Friday, June 22, 2012

Some Shenandoah birds and critters

I am linking up with one of my favorite meme's Camera Critters. I have always been an animal lover.....from dogs, cats, birds, turtles and frogs, And the big critters too horses, cows, deer and bears. It is wonderful to see these critters and enjoy them.

These are some shots from our Shenandoah Nat'l Park trip on June 2nd.   We started somewhat early on my favorite Limberlost trail by 9:30am. It is a great trail to see some birds closeup in the underbrush. I was happy to be seeing lots of Redstarts, Towhees, Robins and Blue-headed Vireo...I should start carrying a notebook with me to keep a list of the birds I see. I know I saw and heard more birds but I can not remember them all, a notepad and pen is important for the next time.

 My only shot of the Blue-headed Vireo. This Vireo has a blue head, white throat and a greenish back. The sides are washed with yellow-olive and also has strong wingbars.


As we walked along the trail I stopped every once in awhile looking for birds, I looked up the hill and turned to hubby and said look there is a black bear. He was amazed at how calm I was just turning and saying quietly that there was a black bear. I was really excited it was only the second time we have even seen a bear while walking on a Shenandoah trail. We have been there hundreds of times too. We stood and watched the bear until it was out of sight, very cool.

So we continued walking along the trail hoping to see the bear cross over the trail. no luck there. So I went back to looking and listening to the birds.

 We heard a lot of Eastern Towhees, this female Eastern Towhee was the only one that came out into the open. She did not seem to care that we stood and watched her. We finished the loop trail and headed back to our car, we were ready to head down to the Big Meadows store for some lunch.

 At the parking lot we saw this group of riders on their horses. You can arrange to take a trail ride at Shenandoah, something we never seemed to have time for, we usually prefer to hike.

If you want to know where your winter birds go in the summer we saw lots of Dark-eyed Juncos near the camp store. We ate our lunch and headed back onto the Skyline Drive for our next hike, it was a new one for us called the Upper Hawksbill. It is the highest part of the Skyline Drive and the views were beautiful. Back in our car  and driving on the Skyline Drive we came across our second bear sighting. This one was just walking along side the road.





I have always enjoyed seeing bears, I just love them. This was a first time we had the bear to ourselves. No other cars came around so we were able to stop and watch the bear for awhile without more cars coming to scare it away. I believe we were still in the middle section of the Skyline Drive and heading home when seeing the second bear. We still had the north section of the drive to go. We stopped at some overlooks and we were still looking for deers and bears on the north section before heading out of the park.

Our next sighting was seeing this cute fawn and its momma along the road. I stopped my car to watch them for awhile until a bike rider came along and they ran away into the woods.


Almost out of the park and close to the entrance gate another black bear ran across the road right in front of my car and went right into the woods. It was moving quickly but we still stopped and watched till it disappeared into the woods. Wow, I could not believe we had sighted three different black bears. There are times we go and do not see one, so I consider myself really lucky on this trip.

I hope you enjoyed my Shenandoah critters and to see more beautiful and cute critters please visit Camera Critters . Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and HAPPY weekend. Also Happy Birding!!





40 comments:

  1. hate to see wildlife so close to the road like that, but have to admit, those bear sightings would thrill me!

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  2. eileen...i am a lover of all animals but especially those wild ones!! i would have wet my pants (in excitement) to see those bears, and perhaps also in fear!!

    i cringe when i see the deer so close to the road, yikes, i almost can't look!!

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  3. Eileen, I so enjoy all your wildlife photo's and accompanying stories. I must also let you know that your cover photo on this site is fabulous. I like it also. Great work. And thanks for sharing... Looking forward to your next posting.

    Blair...

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  4. That bear shot is amazing, Eileen! The little towhee is so pretty!

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  5. wow, i do love bears and i have always enjoyed seeing them, so thank you eileen!!

    i envy you being able to see wildlife! LOL!
    your photos are totally beautiful!

    happy weekend!

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  6. Oh, what a welcome sight of a Black Bear, wowee, I love him/her.

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  7. Hmmmmm....

    My monkey can't beat your bear.

    Same to my little critters and feathered friends.

    Your bear is cool.

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  8. Great pictures. I don't think I've ever seen a bear in the wild! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Wow....Eileen, you never cease to amaze me with your photos. I love the birds of course, but coming up on a bear would be a thrill. And the deer so close by...fabulous.

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  10. The last trip through the park, I caught the sight of mama and baby bear running across the road behind my car and only caught the very blurry tail of the baby crossing the stone wall! These are great! What a wonderful trip you had - the bird photos are fabulous, as always! Have a great day!

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  11. Looks like it was a great trip, Eileen. Beautiful photos especially the bear shots. Have a great weekend.

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  12. Just brilliant seeing three Black Bears Eileen - Hey there should be a song. Even better to get pictures like you did. Have a great week. Phil

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  13. I like seeing bears......from a distance. You got some wonderful pics. And I love Mrs. Towhee---we get one pair a year, and only for a brief time in the spring.
    Have a wonderful weekend, Eileen.

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  14. GREAT pictures eileen! ESPECIALLY the bear & deer!! yeah!! how exciting!!

    i agree with you...i'd rather hike than ride horse-back...(besides the fact, that horses kind of intimidate me...)

    have a happy weekend!

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  15. Thank you so much for your cool attitude towards bears! It must have been exciting to see them at close quarters and to be able to take photos of them. You have so much wildlife around because your country is not over populated like mine.
    Have a great weekend, Eileen!

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  16. Fantastic critters, but seeing black bear would be so thrilling!

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  17. Great shots Eileen. How exciting to see the bear on three separate occasions. Lovely one of the deer family and the birds also. All lovely captures. Big Meadows is my favorite part of Skyline Drive, and now thanks to you Limberlost Trail is also part of that.

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  18. These are fabulous shots. Sky Line Drive is beautiful and you managed to see all the wildlife around every corner. Great post.

    Darryl and Ruth :)

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  19. Wow, what a fantastic area to go for a walk and take photos. But aren´t you afraid because the lot of bears there?

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  20. Wow - a black bear! How amazing.

    Love that first shot too. Lovely.

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  21. Awesome shots, Eileen; but aren't you afraid of the wild bear?

    http://www.1sthappyfamily.com/2012/06/albino-burmese-python-snake.html

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  22. Wonderful pictures, what you all went in front of the lens, fantastic...
    Love greetings, Karin

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  23. Your black bear pictures after taking the girls to see the movie "Brave" last night are great!

    Here's my CC:

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2012/06/camera-critters-62312-nelly.html

    Colletta

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  24. I love your bird photos and miss my birding from Kenya days. And today I was treated to more wildlife on your post with the black bears and the deer with her baby. I loved seeing the horses and riders in the trees too. Thanks for visiting me so regularly, Eileen. I appreciate it. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Jo

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  25. Wow black bears so near the car..
    Fantastic!

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  26. All of your nature photos are terrific, but your bird photos are especially appealing.

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  27. What great sightings! I'd love to see a bear that close.

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  28. quite an assortment of nature's bounty; lovely photos and walking trail scenery

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  29. Those were quite some sightings!!! Bear are amazing animals. Love your pics and walk on the trail. Thanks for sharing!

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  30. Fantastic set of timely captures.

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  31. How adventurous and thrilling.
    Great shots.

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  32. how amazing to see those bears! I always wish wildlife would keep away from roads....

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  33. How exciting, Eileen. I have never seen a bear in the wild even though there's a black bear that walks the railroad tracks very close to where I live. I'm never there at the right time!

    I finally saw my first eastern towhee for my life list, which I started last September. I could hear them in the forest but couldn't get close enough to see them. (Poison ivy between the towhee and me!)

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  34. Wish I was there to see the wildlife~

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  35. Such wonderful encounters. I am glad you were back in your car before you spotted the bears.

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  36. Wow, your whole blog is *full* of wonderful critters. I really enjoyed looking at them all. Thanks for stopping by my place, and pulling me over here to enjoy such wonderful photos!

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  37. your bear photos made me less scared of them ! I hope to see one soon !

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  38. How exciting to spot so many black bears while visiting Shenandoah.

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