Walk to the lake

I am linking up  with That's My World  and Watery Wednesday . These are some photos from yesterday's walk with my hubby to the nearby lake and some from my backyard. The lake has a thin layer of ice and is starting to melt quickly now.

These are some shots of Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures flying around my yard and a pretty Pine Warbler and a gorgeous sunset to end the day.

I hope you enjoyed my photos please visit that's My World and Watery Wednesday.  Thanks for stopping by and thanks to the great host of the two memes.

SWF...on the way to Bombay Hook

These shots are from last Sunday when hubby and I took a daytrip to Bombay Hook NWR. We were not too far from home and we were watching the moon setting while we driving. 

Click on the photos for a larger image.


                                    The first shot is the moon from our yard.

Another sighting of a large flock of blackbirds. They could be grackles or starlings? We stopped the car to watch these birds. They just seem to keep coming more and more and  at one point the sky looked black.

As more birds were flying along I got a shot of the moon with the blackbirds.

As more and more birds came along the moon was harder to see.

This had to be the largest flock of birds I have ever seen. There was a long line of of them as they flew along the road we were driving on. You can still barely see the moon in the background.

This shot was taken on the same road just before the birds appeared.  I love these early morning pinks and blues.

The sky with these birds and the moon was an amazing sight to see. To see more beautiful skies check out Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the host: Sylvia, Wren, Sandy, Fishing Guy and Klaus.

Also thanks for visiting my blog and I hope everyone has a great weekend.

White Crowned Sparrow

This is my first time I am linking up with the World Bird Wednesday meme, sounds like a great place to check out a lot of different birds.



Also linking up with Wordless Wednesday .

  If you like you can read my first comment about the White Crowned Sparrow. Thanks to the great hosts of both the World Bird Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday. Also, thanks for stopping by my post.

Birding the Inner Harbor

During this past week we had some nice warm weather, we had temps in the 70's. So I grabbed the chance to take some nice walks to the Inner Harbor at lunchtime.

As far as birds go I did not see much just a lot of gulls, pigeons, around 9 mallards, 6 coots and one Northern Shoveler. There might have been more hidden in and around the boats slips.


           Below is a view of the Baltimore Aqarium, the glass pyramid holds the rainforest. The rainforest section is one of my favorite attractions in the aqarium. You can walk across the bridge to see the dolphin show in the second part of the aqarium. Past the aqarium you can just barely see a white tent like structure, this is the Pier 6 Pavilion which has a summer series of outdoor concerts.


As usual click on the photos for a larger image.

I liked this sailboat with the red, white and blue on it.

Northern Shoveler

In the distance you can see my coots swimming and I think the boat with the red slide on the back it is cool. Wouldn't you like to have a boat like this?

Coots

                             One of the six coots, I saw during my walk. I found the coots in the same spot all three days I took my walk.

I watched as a man was feeding these gulls and a couple of mallards. They were excited and noisy over being fed.

This gull was happy with this cracker he found. Now what to do with it, I think he was afraid to put it down.

I like this lighthouse and I thought of Ruby Tuesday when  I saw it across the harbor.

The warm temps are now gone and I woke up to see a light dusting of snow in our yard. Yuck, is there no end to this winter? I am off today for President's Day and I am going to count my yardbirds for the Great Backyard Bird Count.

I am linking up with That's My World  and Ruby Tuesday  Thanks to the gang of hosts at That's My World and to Mary of Ruby Tuesday.

Also, thanks for stopping by my post and I hope everyone has a great week.

Birding the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

After leaving Barnegat Lighthouse last Saturday Hubby and I headed for the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. We were able to do some birding at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning. It is located just across from Atlantic City.  The refuge has 47,000 acres of coastal habitat and a fantastic wildlife drive. I have been going to Atlantic City since a child and this was my first visit to the refuge, I did not even know it was there. It is a great place for birding and I will definitely be making another trip to the refuge later in the spring 

During this visit we saw a lot of ducks, mostly the American Black Duck, Northern Pintails, Gadwalls, Northern Shoveler, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, a large flock of Dunlin, Canada Geese, a Northern Harrier, Tundra Swans, Mute Swan, a large flock of Brant,  a Bald Eagle,  Killdeer and an unknown raptor.


Click on photos for a larger image

Northern Pintail... I just love their cute tail feathers

A closer look at the Northern Pintail

I assume this is the American Black Duck.

A large flock of Dunlins

Cute Killdeer

Pintails, Shoveler and Mallards

Great Blue Heron

Common Merganser

Hooded Merganser and a Bufflehead

Large flock of Brant

Any know what my unknown raptor is?

Atlantic City in the distance, I hope the Turbines do not hurt these birds as they are migrating.

This is my Camera Critters  post, I hope you enjoy my visit to the refuge and all the ducks and birds. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and as usual I appreciate your visits to my blog.  Have a great weekend!

Common Eider

For this weeks Watery Wednesday I am showing the Common Eiders I saw while at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. We had some great views of the male which has white on its back and breast and looks like its has a long nose. The females are more rufous brown in color.

Click on the photos for a larger image.

Below the males white in color are really noticable while in flight.

To see more wonderful watery shots visit 2sweetnsaxy's  waterywednesday . Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy and thanks for stopping by my post. I hope the rest of your week is great.

Just ducky

First, I want to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!


This weekend hubby and I visited the Barnegat lighthouse and state park to see the ducks. Winter is the time to really see some great ducks like the Harlequin and the Long tailed Ducks.

Long Tailed Ducks...the male has a white head with a brown neck patch and dark wings. They breed in the northernmost Canadian and Alaskan tundra. It is great that some spend the winters on the Atlantic coast.

Harlequin Ducks....the male has white stripes on head and chest and a white spot at ear. They also breed in northeastern Canada and the Pacific northwest and winter around rocky areas on the coast.

Barnegat Lighthouse

I am link up my Just Ducky post with Mosaic Monday   and That's My World  Click on the links to visit these fun memes.

Sunday morning walk

This morning hubby and I went out for a walk on the fireroad closest to our house. I am trying to get back into the groove after being off for my hand surgery. The fireroad still has 3-6 inches of snow and is difficult to walk in but I guess it is good exercise. Kind of like walking in sand ..it feels like a real workout.  My Goldie Girl does not seem to have any trouble walking thru the snow.

On this shot you can see some of our reservoir thru the trees. Most of the lake looks frozen.

Goldie Girl doesn't seem to mind me stopping so I can listen for the birds. We could see deer and other animal tracks all along the fireroad as we walked.



















I was looking and listening for the birds as we walked. I could hear Canada geese in the distance, Bluejays and crows seemed to be fussy, a woodpecker knocking, the cute sounds of the Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpeckers and Chickadees. A Red Tailed hawk was flying over my yard just as we arrived home from our walk.

A Red Tailed hawk and a pretty blue sky. you can really see the distinctive red tail on this shot.

I am link up with Mary's Mosaic Monday and That's My World.  Thanks to Mary and the hosting gang at That's My World. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I everyone has a great week.

Wingscape birdcam slideshow

I have been collecting some of my favorite Wingscape birdcam photos onto my Smugmug gallery. The birdcam has captured some funny looks on the birds, especially one male Cardinal that does not seem to mind looking right into the camera. I think he wants to be a star.











I hope this works, I have never tried to attach a slideshow to a blog post. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Bluebird..Just maybe a sign of spring

To see more of  Wordless click hereWordless Wednesday

I noticed this pretty female bluebird land on my bluebird house this morning and then flew and landed on these wires. I looked out again and the male was perched on my car's antenna.

A small sign of spring for me...YEA!!!



Thanks to the host of Wordless Wednesday and for visiting my Wordless Wednesday  post.