Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pontoon boat ride on the Patuxent

These pictures are from my pontoon boat ride this morning. I went with my bird club to look for Sora's, Rails and other birds. The scenery here is wonderful, at least I think so. So I am including the first shot as my scenic Sunday photo.

 Pictures are clickable and to enjoy more GREAT photos from around the world click on my SCENIC SUNDAY link.



The flowers closeup.




The birding was great and here is a report of my birding at Jug bay Patuxent river. We saw Bald Eagles, Osprey, GB Herons, Great Egrets, Green Heron, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Lots of migrating Canda Geese, Belted Kingfisher, Redbellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Greater Yellowlegs, Ring billed gull, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. The tide was too high to the see Sora's but we heard a few and we also heard the Virginai Rails. It was neat hearing the Sora's and Rails call back and tehy seemed to answer calls more to clapping then the actual bird sounds.

This GB Heron seemed to be having trouble swallowing whatever it was trying to eat. Close to this time was when I saw my first Merlin. So I did get one lifer today. I am not counting hearing the Sora and Rail as lifers.





One of the highlight of the trip for me was seeing three Hawks, we believe they were all Harrier's flying low over the river and marsh.

 

There were plenty of Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teals and Green -winged Teals.



On the way back to the boat dock we went past a yard that had goats and it seemed funny to me to see a couple of Great Egrets not far away.





I want to thank the Scenic Sunday host for putting this Meme together for me and you to enjoy. And I thank everyone who stops by my blog.


Eastern Bluebirds back on shore.

28 comments:

  1. I'm so impressed with your knowledge of birds. I find birds hard to photograph and I only know a little about them. I took some pics of birds on my trip up north but I don't remember the names of all of them. Maybe you can help out when I put up the post later today.

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  2. Seems to me you had a wonderful day! I would have enjoyed going with you.

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  3. Eileen: Need shots of the GB and a neat flying duck.

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  4. What a great post photos scenery and commentary Thank you

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  5. Really great scenary -and you also "found" som nice birds too//Eva

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  6. beautiful captured of lots of herons.

    my entry: http://southbrowneyes.blogspot.com/

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  7. Interesting boat ride.
    I don't have enough knowledge to tell names of so many birds !
    Thank you for the photos.

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  8. that poor heron does look as though he's struggling a bit!

    I've enjoyed browsing your blog, you've got a lot of wonderful photos here.

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  9. What a great way to spend the day, on a boat and birding.

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  10. Eileen, what an interesting birdwatching boat ride. What is a Merlin? Oh those elusive birds that we hear and cannot see. This happened to me in a Game Reserve when we followed the call of the African Finfoot a whole weekend and left without seeing it! Thanks for a brilliant post.

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  11. The scenery in the top photo is lovely..
    You have captured lots of birds too!

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  12. Oh wow, nice photos of the birds.... you are quick and handy with the camera!

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  13. Looks like a great trip for birding. I really liked the closeups of the Great Blue Heron.

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  14. Was your boat covered with leaves and branches like this nature shows on TV.

    Wow! your knowledge of birds is so great. When I was living in Singapore, we had flocks of egrets. They tell me they are from South Africa.

    We did have some special visitors.

    http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/oriental-pied-hornbill-another-rare.html

    Thanks for visiting

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  15. What a lovely outing in your boat and what MARVELOUS photos you've captured and shared. Thanks so much for the virtual tour.
    Hugs and blessings,

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  16. Hmmm ... I don't know if my comment posted or not because Mozilla crashed when I published it and I don't see it here ... so I'll thank you once again for sharing these marvelous photos of you lovely boat ride. I enjoyed them all ;-)
    Hugs and blessings,

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  17. Hi Eileen, Happy Scenic Sunday.
    Looks like a great place to relax and enjoy nature all around you. What state is it in? All the photos are great. I like the close-ups of the heron and also the goats sharing the same ground as the herons is too cute. I did not have time to share a photo today, perhaps next week.

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  18. It looks like a wonderful place! I can see why bids love the area! Wonderful!

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  19. Very beautiful sky in the first photo.
    I like these nature scenery with birds photos.
    I feel a sense of freedom.

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  20. Eileen, I'm really sorry for sending a lot of comments.
    I misunderstood and sent my comment many times to you.
    Please this play the last one and eliminate others include this.

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  21. wow, it's an interesting boat with herons.
    Glad you shared these photos.

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  22. Really enjoyed reading your post, sounds like you had a wonderful day on the boat.

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  23. Love the pictures. I saw a couple of GBHs yesterday on our Lake Walk and some egrets. No good pictures though, so it was so fun to look at yours.

    We had cedar waxwings in our yard once, but never again (in our stick house before we became full-time RVers). I was told that they pick a different migration route every year. Do you know? We see them once in a while now when we travel, but we're never in the same place twice, so we don't know if they are '>) Anyway, they are one of my favorites.

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  24. You got some great pictures on your boat ride. I like the pictures of the heron (I hope he finally got that thing down) but I'm envious of your hawk pictures. I haven't had any success capturing a hawk.

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  25. What a lovely post.
    So many beautiful landscapes and bird photos.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  26. Lovely scenic drive..flowers and birds are so beautiful! Nice post here- Hope you have a great week-

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Hello, thank you for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

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