River Rider

Yesterday I spent the day with my DH and a group of friends tubing on the Shenandoah River near Harpers Ferry. We opted for the lazy flat river over the more exciting white water trip. The weather was wonderful and after getting our tubes on the river we could tell we were not the only ones who waned to go tubing. The river in front of us was filled with a rainbow of colors, the colors of a hundred or more tubes.

I do have to say the flat river option was very slow...it was slower than the lazy rivers at the themed water parks. The white water option also looked slow. The water levels in July are just not high enough to make for an exciting white water trip. Needless to say as were floating down the river I was enjoying the company of friends,the scenery and of course the birds. I was also amazed at how many dragonflies were on the water and on us as we floated down the river. I thought it was kind of cool to have the dragonflies land on our legs and arms while we were tubing. I guess they wanted to hitch a ride down river.

Being a birder I couldn't help but notice the birds flying around the river and in the sky above me. Some of the birds were various species of Hawks, Swallows, Great Blue Heron and the Baltimore Orioles seemed numerous. A highlight was seeing a Green Heron low over the river in front of our tubes.





We decided our next tubing trip will have to be a more exciting trip. Something that will make our heart beat just a little faster.

Birding with Eileen in the Caribbean

This is my first attempt at blogging. This blog is mostly about the places I go and the birds I see and love. I love to travel and visit new places. I love going on vacations. My family and I just got back from a 9 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Our cruise stopped at these four ports...San Juan, St Thomas, Samana and Labadee. St Thomas was my favorite port. I would like to go back and spend more time visiting St Thomas. There are so many places I would love to travel to but there just does not seem to be enough time. My DH likes to snorkel and DS just likes to cruise and I just like enjoying nature. So DH and DS were enjoying themselves snorkeling while I sat on the beach watching the beautiful water, birds and the lizards that were surrounding me.

 I did pick up five lifers during my vacation cruise. They were the very cool looking Brown Booby, Gray Kingbird, Scaly Naped Pigeon, White winged Dove and a Pearly eyed Thrasher. Another possible lifer not confirmed as of yet is a Shearwater. Now I am home wishing my vacation was not over and that I really do not have to return to work tomorrow. YUCK!