Thursday, January 31, 2013

Birdwatching & Skywatching

It's time to link up with some of my favorites memes Watery Wednesday II , Skywatch Friday and  NF Winged

My skywatch is a beautiful sunrise we watched while on a birding outing at a local park here in Maryland. This was another wild goose chase I am still looking for the Common Redpolls being seen in Maryland. I missed the Redpolls but the sunrise was worth the visit to the park. We did see lots of gulls and some Scaup, which I believe are the Greater Scaup. Let me know if you think I am wrong on my Scaup id.


I love this tree silhouette with the sun rising.



This was one of my favorite shots, with the sun rising and the gulls in flight.


For my NF Winged contribution I am showing the Greater Scaups and below I have a shot with two Goldfinches and one Pine Siskins. The last two have been regular visitors to my deck and feeders.

 I read in my field guide that the Greater Scaup has a round head and the Lesser Scaup has a peaked rear crown. I think these Scaups have the rounded heads.

Back at home, here is a shot of two American Goldfinches and one Pine Siskin. They are the same in size but I thought it is a good comparison shot. I hope you enjoyed my post this week.

To see more beautiful photos please visit  Watery Wednesday II  
and pretty skies Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Tricia for hosting Water Wednesday II, Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to the host of NF Winged.  Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.


67 comments:

  1. those 1st 3 photos are unbelievable ... wow!! so amazing. i was like oh, i love the 1st one but then the 2nd one has those birds flying threw. wow!! i bet that was breathtaking to see in person. thanks for sharing. ( :

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  2. Beautiful series... Love the silhouettes of the gulls :)

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  3. A marvelous warm and colorful Sunset. Wonderful photos ! Best regards, Synnöve

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  4. Wow!wow!wow!These sunrise are real stunning.

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  5. Sunrise photos are stunning . . . I wonder where the Redpoles are . . . I am still waiting . . .

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  6. Great shots Eileen, love them all but do love that one with the sunset and the gulls. Have a great weekend :)

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  7. Your sunrise pictures are gorgeous!

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  8. Absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I LOVE the deep rich orange color! WoW! =)

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  9. Beautiful shots! Makes me want to leave work and head to the beach.

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  10. Beautiful skies! I'm back and feeling better, thank goodness. And I'm trying to do a little catching up with the blogging.

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  11. Beautiful sunrise! I love the silhouette of the tree too.

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  12. Your sunrise shots are glorious! Not sure on the scaup ID, sorry. Love the pine Siskin feeding among the goldfinches.

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  13. Oh dear! I left a comment on your previous post yesterday afternoon but I think it may have gone into your Blogger spam folder. I had the same problem with several comments yesterday :-(

    From memory, I think I said how much I liked your Heron photo, one of my favourite birds. I also loved seeing your beautiful Goldie girl on the earlier post and the colourful Cardinal. When I saw the pretty little birds on the Pine tree I immediately thought they looked just like Christmas tree decorations...only to scroll down and see you thought exactly the same...as they say, great minds think alike :-)

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  14. Whoops! I forgot to say what beautiful sunrise shots you have here! I'm not very good at early mornings so don't see many ;-)

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  15. These shots are amazing! I really love the ones with the sun in the background. Such gorgeous, bright colors!

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  16. WOW!! Those sky photos are absolutely gorgeous!! Just beautiful!!!

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  17. Gorgeous sunrise shots. Truly amazing.

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  18. Dear Eileen,i love the 1st picture!It is gorgeous!!All your photos are amazing!Have a lovely day!
    Dimi..

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  19. Wow, Eileen, what sunsets! Amazing!
    I never see such sunsets, so I loved them!
    Greetings Pia

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  20. Eileen, these are hot shots!!! Seriously nice color and the birds have me dreaming......I'd like to be somewhere not in the desert right now. Love it here, but a change of scenery would be nice:)

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  21. What a breathtaking way to begin the day -- any day!! Awesome captures, Eileen! Such dramatic colors! Have a great weekend!

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  22. Wow, your skypictures are just fantastic!
    I like your birds too of course!

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  23. Very beautiful and the lead in image...glorious!

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  24. Indeed, that's a gorgeous sunrise! And the foreground tree makes a wonderful image.

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  25. Beautiful pictures, I love those skies. Pretty colors. They are visual poems. Greetings.

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  26. I'm not so good with waterfowl- trying to learn them myself, but the pics are great.

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  27. The picture of the gulls flying against the orange sky is captivating. Such a beautiful picture. Your last picture could have been taken here in our yard. These little babies love our place and we keep them well fed. genie

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  28. Greetings and Salutations from Illinois. I am so sorry you didn't find the birds you were looking for but the sunrise images were totally worth seeing. Wow and double wow!
    JM Illinois

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  29. I like the birds, but I love that spectacular sunrise. Now I want to go to a lovely, warm beach!

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  30. Magnificent shots of the sunrise. They take my breath away.

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  31. Those are pretty shots! First one the most!

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  32. Stunning sunrise moments, Eileen! Love it, especially the one with flying birds in the sky :)

    http://www.womenandperspectives.com/2013/02/sky-watch-gray-sunset.html

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  33. Wow wow wow - these shots are just amazingly magical!

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  34. These are so painterly and beautiful. Eileen,my blog's name changed to:The Caribbean Biodiversity Link. I'm Maria, the same one.

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  35. My new blog address is:

    caribbeanbiodiversity.blogspot.com

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  36. what a stunning sunrise! and yes, the bare tree makes a beautiful foreground--love the drama.

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  37. Very beautiful photos for SWF,Eileen!
    Thank you for sharing and have a nice weekend!

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  38. Gorgeous!
    http://amitaag.blogspot.in/2013/01/i-love-you-cloud-to-island.html

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  39. Amazing skies... the colors are fantastic!! Happy skywatching.

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  40. Beautiful photos! I love the colours of the sunrise.

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  41. What a perfect timing to see the sun just peeing from its sleep! Love the soft colors and the birds flying over the skies add drama to the scene!

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  42. Oh wow, Eileen, you are an early bird and of course caught the worm/beautiful sunrise! What stunning SWF photos. Have a wonderful weekend. Jo

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  43. Beautiful pictures, all! I especially love the sunrises!!!

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  44. Great sky and birds - I like the combination.

    Stewart M - Melbourne

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  45. Beautiful ! apparently we live under the same golden sky ! At least at sunrise and sunset !

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  46. What a glorious sunrise!
    Thanks for sharing and enjoy your weekend.

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  47. Beautiful pictures, all of them.

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  48. Oh, those first two photos especially are absolutely glorious!! What a thrill to have been there and seen that breathtaking sunrise in person.

    I miss our pine siskins and goldfinches - we had them by the dozens at our old house and I adored watching them, but this new neighborhood we're in now doesn't have any mature trees to draw them. So I'll just enjoy yours while the trees grow. :-)

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  49. WoW Eileen, thes are just amazing! That fire in the sky, the colors, thes tree, what a special capture!

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  50. Beautiful photos and great colors.

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  51. Stunning sunrise! Love all the birds, and the feeder shot is a great IDing lesson for the two birds. Thanks.

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  52. Your sunrise photos are marvelous. The first photo is just about perfect, but I like the gulls flying through the sunlit sky as well.

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  53. Beautiful photo's Eileen.i love the sunrises

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  54. Great sunrise Eileen. i reckon you're correct with the Greater Scaup. We get them here with lessers a real rarity. Enjoy your weekend now.

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  55. Hi Eileen, WOW on the sunrise... I'd love that even more than seeing the birds... AWESOME... Thanks!!!

    Hope you have a good weekend. We finally got some SNOW this morning... Yeah!!! BUT--it was 10 degrees when I got up early today...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  56. No way!! These are GORGEOUS!! I especially love the first shot.

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  57. Incredible sunrise, Eileen! Gorgeous photos!

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  58. Goodness. Your talents life my spirits. Thanks for sharing these images.

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  59. Such lovely captures. Love all your photos.

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  60. Perfectly beautiful skies and birds Eileen! Thank you.

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  61. The sunsets are awesome, the composition is magnificent.

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