My birds of the decade

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010. I wish everyone all the best in 2010. Greating Birding in 2010. Happy New Years to everyone.

This is my entry for Misty Dawn's a and to see more wonderful and cute critters  go to:  Camera Critters 

To see more birds and other animals photos go and visit the:  The Friday Ark


Nature Notes #42 :  Nature notes at Rambling Woods

I also thought it would be fun to post my favorite birds of the decade. I am posting them in order of my favorites first not by the date they were seen. I can not really say it was a decade of birds officially since I did not start really birding until 2003. They are not really exotic birds. Just birds that really made me happy just to look at them and to see them. I am lucky that most of my favorite birds were seen right here in Maryland.

1,   Snowy Owl seen at Assateague Island, Md  seen 01/2009 . This one was my top bird to see and I had to make two trips to Assateague before I was actually able to see this beautiful owl.

2,    Eastern Bluebird was seen in  my backyard  and there has been a nesting pair for years now.

3,     Rose Breasted Grosbeak  my backyard 04/2003. This was the bird that really got me interested in birding. The colors on the male are just stunning.

4,      Green Heron seen in Cuyahoga Nat'l Park Ohio 06/29/07. This bird drove me nuts, I wanted to see one really bad. I went everywhere looking for this bird. Since seeing my first Green Heron it seems like I see them everywhere now.

5,      Painted Bunting seen in  Arnold, Md   02/09/08 this bird was a rare bird for me to see in Maryland. It was sighted at a birdfeeder in a backyard in Arnold, Md. The homeowners were gracious and kind to allow birders to see the beautiful Painted Bunting.

6,      Scarlet Tanager  seen at the  Prettyboy Reservoir, Md   05/2006.  I can see these birds near my house. They nest in the trees above the fireroad where I take my walks.

7,      Brown Headed Nuthatch seen at  Blackwater NWR, MD  06/15/08. This bird seems to be a regular on the trail at Blackwater NWR in Maryland.

8,      Evening Grosbeak  seen at  BattleCreek Cypress Swamp, Md  02/16/08. This was a female not as colorful as the pretty males but was well worth the drive to see her.

9,      Little Blue Heron  seen at  Smith Island, Md 04/2008. This bird was seen during one of the bird club's trip. I just love the colors on this beautiful heron.

10,     Prothonotary Warber seen at the Piscataway Park, MD  04/25/09.  This bird has to be one of the most colorful warblers I have ever seen.

Hooded Merganser momma and chicks

From my archives this weeks Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday post I have some pic's of a female Hooded Merganser with her cute chicks. The Mergansers were seen during one of my bird club walks at a nature center last spring.

To see more Watery photos from all over go and visit 2sweetnsaxy at Watery Wednesday

and

to see more wonderful outdoor photos go and visit Susan of A Southern Daydreamer at Outdoor Wednesday

Thansk for stopping by my blog and checking out my Mergansers.

Black Necked Stilt reflection

Merry Christmas,  Happy Holidays and a wonderful Happy New Years to everyone!

I visit the Bombay Hook wildlife refuge often and during the summer the Black Necked Stilt can be seen there. They are cool looking birds, their legs seem to be able to bend all kinds of ways.

They like to search for food in the mud flats or can be seen walking in water that is more like puddles.
On this one day I was able to catch the reflection of the Black Necked Stilt.


To see more birds photos from all over  go to Bird Photography Weekly

This is my entry for Camera Critters to see more wonderful cute critters go and visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

To see more great birds and animals you can visit The Ark

To see more Weekend Reflections go and visit James at  Weekend reflections at Newtown

Thanks for stopping by my blog to see my Black Necked Stilt. Happy Holidays and I wish everyone all the best for 2010.

My snow birds

The header photo above shows a pretty sunrise the morning after the snowstorm. We had an offical 18-20 inches of snow. During the snowstorm I saw many birds at my feeders. Of course I was doing my feederwatch count. I have a higher than usual count during a snowstorm than on clear nice days.

You can click on any of the photos for larger image

Birds in my mosaic are Male Cardinal, Bluejay, Titmouse, next row female Cardinal, Mourning Dove and a White Throat Sparrow. Last row is my front street and view of my back yard.

A cowbird not one of my usual visitors

Bluejay

Carolina Wren

Male Cardinal

My Goldie Girl

The sun after the snowstorm

The view from my kitchen door

To see more photos from Outdoor Wednesday go and visit Susan at a southern daydreamer

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

American Oystercatcher

Click on photo for a larger image. If you click on this first photo you can see two Terns in the background.

The American Oystercatcher is a cool looking bird. I like to say it has a beak like a carrot. I've been able to see these birds many times at Cape May and Chincoteague on the beach and laying around the dunes. On my previous post about my visit to Avalon, NJ we saw a flock of American Oystercatchers. Probably the largest group of Oystercatchers I have ever seen.

You can view some wonderful birds and photos at bird-photography-weekly

The see more cute animals and birds go and visit The Ark

Thanks for stopping by to see my Oystercatcher.

Avalon Shorebirds

I have added the first two skywatch photos, they were taken the same day as the shorebirds below. I thought the sunset had some pretty color on the bottom of the clouds and one tiny little hole was lighting up with color.

To see more great skies from all over go to Skywatch Friday

This week I am posting my Avalon shorebirds from my September visit to the NJ shores. We stopped in the town of Avalon and walked along the beach. My hubby just likes walking anywhere and I love checking out the birds. During this visit we saw a lot of American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers, Egrets and some other peeps.

Black Skimmers in flight

I love the beaks of the Oystercatchers they look like carrots.

To see more great Watery Wednesday shots go and visit 2sweetnsaxy at waterywednesday

To see some great outdoor shots got and see Susan at Outdoor Wednesday

Thanks to the hosting team of Skywatch... Sandy, Louise, Wren, Sylvia, Fishing Guy and Klaus

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Winter yardbirds for my Project feedercount

My Skywatch Friday now follows my Winter birds post


Chickadees and Titmouse for Bird Photography Weekly #68 to see more go to Bird Photography Weekly

Please click on the photo for a larger viewing.

These birds are regular visitors to my feeders and backyard and a few are my winter birds. The Dark Eyed Junco and the White Throated Sparrow I only see in the winter months. Last weekend was my first count for the Project feederwatch . In about an hours time I had seen Mourning Doves, White Throated Sparrows, Bluejays, Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse,  Dark Eyed Junco, Carolina Chickadees, Redbellied Woodpecker, American Crows, American Goldfinches, House Sparrow , a Pileated Woodpecker and one unknown hawk.


The Carolina Chickadees are one of my favorites, I love when they start fussing.

The Tufted Titmouse are here year round and can also sound fussy.

To see more cute birds and other animals got and visit THE ARK

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Vultures and my Backyard skywatch

These are some sunset pictures taken from my deck. The clouds were  breaking up after a storm. The moon was looking bright and pretty.

The Vultures are an everyday sight, even more of them since hunting season started in Sept.

Some pretty pinks

Thanks for stopping by my blog to see my Skywatch Friday , to see more great Skywatch photos go and visit Skywatch Friday

Thanks to the hosting team of Sandy, Wren, Sylvia, Louise, Fishing Guy and Klaus

Susquehanna, Conowingo Eagles

The Susquehanna River trail is a trail my hubby and I frequent often. The Susquehanna River is 444 miles long. And is the longest river on the East coast. It starts in New York, goes thru Pennsylvania and empties in the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

The Susquehanna River, my entry for Watery Wednesday. To see more great Watery photos go and see 2sweetnsaxy at Watery Wednesday

We love to go and see the Eagles below the Conowingo Dam. We see other birds at the river below the dam but the Eagles are the main attraction.  The guy pictured above was just about over my park car, he was eating a big catfish. I was able to zoom in on him.

                                           

Bald Eagle sitting on a rock in the river

                                                    Juvenile Bald Eagle

The Eagles are there year round but in the winter the numbers increase dramatically. Our last visit was Sunday a week ago and there were well over a hundred Eagles juvies and adults maybe mo


I know I posted about these Eagles previously but, it is a favorite place of mine to visit especially when I able to see the Eagles.

Thansk for stopping by to see my That's my World post  to see more photos from around the world go to

That's My World. Thanks to the hosting team of  Sylvia, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Klaus and Louise.

Bombay Hook and Skywatch and a Northern Harrier

        I cropped My Northern Harrier pic which is shown in full at the bottom of this post. To see more birds you can visit the The Ark

Last weekend my hubby and I spend a day birding at some of Delaware beaches and at Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge. We stayed at Bombay Hook until the sun was setting and to me it looked beautiful. We pulled the car over at the pond called Shearness Pool to do our skywatching. On the left side of the road we saw pretty colors on the horizon and the moon. One the right side we watched the sun setting as flocks and flocks of geese flew over.

We also saw a lot of Northern Pintails

This wasn't a lifer, but it was my best bird sighting of the day. We watched this Northern Harrier flying at eye level right next to our car.

To see more great Skywatch photos from all around go to Skywatch Friday

Thanks for stopping by my blog to see my Skywatch photos. Also thanks to the hosting team of Sylvia, Sandy, Wren Klaus, Fishing Guy and Louise.