Birding & Covered Bridges

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