic Monday and some post from around the world Our World Tuesday. Thanks to mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and thanks to the gang at Our World: Sylvia, Gattina, Lady Fi, Arija and Sandy.

Thanks, also for stopping by to visit my blog. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week.

Birding>>>Panama's Pacific Playa Blanca

2011-11-26T05:17:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with Camera Critters

Two nights of our Panama trip we stayed at the Playa Blanca Resort on the Pacific Ocean. Our Caravan tour group was able to enjoy the all inclusive resort for two nights. When we were not touring with the group we were able to enjoy the beach, pools, drinks and way too much food on the buffets. Hubby and I enjoyed our walks on the beach. The scenery was pretty and I loved watching the birds. I was surprised to see a lot of the birds I was seeing were the same birds I saw at home during the summer.

My bird list from the resort: Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Willets, Whimbrels, Sanderlings, Swallows, Yellow warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Tropical Mockingbird, Little Blue Heron, Black Vultures, Great Egret, Snowy Egret and lots of Boat Tailed Grackles.

Willet

Tropical Mockingbird

Yellow Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

One of my favorite herons the Little Blue Heron

Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds flying around this sailboat.

I hope your enjoyed my critter post and to see more wonderful critters please visit Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting Camera Critters. Thank You for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Happy Birding!

SWF>>>>Panama

2011-11-24T07:56:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday and Friday Ark

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday!

These shots were from the boat ride we took thru the Panama Canal. It was a four hour ride and a very neat experience to go thru the locks and to learn the history of the Panama Canal. It was cool also to look for birds from the boat. I saw lots of Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Blue-footed Booby, Seagulls, Herons, Egrets and some White Ibis.

A vew of Panama City from the causeway.

A lifer.... the Blue-footed Booby seen while on the boat ride as we entered the canal

Every day we saw a steady stream of Vultures flying over the Panama Canal.

One of the many Brown Pelicans seen at the Panama Canal.

Bridge of the Americas

I hope you enjoyed my Panama skies and birds and to see more beautiful photos please click on my link Skywatch Friday and Friday Ark

Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to the hosting group at Skywatch. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I appreciate your visits and comments. Have a great weekend, happy skywatching and happy birding.

Toucan and Monkey Island

2011-11-22T17:31:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

During our trip to Panama, our tour group took a boat ride out to Monkey Island. This tour reminded me of the boat rides we took on our Costa Rica vacation. Very cool! The guys driving the three boats were pretty experienced at finding the Capuchin monkeys. Plus, I think it helped they had some spare grapes on board.

This is the second three toed sloth we saw during our time in Panama. The boat drivers were quick to spot this cool looking critter. It is actually the first time I was able to see a face on the sloth. Usually, it is hidden.

We were warned not to laugh at the monkeys because it could make them agressive. But, as soon as the drivers spotted the monkeys, the monkeys immediately came closer to the boats. I think they knew where the spare grapes were kept. Some of the ladies in our tour group started screaming when the monkeys jumped on the boat. At that point I was laughing hysterically and trying to take some shots of the monkeys at the same time.

These are the white faced Capuchin Monkeys.

We were told if they were NOT fed by the drivers they could get agressive. There is only so much food on this little island and they are use to being fed.

The Capuchin monkey trying to make a get away with the grapes.

One of the Capuchin monkeys walking on top of the other boat.

More of the Capuchin Monkeys

My favorite sighting... the Keel Billed Toucan

One of the main highlights of Monkey Island for me was seeing the Keel Billed Toucan. I just love these birds.

To see more wonderful birds click on my link World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes. Also, I appreciate your visits and comments. I hope everyone has a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving.

Panama highlights

2011-11-20T17:50:00.002-05:00

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

I wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

In these mosiacs are some of the highlights from the first two days of our Panama vacation.

Seeing 7 new hummingbirds was also a treat for me the first day, the Violet-Bellied Hummingbird had the prettiest colors.

In the two previous posts I showed some more of my first day birding the Rainforest Discovery Center and the Pipeline Rd.

The second day included Panama Viejo (Old Panama) ruins and visitors center.

On our city tour I was still looking for birds, you never know when you might see a new bird.

And I did see a new bird as we were leaving the ruins. It is called the Saffron Finch. A pretty yellow bird and another lifer for me.

The Tropical Kingbirds were all over the place.

We also visited the San Jose Church with the gold alter and had lunch at the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks. The lunch banquet room at the locks included our own viewing area to watch the ships pass thru the locks. My blog Travel with Eileen has a little more info and photos on the Panama Viejo visitor's center and the ruins.

San Jose Church, we were told a story that in the old days the alter was painted black to hide the gold.

Right now they let ships go thru the locks in one direction for 12 hours and then they switch the directions for the other 12 hours. Ships have to wait in line for their turn either at the entrance of the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. Additional locks are being built to handle even larger size ships than the ones we saw, so there is construction work constantly happening at the Panama Canal.

The brown pelicans seem to like fishing at the Canal locks. Other birds seen near the locks were the Magnificent Frigatebirds, Swallows, Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures and Laughing Gulls .

Please check out all the mosaic and photos at Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and to all the hosts of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Sylvia, Gattina, Lafy Fi and Sandy. Thanks also for stopping by to see my post, I hope everyone has a safe and happy week ahead.

More Panama Birds

2011-11-19T07:43:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with Friday Ark and Camera Critters

These are more pic's from my birding outing with Justo of Panama's Just Adventures

Arriving a day early for our tour allowed hubby and I to go out for our day of birding. Justo took us to the Discovery Center and the famous Pipeline Road. I got 30 new lifers from our Panama trip.

These are some of the birds and a sloth we saw at the Pipeline Rd and the Rainforest Discovery Center.

Pipeline Rd sloth, the first of three sloths we saw while in Panama for the week.

Rufous Motmot a beautiful bird and one of my 30 new lifers.

Social Flycatcher....lifer

Crimson Crested Woodpecker, similiar to the Pileated Woodie I see at home. Near this same spot we saw a Black Striped Woodcreeper. I was sorry to see it fly away before I could snap a pic. Both of these birds were also lifers.

Lots of new Hummingbird lifers, like the White Necked Jacobin another lifer.

The Pipeine Road, famous spot for birding in Panama.

A group of Black Bellied Whistling ducks, these are one of my favorite ducks. At this spot we saw the ducks, GB Heron, Wattled Jacana, Ringed Kingfisher, a beautiful Blue Dacnis. I was sorry to see that my photos of these beautiful birds were just a blurry mess. But, it was still exciting to see all of these new birds.

I hope you enjoyed my birds and sloth post. I hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Birding.

I hope you can check out more birds and animals on the Friday Ark and Camera Critters. Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to Misty Dawn of Camera Critters. I look forward to these memes and to seeing all the birds and critters.

SWF>>>>Birding Panama

2011-11-17T08:07:00.000-05:00

For my Skywatch Friday post I have some photos of our visit to Panama's Rainforest Discovery Center. Hubby and I arrived in Panama a day early so we could take a guided bird tour on the famous Pipeline Rd. Our guide Justo of Just Adventures was wonderful and of course I saw a lot of new Panama birds.

We woke up early on a cloudy Saturday morning to meet our guide at 6am Justo was taking us to see the Discovery Center's tower our first stop for birding. So you could see the tower we climbed up to get a birds eye view, I scanned a copy of the photo from THE VISITOR newspaper. We were lucky it was only cloudy, it is their rainy season.

Hubby was happy to be above the tree line looking at the rainforest below us and I was excited to see some new birds. At the top of the tower we were almost in the clouds, we did manage to find a Bat Falcon and a Black Vulture perched in a tree together. Also, we watched a woodpecker fly away, it was either the Linneated or the Crimson-chested. they both remind me of the Pileated Woodie I see at home. We could hear the Howler monkeys in the distance.

Above, an awful capture of my lifer the Bat Falcon.

A lot of winding steps up but it was well worth the climb to see the view at the top of this tower.

We were always looking up and this time we saw the Capuchin monkey and we also saw a sloth.

The boardwalk trail leading to the Canopy Tower

Hubby is always amazed and says it is my luck that the skies usually turn out for the better while we are on vacation. I was happy to see the skies turn blue while out on our birding walk.

Back down on the trail, we saw another one of my lifers the White Whiskered Puffbird.

During the week of our vacation in Panama I saw at least 63 species of birds. I have not counted up all my lifers yet but I am sure I saw many new birds. But, a few were some of the same birds I saw in Costa Rica.

I hope you enjoyed my Panama Skywatch Friday post and to see more please click on the link.

Thanks to the hosting group at Skywatch Friday : Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Fishing Guy.

Also, thank for visiting my blog and post. I always appreciate the visits and comments.

Have a great weekend and Happy Birding!!!

Birding the Panama Canal

2011-11-15T18:21:00.000-05:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

These photos are from our vacation to Panama last week. We visited the Panama canal locks a few times and one day we were on a ferry ride on the canal and we went thru a few of the locks. A common bird we saw besides the Pelicans and thousands of Black Vultures was the Magnificent Frigatebird.

They have a long wing span and a long scissortail.

The adult female has a black head white a white breast, the juvenile has a white head and chest. The male is all black. My photo above shows one female with a few juveniles.

There were many Magnificent Frigatebirds hanging around the canal locks and ships. They are known to forage for fish floating behind the ships or steal fish away from other birds like the pelicans.

To see more beautiful birds and great photos make sure to visit Springman's World Bird Wednesday and for more nature posts please visit Michelle's Nature Notes

Thanks to Springman and to Michelle for hosting these great memes. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I hope you all have a great week and Happy Birding.

First Snow of the Season & Snow Birds

2011-11-01T04:00:00.002-04:00

I am linking my Snow birds up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Mr Cardinal is saying "Snow already, you got to be kidding!!

This past Saturday we received our first snowstorm. Snow in October in Maryland is somwhat rare, after the last two winters I could care less if I ever saw snow again. I would not miss it at all. We have had snow in October before but it was a long time ago. I love Spring, Summer and Fall but, I am not a winter person at all. Sorry for the rant, but I feel better now.

Above a Tufted Titmouse and a Carolina Chickadee are chowing down on my sunflower seeds.

It snowed all day long, I guess we are lucky compared to the New Englanders. They got dumped on. We did not even have our first frost yet, the flowers on the deck were still blooming.

These poor Mourning Doves look cold, all fluffed up looking chubby.

The snow did bring in my First of year Junco. I saw this female on my deck railing and the male was feeding on the ground.

Mr bluejay is saying " I am not going to look at this white stuff, maybe it will all go away. Bring out those peanuts lady. Snow makes me hungry".

Looking at my deck I believe we had about 3 inches of the white stuff. The only thing I find good about snow is that I see a lot more birds in my yard. When it starts to snow the birds go into a feeding frenzy. I think this early snow threw them off too, I am sure that is why my Cardinal is looking a little grumpy, I think my cardinal feels the same way as I do about snow. Bring on that Bermuda high!

I hope you enjoyed visiting my post and blog, to see more wonderful and beautiful birds
please visit World Bird Wednesday and to see more nature posts please visit Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Also, thanks for visiting my blog, I appreciate your comments and visit. Have a great week and Happy Birding.

Birding the Irvine Nature Center

2011-10-30T08:12:00.000-04:00

With my nature center post I am linking up with Scenic Sunday and Today's Flowers
and Mosaic Monday

During the month of October, I was able to visit the Irvine Nature Center twice. Once with my bird club and last weekend I went with my hubby. Of course the nature center trails were great for birding. But it was also nice to see some of the trees looking beautiful with their fall foilage.

I was amazed at the amount of wildflowers we saw growing on the field. It was the third weekend in October and these flowers were looking gorgeous and still attracting the Fritallary and Buckeye butterflies and Sulfurs.

Can you find the Fritillary above, the butterfly almost blends in witht he flowers and background.

The fields are great for attracting sparrows and this is a great time of year to see new and to compare different sparrows. They are one of the hardest birds for me to id, so many of them resemble other sparrows. My lifer seen at the nature center with the bird club was the Lincoln Sparrow. I tried hard to get photos of these sparrows but they seemed very camera shy.

Talking about camera shy, can you find the sparrow hidden in the bush above? Sparrows seen both days were the Lincoln, White Throated, White Crowned, Swamp, Chipping, Field and Song Sparrows. I was hoping for a sighting of a Vespar or Grasshopper Sparrow. But, I was still happy with my Lincoln Sparrow lifer.

Above the mosaic, shows a sparrow, trails coming out of the woods onto the field, some fall foilage, the field of wildflowers and tons of sparrows. I was amazed at the amount of sparrow we saw here. Other birds seen were the Eastern Phoebe, woodpeckers, Hawks, Kestrel, Palm Warblers, Towhees, Canada Geese and we flushed a Snipe twice.

It is hard to believe that this field today is most likely covered in snow. I was so happy that I was able to visit this Nature Center while these beautiful flowers were still blooming.

I hope you enjoyed my visit to the Irvine Nature Center and I hope you are able to
visit with Today's Flowers and Scenic Sunday and Mosaic Monday. Thanks to all the wonderful hosts and thank you for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone has a Happy Sunday and a wonderful week ahead.

Camera Critters the Chincoteague Variety

2011-10-29T07:30:00.001-04:00

With my Chincoteague birds and critters, I am linking up with the Friday Ark and Camera Critters. Chincoteague is my favorite places to go birding, the shorebirds and variety of birds seen there is just awesome. And of course we saw lots of ponies.. last week critters post is here Chincoteague-ponies . Deer are often seen on the refuge and during the three days we were there we saw lots.

You can click on the photos for a larger image.

I believe these are juvenile Dowitchers but I am not so sure.

Any help with their id is appreciated.

EDIT: I have been corrected on my shorebirds above they are really Willets.

Yellowlegs, whether it is the Lesser or Greater Yellowlegs I am not sure.

My favorite Chincoteague pony "The Chief". A real rebel.

I thought the lighting on the Great Blue heron was beautiful. It was a little windy that day and the heron's feather are blowing with the wind.

A sunset shot of the Bald Eagle posing nicely on this tree limb. A cool sighting! We had different Eagle sightings during the three days we were there.

A herd of deer seen on the wildlife drive.

Have a great weekend! The Weathermen are calling for a unusual snowstorm here in Maryland. My part of Maryland is expected to have one-three of inches of the white stuff. As I write this post it is raining and is mixed with snow. Gee, we did not even have a frost yet and some of my flowers were still looking good. The weather has been very weird lately.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post, thanks for stopping by. To see more
wonderful birds and critters please visit Friday Ark and Camera Critters
Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to Misty Dawn of Camera Critters. I just love the critter memes.

SWF>>>>Turkey Point

2011-10-27T04:01:00.001-04:00

My Skywatch Friday post
is from this past weekend hubby and I visited the Turkey Point Lighthouse and hawkwatch at Elk Neck State park in Maryland. The lighthouse sits on top of a cliff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

When we were there it is was a slow time for hawk watching. I think we saw one hawk while we were there. Overall it was slow for seeing all the birds. I did see the one unknown hawk, lots of Cardinals, a couple of redbellied woodpeckers, lots of Golden Crowned Kinglets, A Yellow Rump Warbler and a couple of Winter Wrens. It was a pretty day but just a slow birdie day.

Way, way up there is the one and only hawk I saw at the Turkey Point hawkwatch.

It was neat to watch this ship go sailing by.

This redbellied woodie was fussy over another redbellied woodie that was nearby.

There were lots of clouds around but also some pretty blue sky. A pretty day to be outside enjoying nature.

There seemed to be a few sailboats out on the Chesapeake Bay. This one looked like it was a tour boat.

We did hike the lighthouse trail, which is a nice loop trail that took us down to the waters edge. A few pretty fall colors on the trees. This trail was where I saw my FOY Winter Wrens.

Looking at the sky back at the hawk watching site. I hope you enjoyed my skies and post and to see more beautiful skies from around the world click here Skywatch Friday

Thanks to the hosts of Skywatch: Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy.

Also, thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to comment.

I have been having trouble commenting on some blogs for some reason. I feel bad that blogger sometimes tells me I am not signed in when I know I am. So, I do keep trying to leave comments but they do not always work. Anyone else having this problem?

Golden Crowned & Yellow Crowned

2011-10-25T19:21:00.000-04:00

Today, I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes showing two very different birds but they have something in common and that is their crown. Lately, I have been seeing many Golden Crowned Kinglets on my walks. They are cute little birds and during their quick movements you can see a flash of yellow on their heads. The Kinglets are usually seen in the winter months in Maryland. My field guide has the Golden Crowned Kinglet as 4inches in length. It is a small bird.

The other bird is a much larger bird but also has a Yellow Crown. It is the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. These are shots are from my archives and these birds are seen mostly in the summer months around Maryland. The Yellow Crowned Night Heron measures 24 inches in length.

There is one more Yellow Crowned bird out there that I have seen here in Maryland. I was not able to get a photo and that bird is the Golden Crowned Sparrow. I hope to someday get a shot of the Golden Crowned Sparrow to add to my bird photo collection.

I hope you enjoyed my Golden and Yellow Crowned birds. To see more wonderful birds

check out World Bird Wednesday and for great nature post please visit Nature Notes. Thanks to Springman the host of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Also, thank you for stopping by to see my birds and post. Happy Birding and have a great day!

Shenandoah Colors & Wild Turkeys

2011-10-23T18:04:00.001-04:00

I am linking my post up with Mosaic Monday & Our World Tuesday & Ruby Tuesday. This post is on my our visit to Shenandoah last weekend. Hubby and I love to drive along the Skyline Drive. The colors were beautiful, not the best we ever saw but they were still very pretty. Of course when we visit Shenandoah National Park we take a hike on my favorite trail the Limberlost Trail. It has been a great trail to see birds up close. This time we saw three wild turkeys. Also, we heard lots of RedBellied woodies, Pileated woodies, Towhees, Titmouse, Juncos, both Golden and Ruby Kinglets, Bluejays, Cardinals and Wrens. We saw many vultures and black birds in flight along with one unknown hawk.

At least this turkey can feel safe roaming in the Shenandoah Nat'l park, there is no hunting allowed in the park.

Some of the Autumn colors seen on the Limberlost trail.

While driving along Skyline Drive we are always on the lookout for the black bears. We did come across a nice buck standing next to the road and one black bear walking along in the woods next to the road. I was just about to take my photo of the bear when the Park Ranger drove up and she told everyone they had to leave. I believe the bear and most of the people were astonished to see her walk into the woods shaking tree limbs and clapping her hands and yelling. I was disappointed I did not get to take my photo but it was still neat to see the bear. For me seeing wildlife on the Skyline Drive is a fun experience and is one of my main reasons for visiting the park.

The Autumn colors were pretty, but I remember previous years being much more colorful. I am not sure why, but the falls colors even in my neighborhood are not as spectacular as in the past. The colors are spread out further, some trees are already bare, some of the leaves are just brown and a lot are still green. It seems this year to be a very uneven fall.

The fall colors at Big Meadows looked beautiful. The reds were gorgeous, oranges and golds all made for a stunning splash of colors on the meadow.

It has been brought up that the paths in the photo above look like a ribbon, if the field was pink I would think the ribbon represents Breast Cancer Awareness month.

To see more wonderful mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and click to see more of Our World Tuesday and for more pretty reds make sure to visit Ruby Tuesday.. Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday, MarytheTeach of Ruby Tuesday and to the gang at Our World Tuesday: Gattina, Arija, Sylvia, Lady Fi and Sandy.

And most of all thank you for stopping by to see my post, I hope everyone has a safe and happy week.

Skywatching with the vultures

2011-10-20T03:58:00.001-04:00

For my Skywatch Friday

A video of my skywatch and the vultures flying in and out of the woods next to my house.

These are sunset photos from the 14th, I was on my deck watching the sky and these vultures flying in and out the woods. They are cool birds to watch soaring the sky. I read they have a keen sense of smell. Since hunting season has started on the reservoir property the vulture count has increased.

As the time passed the clouds turned a pretty pink and orange color. And I watched the vultures fly into the woods and land on the nearby trees. Once in a while I could hear them flapping them wings.

To see more beautiful skies from around the world click here Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting gang at Skywatch : Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy! Thanks for stopping by to see my skies, I hope you enjoyed. Have a great weekend and happy birding.

The Eastern Bluebird

2011-10-17T19:44:00.054-04:00

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

The Eastern Bluebird was the first bird that started my interest in birds and birding. Now my hubby might call that interest an obsession. That reminds me I really want to see the new movie out called the "The Big Year". So far it seems to be getting some good reviews, especially from the birders. I really like Owen Wilson (of Marley and Me) and Steve Martin.

Here is a link to the trailer for the movie.

Back to reality, I do not think my hubby needs to worry about me doing "The Big Year" chasing birds all around the world to see if I can have the highest count of birds seen in one year. First, I will need to win the Mega Millions or Powerball whichever comes first. HaHa! I can dream though!

Back to my yardbirds, for me the Eastern Bluebird was the prettiest bird I ever saw in my yard. And I was just tickled that they started using my birdhouse for their nest. I felt honored that they chose my yard. I am just thinking back now if I had not seen the first bluebird in my yard, I would not be as interested in birds or have become a "birder" or started a life list nor would I have the thousands of bird photos that I have now.

The Eastern Bluebirds are year round birds here in Maryland or what is called a resident. They feed on berries and insects. The male is a beautiful blue on top and rufous underparts. Oh and they love, love, love meal worms, so much so they started looking into my house waiting for more meal worms to be brought out and served to them. You may think I am crazy but I swear these birds would sit in our tree next to the deck and scold me if I didn't bring out more meal worms to them. I think they were telling me they would not let me see their babies if I didn't feed them the meal worms. It sounds like I was being blackmailed or threatened. I often wondered what the UPS man thought when they delivered all these 10,000's meal worms to my house. As far as they know my son's Gecko ate too much. Buying live meal worms started becomming scarce for some reason. So, I decided it was time for the Bluebirds to fend for themselves. And I think hubby is happy he no longer has to see meal worm containers in the fridge.

To see more wonderful birds from all around the world check out Springman's World Bird Wednesday and for more lovely nature scenes how about clicking on my link for Michelle's Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post, I appreciate all the visits and the comments. Happy Birding and I hope the rest of your week is great and filled with wonderful birds.

Birding the Swan Creek Wetlands

2011-10-16T19:05:00.000-04:00

Lots of fun linky's this week check them all out Mosaic Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday , Nature Footstep Waters and Our World Tuesday

The Swan Creek Wetlands are located adjacent to land that the Port of Baltimore is using for their placement of dredged material not far from the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The wetland consist of 100 acres for wildlife habitat. Visiting hours are strictly enforced and are only on Monday-Friday 7am-3:30pm, visitors must sign in the MES office registration book. My friend from the birding club and I took the opportunity to visit on our Monday off for the Colombus Day holiday. A Nelson's Sparrow was being reported seen at the wetland area near some cattails. We missed seeing this bird or we could have seen such a brief glimpse of it hopping around the cattails and grasses we could not positively id this sparrow. There were other sparrows being seen like the Song Sparrow and Swamp Sparrows.

Monarchs have been migrating and I was lucky to catch this one perched on these yellow wildflowers.

It seem appropriate that a place called Swan Creek Wetland there should be a few swans.

In my mosaic above I have the Mute swans, Little Blue Herons and a Great Egret, a shot of the Key Bridge., another Little Blue and Egret, a Song Sparrow and a Monarch.

I was amazed at how many of these yellow Sulfar's were flying about. They moved around quickly but, these two landed on the ground in front of me. Not the best photo but you can see the dark outline on the edge and the black dot on its wing.

In this mosaic I am showing of the many Buckeye butterflies, more Little Blues, swans, Egret, and a frog.

Above are a couple of my favorite Little Blue Herons with a Great Egret.

The Little Blue herons are gorgeous birds and I love their color.

If this frog was not sitting on the leaf, it would blend in perfectly with the ground. Swan Creek Wetland is a great place for birding. While we were there we heard two Virginia Rails and a Sora calling. It would have been cool to see the Sora in the open. I usually only add bird on my life list when I see them, just hearing them is not enough for me. A list of the birds we did see include the Little Blue herons, Osprey, Great Egrets, Mute Swans, Song Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Carolina Wren, Marsh Wren, Carolina Chickadees and a very noisy Red Shoulder Hawk.

To see more wonderful mosaics please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and for more Mellow Yellows please visit Drowsey Monkeys Mellow Yellow Monday. Also, this will be my first entry for Nature Footstep Waters . Click for more from Our World Tuesdays. Thanks to these wonderful host for creating these fun memes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my posts. I hope everyone has a safe and happy week ahead.

Little Blue Heron

2011-10-14T20:55:00.001-04:00

I am linking up with the Friday Ark and Camera Critters.. To see some wild and cute critters click on my links.

This post has more birds from Chincoteague NWR , I hope no one is tired of seeing my birds we saw lots of great birds during the three days we were there.

My favorite heron is the Little Blue Heron, next to the Green Heron. I am not sure how I can say any one bird is a favorite because I really do love them all.

This Little Blue Heron was hanging around the same spot and the same time I saw the Bald Eagles and the Merlin. It was cool to see these different birds so close together. At one time in these bushes or trees we saw the Little Blue Heron, Great Egret, Bald Eagle, Juvenile Bald Eagle. The Merlin got upset about being overcrowded and flew across the street to another tree.

This eagle was sitting just a little over from the Little Blue Heron.

And here is the Little Blue with the Great Egret. It was hard trying to get a decent photo with all the birds in one shot. And I do not think I have to mention how grey the sky is looking it is pretty obvious.

Not a good shot but at the far left is my pretty Little Blue Heron and then the bigger Great Egret and to the right of the photo and behind the Great Egret is the cute Snowy Egret. Not in view but behind the Snowy was the Bald Eagle. At this time the Merlin was sitting in the tree across the street.

I cropped this photo but the lighting is awful but now you can see all the birds. From far right the Little Blue looking like a little black speck, the Great Egret which is looking very leggy, and the smaller Snowy Egret perched behind and a little higher than the Great Egret, and last is the Bald Eagle. The next day we saw the Bald Eagle, juvenile Eagle and the Merlin all in this same spot. We watched these great birds from our car which was parked on the lot near the Tom's Cove visitor center.

On this cropped fuzzy photo I have my pretty Little Blue heron and I am pretty sure a Juvenile Little Blue. The juvenile is white but has a bi-colored bill. I do not think the egrets or juvenile egrets have a bi-colored bill. Please let me know if I am wrong.

So now that you have seen my birds you can visit the Friday Ark and Camera Critters to see more of God's beautiful critters. Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to Misty Dawn for hosting Camera Critters.

Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post, I appreciate the comments. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

SWF>>>Chincoteague skies

2011-10-13T04:21:00.001-04:00

For this weeks Skywatch Friday I have some more Chincoteague skies. Some sky with birds and some with threatening and moody clouds and some skywatch with some neat kites.

Above we were the early birds up on the beach for the sunrise, the usual Willets and Sanderlings were keeping us company as we watched the sky.

The clouds looked very threatening but we did not have any rain while we there. At least not until the drive home which was Ok with me.

Another sunrise on the beach at Chincoteague Island, Virginia. Or I should say it is actually the Assateague National Seashore.

It was a moody sky, but still neat seeing this adult Bald Eagle with a juvenile Eagle closeby. We watched this eagle and juvenile eagle in almost the same spot where I saw the Merlin in my previous post..

Even though we did not see the rain we did get to see this rainbow. If the egret would move over some, it would look like the egret is at end of the rainbow.

We were on the wildlife drive watching the birds and the sky.

It was a great day for flying kites on the beach. This is one of the kites I really liked. It reminds me of Peter Pan for some reason. Very cute.

I hope you enjoyed my skies and to see more beautiful skies from around the world

check out Skywatch Friday Thanks to the hosting group at Skywatch: Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and to all the birders out there Happy Birding.

Merlin.....My latest lifer

2011-10-11T05:37:00.000-04:00

Hello again, I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

My post this week is my latest lifer the Merlin. We got to see a few of these birds while visiting Chincoteague NWR recently. The merlin is a small falcon and my field guide says they will winter on the coast. Merlins will go out after birds and insects on the wing. They can accelerate to incredible speeds to snatch their prey. The adult is steely gray above and a streaky pattern below.

The Merlin above was seen during our sunset tour on the wildlife drive.

This Merlin was seen closer to Tom's Cove and the beach. We were watching the Merlin perched in a tree when all of a sudden it swooped down next to our car and grabbed a huge dragonfly and flew back to the perch to enjoy its catch.

The Merlins are migrating and I do believe we were seeing more than just the one during our weekend visit to Chincoteague.

To see more beautiful and great birds please visit World Bird Wednesday and for
more nature scenes check out Nature Notes Thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle of Nature Notes. I also appreciate your visit and comments. Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

More from Chincoteague

2011-10-09T19:02:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday.. I hope everyone is a having a Happy Columbus Day weekend. It is great to have a long weekend. But, this post on last weekend's visit to Chincoteague Island, Virginia. It was a great weekend seeing lots of great birds, the famous Chincoteague wild ponies and a climb to the top of the lighthouse.

In the mosaic above, the top first row photos is a Merlin and was a lifer for me, the second I was told it is a juvenile Black Bellied Plover. They look nothing like the adult black Bellied Plover but I thought it was a cute bird. The last top row photo is one of the Chincoteague ponies. Bottom photos are what I think is a juvenile Snowy Egret and a single Pelican and last shot is a group of pelicans over the flying over the ocean.

In this mosaic, the top row includes the Assateague Lighthouse and it celebrated its 144th birthday last weekend. I was surprised it is called the Assateague Lighthouse and not the Chincoteague Lighthouse. We visited both the Chincoteague National wildlife refuge and the refuge is connected to the Assateague National Seashore. Next to the lighthouse is a Little Blue Heron and last top row photo is a Great Egret. On the bottom row I have a Cattle Egret sitting on one of the Chincoteague ponies, a Bald Eagle and a few Willets at the beach.

I always think it is neat to see the Cattle Egrets riding the ponies.

This Merlin swooped down next to our car to catch it's dinner, a huge dragonfly.

I could be wrong but I believe this yellow legged egret is a juvenile Snowy Egret.

We climbed the stairs to the top of lighthouse and had a great view of Chincoteague Island and the ponies. We could even see the egrets below and watched Ospreys flying nearby.

We were told there are at least two nesting pairs of Eagles on the wildlife refuge. This Eagle was perched in a great spot with the evening sunlight shining on him/her.

This weekend is the Columbus Day holiday weekend and it seems to be going by so fast already. Yesterday, I joined in with my bird club on a walk at a nearby nature center which was a lot of fun. Great birds and surprisingly saw some beautiful late blooming wildflowers. I see another post coming up on my bird club outing and a new lifer. And today I spent most of the day with two of my cousins visiting with them and going to two cemeteries where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried. Besides blogging I have become interested in working on my family tree at Ancestry.com.

To see more wonderful mosaics, please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and for more great photos and posts check out Our World Tuesday. Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and to the nice gang at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Sanday, Lady Fi and Sylvia. I hope you enjoyed my post and I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Chincoteague Pelicans

2011-10-07T04:53:00.001-04:00

I am link up with the Friday Ark and Camera Critters

During our visit to Chincoteague NWR last weekend we saw many groups of Pelicans flying over the ocean.

We saw many Pelicans like this early morning sighting below of a large group flying low over the ocean

After seeing the Brown Pelicans at Chincoteague I looked them up in my field guide. I was surprised to see that the Brown Pelican has also made a stunning comeback after the banning of DDT. I knew all about the eagles and DDT but I did not realize how many different birds DDT had an effect on. I am so happy it was been banned. The pelican increased in popultion in the gulf, pacific, atlantic and have expanded to include Maryland. They did have another kind of battle going on with the oil spill in the gulf. I feel sorry for the birds and animals during this time, politians and the big companies do not seem to care about the critters.

This Pelican below was perched on a rock next to the side of the road , it was seen a few days in a row in the same spot. Each time we saw this Pelican it was preening or clean its feathers.

The Brown Pelican have webbed feet and feed mostly on aquatic prey and they can dive for fish.

We watch this Pelican for a little while, he/she did not seem to mind.

The Brown Pelican is one of my favorite birds, they kind of remind me of a prehistoric bird. Very cool looking.

I hope you enjoyed my Chincoteague Pelican and

to see many more cute and wonderful critters please visit the Friday Ark and Camera Critters

SWF>>>Chincoteague sunrise & Pelicans

2011-10-06T03:59:00.001-04:00

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday

In the distance we watched a couple being married on the beach during the sunrise. What a great place for a wedding. On my previous post my video shows some of the bride at the very end of the video.

The clouds were turning pretty colors.

We watched groups of Pelicans flying by. I assume they were all migrating south.

I really liked the colors in the sky and on the sand in this photo below.

We watched the Willets take off from the shore. It seemed odd that on two mornings the Willets left the beach as soon as the sun had risen.

A large flock of Willets.

A flock of Pelicans

To see more beautiful skies from around the world please visit Skywatch Friday. Thanks to the hosting group of Skywatch: Sylvia, Sandy and Wren. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my skies. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend.