Blogging Break

Hello everyone,

I just decided to take  a break from  blogging maybe for two weeks..

I do have my Saturday's Critter parties scheduled for the next two Saturdays. I hope you will link up your critters..


I will catch up with the posts as soon as I can. And If possible I will try to comment on your post..


A last goodbye to Goldie Girl, you will be dearly missed.

See you later

Eileen

Saturday's Critters #39

Saturday's Critters #39

Wishing everyone a happy Labor Day Weekend!!!! It is nice to have a long weekend. YES!

Happy weekend and welcome to Saturday's Critters!  For my critter post I am sharing some of my backyard birds.. the House Finches..

 A pretty male House Finch.

Next couple of series of are junior and dad..

An InLinkz Link-up

 Thank you for linking up to the critter party. I appreciate the visits, comments and the support of my blogging friends................... Have a happy weekend!


To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Please visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin. Also, sharing with Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting.

The Conservancy_Part II

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  and NF Winged

Good Morning and happy Thursday! For this week's post I am including some sky captures for Skywatch Friday and some fence shots for Tex's Good Fence memes..Some other shots were of the moon from my yard and of course I have something winged for Monica's NF Winged.    Except for the moon shot all the other were taken at the Howard County Conservancy in Woodstock, Md.

This was a shot of the moon setting early in the morning last weekend.. but the moon was just a crescent the last time I saw it.. our mornings have been cloudy lately.

This shot is looking thru the fence at the community garden during our visit to the Howard County Conservancy..I  love these pretty flowers and colors.

Looking down one of the rows at the community garden, I see corn, tomatoes and the pretty sunflowers. There is also a fence attached to the gate..

 This Tiger Swallowtail butterfly shot is for NF Winged.

Some of the birds we saw at the Conservancy..an Indigo Bunting, Eastern Bluebird and a House Wren. They were all nice to pose on or near fences..

The blue sky and the sunflowers make a pretty sky shot.. The sky was clear and blue on the day of our visit..

Back at home I saw this pretty view of the sky and clouds walking to my mailbox.  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.


To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences
and for anything that has wings check out NF Winged

Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday also thanks to Monica of NF Winged!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

Tropical Kingbird

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

 For this week's wild bird, I am sharing the Tropical Kingbird  seen in Belize.

The Tropical Kingbird was not a Belize lifer, I have seen them in different places during my travels.
 Here is another one of my post sharing the Tropical Kingbird seen in Panama.
This bird is a large tyrant flycatcher. It breeds from southern Arizona to South America

This is not the best shot taken from a great distance and on a cloudy day. But it shows the bird well and their colors. Their head are a pale grey with a darker eye mask. They have a heavy bill and the they have yellow underparts.  They eat insects and some fruits.

I hope you enjoyed my Belize bird.. Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Weekend walk_Aug 16th

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 


 I am sharing last weekend's walk at the Howard County Conservancy. The Conservancy is a non-profit environmental education center.. They have two locations we visited the Mt. Pleasant Farm located in Woodstock. Md.

  Mt Pleasant is 232 acres of rolling hills, home to 140 birds and other wildlife. There are the historic buildings like the farmhouse, barns, hen house and other outbuildings.

This cute garden decoration..included an Oriole fan... Go Orioles!!!!

We walked around the community veggie and flower garden, lots of birds and butterflies hanging around the gardens..The community garden is fenced in, to protect the gardens from the deer.  I took these shots thru the fence..

I loved this owl carving.. There are trails for hiking and monthly events for the whole family to enjoy.

I will share more from the Conservancy and the gardens which was nice to see the butterflies and native flowers on my next post..



As always I thank you in advance for stopping by and for the nice comments.

I hope you can join in on our at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith our new host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

Saturday's Critters #38

Saturday's Critters #38


Happy weekend and welcome to Saturday's Critters! I am looking forward to seeing lots of your critters this week.

My hummingbirds are still here having their wars over the feeders.. Above is a sweet female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

 The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird with a crazed look in his eye..

 My male hummer again, looking a little more normal..

My Goldie Girl actually walked to the lake with us last weekend.. I am amazed how she went 9 months without wanting to step outside except to do her business and come right back in.. I am not sure why all of a sudden she seems more lively? She is close to 11 1/2 years old..  Either way I am glad she feels better.

An InLinkz Link-up

I hope you enjoyed my birds and critters.. Now its your turn, to share your critters..

 Thank you for linking up to the critter party. I appreciate the visits, comments and the support of my blogging friends................... Have a happy weekend!


To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Please visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin. Also, sharing with Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting.

Around the Neighborhood_082014

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  and NF Winged

 For this week's post I am sharing a hodgepodge of images.. Some for Tex's Good Fence's, also for Monica's NF Winged and more of hubby's photos for Skywatch Friday..

 For NF Winged I have one of my yard bird pretties..a female American Goldfinch.

From our walk at the local park another NF Winged shot a couple of moths. Or are they Red Admirals?  Edit: Karolina was first to mention my moths are actually Silver-spotted Skippers. Thanks to all who helped with id.

 For my entry for Tex's Good Fence meme,  I captured a two-fer fence. I tried so hard to focus on the Barn Swallows on the chained link fence behind the first wire fence. Focusing was not going to happen for me. :(

I like this shot for all the Queen Anne's Lace in front of the wire fence.

 I am pretty sure this is the Eastern Phoebe, but I could be wrong.. Ken from rosy-finch.blogspot suggest that my bird above is the Pewee.  I think he is right on with the id..

 Hubby is sharing his sunset captures at our lake..

I hope you enjoyed my hodge podge of a post and my photos. I always appreciate you stopping by for a visit and for commenting.. I am behind in sending some thank you emails, I hope you do not mind.. But, I do thank you all for the wonderful comments..


To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences
and for anything that has wings check out NF Winged

Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday also thanks to Monica of NF Winged!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

Yellow-tailed Oriole

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes


For this week's wild bird I am sharing another Belize lifer.. The Yellow-tailed Oriole..a passerine bird in the New World. It breeds from Mexico to western Peru and northwestern Venezuela.

This Oriole is mainly yellow with a black back..lower face and upper breast..and a yellow rump

This Oriole has been reducing in numbers in its range due to the cage-bird trade..it is valued for its beautiful appearance and song.. I wish there was a way to put a stop to the trade and sale of wild birds. Many wild birds become extinct due to habitat loss and pet trade..

I can see a small section  of the black tail edged in yellow on this shot..This Yellow-tailed Oriole was seen during my birding tour along the Sittee River in Hopkins, Belize..



I hope you enjoyed my Belize bird and lifer.. Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Weekend Walk_Aug 10th

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 


I am happy to joining  Judith of Lavender Cottage as the new host of Mosaic Monday..I am sharing some scenes, birds from last weekend's walk on a local trail called George's Creek.. I have been there a few times lately because there have been some cool birds sighted there.

 My birds of George's Creek: top row are the Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting male&female, Hooded Warbler. Bottom Row: maybe a Pine Warbler, Gray Catbird, unknown juvie flycatcher?

Edit: Kathie of  Kathie's Birds  posted in her comment below that my maybe guess on the Pine Warbler is actually a Yellow-throated Vireo.. Thanks to Kathie for the id.. I appreciate the help.

 I like this shot of the Canada Geese, GB Heron and a couple of Wood Ducks floating by..

 We have seen the Great Blue Heron during each of our walks at George's Creek, also some Wood Ducks and Canada Geese.  The top right shot is either the Solitary Sandpipers or Spotted Sandpiper, there has been a lot of discussion on these birds id.

 This is a larger photo of the Sandpiper in question, if any one else can help.. I am thinking it is the Solitary Sandpiper..not the Spotted.

We saw the Red Admiral Butterfly on the way back to our car, I am always checking out the milkweed to see what is nearby, a Comma Butterfly is in the middle left photos.. It was a wonderful morning for our walk.. Our weather has been cooler and not as humid, great weather for a hike..I hope you enjoyed my walk and George's Creek.



As always I thank you for stopping by and for the nice comments.

I hope you can join in on our at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith our new host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

Saturday's Critters #37

Saturday's Critters #37

Happy weekend and welcome to Saturday's Critters! I am looking forward to see all the critters this week!


These are some shots of the the Northern Mockingbird and the American Goldfinch.. The photos were taken a few weeks ago during one of our weekend walks at the local park..

 I saw a few of the Northern Mockingbirds around the trail..

The Goldfinches seem to be enjoying some seeds off of a dead flower..

Here is another angle of the American Goldfinch showing their backs. This is a pretty male with the bright yellow colors of summer.

On the way home from the park, hubby and I always slow down to see the animals on this farm. On this day the goats all turned their heads and looked our way too..Aren't they cute? I hope you enjoyed my birds and critters.. Now its your turn, to share your critters..

An InLinkz Link-up

 Thank you for linking up to the critter party. I appreciate the visits, comments and the support of my blogging friends................... Have a happy weekend!


To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Please visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin. Also, sharing with Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting.

Hershey Gardens Part II

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  and NF Winged


 I have some more photos to share from my Hershey Gardens visit.. While at Hershey I was lucky to include some sky and fence shots for Skywatch Friday and Tex's Good Fence memes..Some other shots were of the moon from my yard and of course I had to throw in a yardbird.   

The day before I took a shot of the almost full moon and the almost Supermoon..

Before leaving for Hershey Gardens, I had to check out my yard birds. It seems I have become overrun with these House Sparrows.. This one is sitting on the pokeberry bush..

Another prettie from the Hershey Butterfly House.. A Queen butterfly..

The entrance to the children's garden and walkway to the butterfly house..this shot include a clear sky and some pretty fences too.

For Tex's Good Fence meme... here is a fence with some pretty roses was all around the pond. 

Above is a scene from the gardens showing the pretty blue sky with some puffy white clouds. It was perfect weather for walking around the gardens, not too hot and no humidity. I love these lovely plants.. Elephant Ears.

For the NF Winged part of my post. I am sharing another one of my favorite butterflies..It is called the Zebra Longwing..

Another shot of the Zebra Longwing...It is beautiful!

This colorful moon was also taken the morning before the actual supermoon..I like the color of this setting moon..The moon shots were all taken hand held using my Canon SX40HS, no special lenses were necessary.


I hope you enjoyed my post and photos
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences
and for anything that has wings check out NF Winged

Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday also thanks to Monica of NF Winged!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.