Western Bluebird

Western Bluebird

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wildbird, I am sharing one of my lifers from Colorado.. The Western Bluebird..

 The adult males are a bright blue on top and on the throat. They have an orange breast and sides.  A brownish patch on the back and a gray belly..

 Immature & female Western bluebirds are a duller color.

 The Western Bluebird (male)  has a blue throat and the (female) has a gray throat.  This photo above the throat feathers looks like the have a tinge of blue.. Maybe it is a juvenile or the female?
 

For comparison...I included this male Eastern Bluebird above that shows the throat is all orange..I was excited to add the Western Bluebird to my lifer list.. So now I have seen all three Bluebirds in the USA. The Eastern Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird and the latest the Western Bluebird..

I hope you enjoyed my Western Bluebird post..  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 both of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and our host Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Weekend Walk_Sept 21

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

 For this week's post I am sharing some scenes from last weekend's  walk at the Hashawha Nature Center.. It is a local park with some great trails and usually lots of birds to see.  I believe someone ask me in a previous Hashawha post what was the meaning of the name.. Hashawha is a Native American term meaning "old fields".  Hashawha is a participant in Program Open Space, Maryland Acres for Wildlife and is a registered tree farm. A restored wetland with a boardwalk is open to the public for recreational purposes.

A Belted Kingfisher and a Green Heron were the highlights of the bird sightings..

The Green Heron looking fluffy and maybe wet, it preened for quite a while.

The dragonfly looks like a Blue Darter,  a view of the wetlands and an Eastern Painted Turtle.

The Clouded Sulfur and various wildflowers seen during our Hashawha walk.

A pretty Clouded Sulfur..


I hope everyone enjoyed my weekend walk and photos..

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 #43

Saturday's Critters #43

Happy weekend everyone! I am looking forward to seeing everyone's critters this week..I appreciate everyone who has linked up in the past and for those who are linking in on this week's critter party. I am sharing some more of my Colorado critters.. I hope you enjoy them..

The Pine Siskins are cute birds and easy to id with the yellow on the side of their wings and tails. I was tickled that our hotel in Estes Park had a line of these pine trees with all the pine cones at the top. The birds were loving the seeds from the cones. I could stand on our balcony and just snap away at anything that moved..HAHA.

A female Red Crossbill was a lifer for me.. We walked ( I was birding) a few mornings at the Matthews-Reeser Bird Sanctuary in Estes Park.  It was part of the trail that loops around the Estes Lake.

 

The female cow elk and the bull elk seen on the parking lot at Estes Lake.

A young elk or calf.. not too far from the adults.. I use my zoom lens on all photos. I am not getting close to or in the way of these wild animals.

I would say this man is too close, but did he know what was behind him.. The people were checking out the females and some young elk on the other side of the car..

The white car is our rental car, hubby laughed at me because I would not walk back to the car until the Elk moved away.  I was not getting close to him.

Picnic anyone?

I was told that this bird could be a lifer also, the female or juvenile Cassin's Finch.  They have a forked tail and the male has the raspberry color like the Purple Finches. It can be confusing with the Cassins's Finch, Pine Siskin's  and the square tipped tailed House Finches all being seen in the area. I may have some better photos of this bird, I have to look some more..

This post is just about the 2nd or 3rd day in Colorado and the Rocky Mtn Nat' Park.  LOL, so sit back and enjoy the show..more elk to come...


Thanks to Tex Theresa aka Tex, I was able to add this link up button and thanks to  Jennifer for creating my photo badge.

<a href="http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/"><img src=" https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/15299083201_9709303697_m.jpg" width="185" height="240"></a>

An InLinkz Link-up

Thank you for linking up to the critter party. I also 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.

Colorado Part III

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  and NF Winged

So far, I have only shown photos from the first couple of days  of our vacation on Colorado.. I have so many more photos of scenery, animals and birds. I hope you do not mind tagging along on my trip once again..

 We stopped at the Grand Lake Lodge for lunch, this is the view from the front porch. I see I found a good fence around the swimming pool.

 A view of the pretty sky and clouds,  gorgeous mountain scenery. Does a rock wall count as a fence?

 I like this view of the mountains, the tundra plants and the fence.. I was snapping all kinds of fences in the Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park..

I am not sure if this is a crow or a common raven.. But, we found a few of them near the Alpine Visitor Center..

This was a trail located at the Medicine Bow Curve overlook.. Hubby and I walked along some, I was looking for the White-tailed Ptarmigan.  No luck finding the bird.

 This trail is called the Tundra Communities trail...located at the Alpine Visitor Center.. elevation 12,000 feet..The White-tailed Ptarmigan can be found there in the winter.. hiding in little snow caves..The sky on this shot above is beautiful. 

 A small lake scene along the Trail Ridge Road. In the corner of the photo you can make out another fence for Tex's Good Fence post..I told you I was finding all kinds of fences in the park..

I am not sure what kind of bird this is, we saw a flock of different birds moving along the trail we were walking on..It seems to have a rusty colored breast, too much for a bluebird or a robin?

We were on our vacation during the time of the supermoon.. This photo I believe was taken a day before the actual full moon..

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.

Mountain Bluebird

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am sharing the Mountain Bluebirds seen in the Rocky Mountain National Park.. It was not a lifer but I just love the bluebirds.. My first sighting of this pretty bluebird was on a trip to the Tetons/Yellowstone.  

 Above is not the greatest of photos, I just love their open wings and the grasses.  Hubby and I sat and watched a flock of maybe 20 or more bluebirds passing thru this field in the park..I read that they hover over the ground and fly down to catch insects..

This is the female Mountain Bluebird, isn't she pretty..They are turquoise blue with white underbellies. The females are a duller blue with a grey crown, throat and back.

The sky was awful in this shot, but a lot of the bluebirds landed in this tree along with a Flicker and some other small birds.  Sorry, I could not mange better photos, the birds were a distance away in the field shared with some elk.. I was not going to walk into the field with these huge elk standing there.

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 both of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and our host Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

George's Creek

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

Hello, everyone.. Fall is almost here ( starts tomorrow the 22nd)  and I just can not believe how fast the summer went.. We had a cool summer here, not the usual hot & humid days that we are used to.. LOL, I feel cheated..


These are some photos from our weekend walk at our local George's Creek.. it is a creek that leads into our Prettyboy reservoir.. Hubby and I have enjoyed our walks along the creek each time seeing something different..

These are some of the scenes from our walk..the pretty Swallowtail and Fritillary butterflies. Some wildflowers and ferns seen along the creek.

Swallowtail and Fritallary butterflies..

 I am not sure what these little orange flowers are called but, it was obvious the Ruby-throated Hummingbird was enjoying their nectar.

 A sweet hummer, I will miss them when they head south.. I wish I could go with them.  I am not looking forward to this winter..

 Some slider turtles sunning themselves on a log, an Eastern Box Turtle, wildflowers, Fritillary Butterfly and a Canada Goose.

I hope you enjoyed these nature scenes and photos.  I am glad you came along on our walk..

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 #42

Saturday's Critters #42


Happy weekend and welcome to Saturday's Critters! I am sharing some of the birds and critter seen during our Colorado vacation.. We were lucky to see the female moose and her young a few times..The Marmots were seen a few times during our rides back and forth thru the park. The Stellar's Jay were a common bird seen all over the place..

The Stellar's Jay.

Female Moose and calf.

The Marmot.

Thanks to Tex, I was able to add this link up button..

<a href="http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/"><img src=" https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/15299083201_9709303697_m.jpg" width="185" height="240"></a>

I hope you enjoyed my Jay and the critters.. As always thanks for visiting my post!

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.

Colorado Part II

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  and NF Winged

As you can see I am not very original with my titles.. I have so many photos from Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park.. Visiting the national parks in the USA is something hubby and I love to do.. The scenery is usually beautiful and I can always find birds and critters.. And for this post I also found some fences for Tex's Good Fence meme and some sky shots for Skywatch Friday. And a cute Ruby-crowned Kinglet for NF Winged..  I hope you enjoy!

 The historic site in the park had many fences that did not go unnoticed by me..

 Two brown dots way in the distance are another female moose and her calf. I stayed behind this fence, I knew this would look good for my Good Fence post..

More views of the Rocky Mountains and yes another fence.. 

A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet was seen while hiking on a trail next to the Colorado River.

For two nights we enjoyed watching the sunset over the Granby Lake. 

The moon was beautiful during our two nights stay on the west side of the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park.


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.

Black-billed Magpie

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am sharing the Black-billed Magpie from our visit to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park.
The Black-billed Magpies were a common bird seen during our Colorado vacation.. Many would be hanging around the parking lots and picnic grounds..

The Black-billed Magpie is in the Crow family. They are found in the western half of the USA, from Alaska to New Mexico. In the photo above you can see their tail makes up for half of their length.

The Magpie is black with white shoulders and white belly. They have dark blue-green wings and tail.  I think they are handsome birds and look beautiful in flight.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Magpie, they are cool looking birds..
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 both of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and our host Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!