Thursday, February 27, 2014

Blackwater skies

Linking up with Skywatch Friday 

These cold winter weeks seem to be flying by as usual.. We are having snow showers off and on, sometimes every day.   This is one winter I will not forget. I will remember the Arctic Vortex, the snowfall has to be one of the largest in years and record breaking lows day after day. Please bring on the heat, Bermuda high, anything that will warm us up.


 The sunrise sky on the way to Blackwater.. I like the layers of clouds and colors.


 A pretty sky at Blackwater NWR. The name Blackwater comes from the tea-colored waters of local rivers darkened from water that drains thru peat soil marshes.


 Blackwater NWR has 27,000 acres of freshwater impoundments and brackish tidal wetlands. Blackwater is host to three recovering species, the endangered Delmarva Squirrel, the delisted Peregrine Falcon and the delisted Bald Eagle.

 I know this looks like a photo I used on a post below but it is not.. The Juvenile Eagles were flying this way and that way. And I was trying to follow them with my camera, not the best I was happy with the shot above.

 Blackwater NWR is known as as waterfowl sanctuary for birds migrating along the Atlantic flyway. The large flocks of Snow Geese and Canada Geese were all over the Blackwater NWR and on the eastern shore of Maryland.


Thank you for visiting my post, I hope you enjoyed my birds and skies. Please stop back and join in with my Saturday's Critter party.

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

58 comments:

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Your skies are lovely and will hopefully soon bear more light and warmth.

Carole M. said...

showers here at the moment also Eileen (9.36 pm), great to see the great geese flock! Another lovely series; always interesting

Elizabeth Edwards said...

i enjoy the taking off shot. wonder how many birdies are there? over 50 or 100? wow, beautiful. ( :

DIMI said...

Good morning Eileen!I hope the weather gets more warm,very soon!Wonderful pictures!!Great shots of the colorful skies!Lovely images of the Canadian geese!!Wish you a happy day!Hugs!
Dimi...

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

As always. Great shots. I enjoy your explanations as well. :)

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I know you're wanting spring to arrive soon, but I have been thoroughly enjoying your winter pics :)

Indrani said...

Pleasant skies!
Loved the last shot of birds in flight.

Lynne said...

So seeing juvenile bald eagle here at this site must be an exception, rather than the rule, if they have been delisted? Wondering what that means . . .?

Nancy's Notes said...

What a wonderful post! I love each shot, truly beautiful birds and sky! Would love to have been behind your camera lens!
Have a happy day!
Nancy

orchid0324 said...

Dearest Eileen;
Oh My!!! So many Snow Geese and Canada Geese (waterfowl) at the sanctuary. Good of me seem learning a bit of words p;)
Wonderful sky scenes♡♡♡

Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

Jemma@athomewithjemma said...

Eileen,
Such cold and pristine beauty-I can see why so many beautiful creatures call this home-
Stay warm-
Jemma

Willow said...

gorgeous skies EIleen. OH I am so with you this years WINTER needs to head out , we have had more than our share of cold.

Montanagirl said...

Really like your skies, especially that first one. That's a lot Geese too!

TexWisGirl said...

oh, those blues!

we had a hard freeze again here in ne tx last night. and more freezes expected next week, too.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty photos, Eileen. Spring cannot come soon enough.

Irma said...

Hi Eileen,
Beautiful sky in the first photo.
I hope the cold disappears quickly.
Here's the spring began.

A Colorful World said...

Really wonderful shots. Hope it is warming up some in your area. We've had 70s days this month and some 80s and even 90s already while so much of the country has been suffering in extreme cold. I am grateful for this weather now, but will be miserable come summer! :-)

DeniseinVA said...

Those are lovely skies Eileen, I enjoyed your sunrise shot and the one with the eagle and geese particularly. Have a great day!

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Wonderful wonderful photos. I'm with you - let's have a little warmth.

LindyLouMac said...

What a winter it has been, enjoyed the photos.

Nancy J said...

Eileen, a super sunrise photo, those muted colours are lovely, and so many bird species, well worth the drive there. Hope your days warm up soon, Cheers, Jean.

Our Neck of the Woods said...

Such pretty skies! I like the shot of all the geese flying. Very pretty!

Karen said...

Beautiful shots! I love the softness of the colours in the first one.

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Nice captures accentuating river life, Eileen! You know my favorites!!!...:)JP

Sonja said...

You certainly have some good birding places to visit. It's amazing to see that many geese in one photo!

Icy BC said...

Gorgeous sky shots, and love that bird photo! See you on Saturday Critter :)

Laura said...

Beautiful photos Eileen… very cold up here too.

Carver said...

Beautiful shots of the sky and birds in flight.

carol l mckenna said...

Beautiful sky shots and love the birds ~ Yes, this winter has gotten to all of us ~ soon Spring ~ thanks for coming by and Happy Weekend to you ^_^
carol xxx

Jim said...

great shots

Celeste said...

My goodness that is a lot of Snow Geese! What an impressive sight. Stay warm Eileen.

Anonymous said...

Hi Eileen, What a great photo of that flock in action! I also enjoyed seeing your picture of the young eagle. Interesting to know how the area got its name. Have a super day tomorrow!

Brian King said...

Beautiful! I really like the third photo and the flying flock shot!

Zizi Santos said...

Apreciei muito suas imagens de céu , das águas do rio (blackwater) e da migração dos pássaros. Amei cada imagem!
Zizi

Linda W. said...

Like the sky shots and your last photo of the birds in flight is great!

lina@womens perspectives said...

Enjoying each shot, especially the one with so many white birds.
Stay warm!

Anonymous said...

Winter skies are cold - but oh so beautiful!

Janice said...

Very nice shots of both sky and birds.

Bob Bushell said...

Beautiful skylines Eileen.

diane b said...

It must be amazing to see such a big flock of birds take off and land.

Phil Slade said...

Hi Eileen. The eagle shot is great because it shows how powerful a Bald Eagle is and against the background of the tree, also how big they are in their natural surroundings.

Seraphinas Phantasie said...

Wonderful photos of the sky and the birds. Great colors. I wish you a sunny weekend, Eileen.
Best regards, Synnöve

EG CameraGirl said...

I like the shot of the flying birds.

Anonymous said...

Sounds nice place to see lot birds!

Hootin Anni said...

Beautiful Eileen!! All of your photos. Just hope soon you'll get some Spring warming and then the heat of the summer.

Nancy said...

Your post reminded me I need to get to our local NWR to see some migrating birds. Lovely images Eileen. xo

Gail Dixon said...

This winter has been one for the record books; even for us southerners. We had 30 freeze days and our average is 16. I know it's not as bad as y'all, but certainly not what we're used to! Hope you have a great WARM weekend!

Ranten said...

Great photos as always!

Sheila at WolfSongBlog.Com said...

Hi Eileen, I found your blog from Birding Is Fun. I am a birder and today I was trying to search for other blogs with birds and birding interest. Your photos of the birds you see are beautiful. If you know of other birding bloggers I would be interested. Thanks!

Lola said...

Exquisite captures & blog!

Thanks for visiting.

Debbie said...

we are having "weird" snow. i look outside, it looks like a blizzard, a half hour later, the suns out....but it is pretty and no clean up is required.

your skies are so pretty, most of the water ways and the river i live on are all frozen!!

have a happy weekend, it's going to end wth a bang!!

Pat said...

These blue skies are lovely but deceiving.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Beautiful photos, Eileen! Can you believe another storm is supposed to come across the country this weekend? This is a winter for the record books! It's good that birds and other wildlife can survive with all this bad winter weather.

Elaine said...

Just beautiful! I'd love to see Blackwater NWR in person.

Mary said...

Such beautiful skies! All your shots are gorgeous!

Helma said...

A beautiful sky, but also the 2nd and 3rd pictures are beautiful to see. Very nice as you also know how to shoot. Flying raptor
Greetings, Helma

Maria said...

As usual, very nice landscapes.

SandyCarlson said...

So many beautiful birds!

Saturday's Critters! # 575

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