Sunday, June 21, 2015

Shenandoah National Park

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   and NF Trees  They are all fun memes to participate in. I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

I am sharing some scenes from a daytrip to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Our outing included some hiking, birding and driving on the Skyline Drive.  We enjoy going in the spring time to see the young bears and the wildflowers and lots of birds of course.

My mosaic top row: all three are of the Chestnut-sided Warbler. The second row from the left is a Veery, deer and another Chestnut-sided Warbler. Bottom row is the Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting and another Scarlet Tanager.



The Scarlet Tanager was a common bird seen and heard on various trails.





Some more of the wildflowers seen on the Limberlost Trail.


The Chestnut-sided Warbler was see often along the Limberlost Trail.


Seeing a Black Bear along the Skyline Drive is always a treat to me. They have made a come back over the years even though the surrounding states all have bear hunts.


The Black Bears seem to be timid around people, I just hope they stay safe crossing the road.



For NF Trees I am sharing a view from the Appalachian trail. Hardwood forest dominate Shenandoah National Park. The haze in the sky is introduced by humans  and has taken over a lot of the views from the park's overlooks. The polluted air can mean the death of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I hope you enjoyed our daytrip to Shenandoah National Park.  Thanks for visiting and for the nice comments. Have a great day and week ahead!

I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.
I hope you can join in on our fun with Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday and NF Trees and Bushes.

 Thanks to Judith our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer and to Monica for hosting NF Trees.


88 comments:

  1. Que maravilha esse parque! Quanto de bonito nele! Até ursos? UAU!! Lindo! bjs, tudo de bom,chica

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  2. Oh goodness what a treat you have for us today! The birds are pretty at play and the Black Bear, oh my gosh such nice photos. I hope they stay safe too!

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  3. Beautiful nature. I love the birds loa mosaic.
    Good Sunday.
    Besos.

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  4. the warbler is a beauty. of course the bunting and tanager are too! great sighting of the black bear!

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  5. Love that scarlet tanager - so different from the birds we have here. And how cool to see a bear! Great shots of him.

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  6. It would be wonderful to see a Bear wandering around adn these are great shots of it as well as the beautiful images you have of birds. Gllad you liked my header Eileen.

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  7. Your views of Shenandoah are just wonderful! Love the birds and scenery! And how awesome to see a black bear! I miss those mountains, and do hope no harm comes to them. They are a very special place to my husband and me. Always wanted to hike at least part of the Appalachian Trail. Wanted to retire to the foothills of those beautiful mountains. Things change in one's life....but our loves remain ever strong.

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  8. Hello Eileen,
    Beautiful collages of all birds.
    Good to see that this black bear is back.
    Nice view at the last photo.
    Best regards, Irma

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  9. Great Park, and so much to see. Birds, flowers and bears, all wonderful. Regards.

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  10. Great photos, all of them! Some of those birds are beautiful! Hope that bear (and any others) stay safely in their own domain!

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  11. I love the sky view. You have a beautiful blog with awesome nature shots, Eileen! xo

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  12. Wonderful birds and flowers, Eileen!
    Your bear photos are gorgeous. They are such charming and fascinating animals.
    Have a great week ahead!

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  13. Hari OM
    Always love your mosaics - but the bear is special!!! YAM xx

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  14. Hi Eileen, Enjoyed all the photos and your mosaics are neat! I am going to check out Pic Monkey. The Black Bear photos ... my goodness ... I trust you were inside your car when you got those shots? Very nice. When I'm in Yellowstone Park it seems that one of the most popular animals folks want to see is a bear. In the old days the Rangers allowed visitors to feed the bears. Now a days they say it is dangerous to get near a bear. What do you think ... would you be afraid to give food to that black bear you saw? In this post I'm also impressed with your comment about the view from the Appalachian trail. How is it possible for people to look at that and see the damage the polluted air is causing to the Blue Ridge Mountains and then turn around and claim humans are not causing climate change???? Wow, this is impressive and thank you for sharing! Wishing you a fine week ahead.

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  15. Oh wow! That is such a great view! The indigo bunting and the flowers are beautiful. It's neat to see the bear as well. At least three bears recently moved into Iowa; unfortunately one has already been run over!

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  16. What a grand place to visit - love the photos of the bear. We saw one recently crossing a quiet road - I wanted to get a photo but he rushed off too fast into the woods. Love the mosaics.

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  17. Love the bottom three in first mosaic, the bears, the blooms! Such a wonderful variety of images to see this morning. Have a great day!

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  18. I do miss driving through Shenandoah Valley as well as the Blue Ridge MTS! BeUtiful collections, Eileen!!...:)JP

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  19. Awesome shots of the bear! I love all the birds and the wildflowers as well.

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  20. Hello Eileen,
    Very nice shots of all different birds. They are wonderful.
    And special to see the shots of that bear. Fantastic!!

    Many greetings,
    Marco

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  21. The scarlet tanager is such a pretty bird as is the indigo bunting. So nice and colorful.
    Nice shots of the bear. We have them up at HT just have never seen one. Our neighbors see them all the time.

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  22. hello Eileen. The Chestnut-sided Warbler is a really stunner in those unusual colours but the winners for me are the blue and the red birds - the tanagers and the Indigo Bunting. I too hope the Black Bears can survive, especially against the hunting. I find it so strange that anyone would want to kill such a wonderful creature.

    Have a lovely week ahead.

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  23. You had a nice visit to the woods, I would freak out if I saw a bear. The birds are all gorgeous, of course my eye is drawn more to the beautiful blue of the Indigo Bunting, and Scarlet Tanager, but the warbler has really cute markings. I'm sorry to hear about the air pollution.

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  24. Oh those bears are so gorgeous, but I would keep my distance :) Take care x

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  25. Hello Eileen, Your photos are so nice. I love seeing the variety of birds. So colorful. Have a nice afternoon.

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  26. Love the mosaics as well as the nature shots. I hope you had a great Sunday!

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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  27. Those birds are beautiful ... then I saw the bears, and those views.

    All great pictures.

    All the best Jan

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  28. Looks a lovely place to walk. How amazing to see the bear! The scarlet tanager is very handsome

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  29. Beautiful sightings Eileen.
    Its been a long while since I've been up to the Shenandoah Park!!
    Need to take my husband up there when it cools off!!
    Seeing a bear is always icing on the cake!!

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  30. Beautiful shots! I love all of the birds and the bear!

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  31. what color! love the sweet bear















    ALOHA
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=


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  32. Beautiful Eileen, you have seen some marvelous creatures!

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  33. Hi Eileen, How nice for you that you got to see the Black Bear! Great pictures of the various birds. I never have seen a Tanger. Have a pleasant coming week!

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  34. Great shots, Eileen.

    I've seen a bear in the wild, but my camera shutter didn't go when I clicked the button, so still looking for my first photo of one.
    ~

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  35. Another perfect series of photos, Eileen! The black bears are probably my favorites -- There's been one spotted in our town this past week, I hope it stays afraid of cars and people too!

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  36. Beautiful pictures. The park looks beautiful with cute animals and birds surrounded by flowers...

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  37. Dearest Eileen; What a great mosaic with deer and varieties of birds with your identification♡♡♡ The beautiful Scarlet Tanager being the common bird makes me jealous :-) Oh,a Black Bear looks so cute rather than scary p-;) And happy to read they are surviving. Love the pretty wild flowers,too♪
    Very sad about the air pollution, Dear friend!

    Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in America, xoxo Miyako*

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  38. OMG, how close were you to that bear? I hope you were safe inside a car or something more solid?

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  39. Beautiful and colorful birds and flowers in this park.

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  40. Hi! I think you are very lucky to go to this beautiful area by a day trip. The birds are very cute,the wild flowers are very beautiful. Many cool mosaic photos are very impressive. Thanks for sharing.

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  41. The black bear mosaic will stick with me.
    Our neighbor reported one exiting the lake at our State Park. Guess where? Near where I watch for the Osprey. uh oh.
    Thanks for the mosaics. I enjoyed them.

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  42. Hey, that's lucky. I love seeing bears here in the Pacific Northwest. Those birds are lovely. I was at our wild bird sanctuary last week and heard a beautiful warbler singing his little heart out, but I couldn't get a clear look at him to tell which one he was. But it was fantastic to stand under the tree and see him send his song skyward. Hope your week is a lovely one. :D

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  43. this is one of my most favorite Virginia parks ... such a gorgeous area. ( :
    love that you got to see a bear. way cool. have a nice one.

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  44. Hi Eileen,
    fabulous photos of all these beautiful birds. The impressions of the bear are amazing and your view is breathtaking !
    Best regards, Synnöve

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  45. Eileen, I'm always blown away not only by your amazing photos but also of your knowledge of birds! If only I could remember their names I could learn so much from you!
    Love the bear mosaic, let's hope and pray that they continue to thrive in the beautiful Shenandoah National Park.
    Happy MM
    Maggie

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  46. Pretty scenes Eileen...gorgeous flowers, terrific bird photos...and a bear even. Wow.

    and, ps...yes, that WAS a shark.

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  47. Such a lovely array of birds and flowers along your journey taken. The Black Bears, oh I do hope they stat safe as well. They are really so beautiful~

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  48. Beautiful Collages, Eileen. You have treated us to some extra special photos today! Just look at this black bear and you caught him/her unaware which makes this even more special to see. My favorite bird today is the Indigo Bunting-
    Thank you for this Monday extravaganza!
    Have a lovely Monday,
    Jemma

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  49. How great to see the bear. We see them on occasion in the wilderness areas here and last year they continued to raid our apple trees. We let the bear, the deer and the coyotes enjoy the apples----we have more than plenty.
    MB

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  50. I would think that TIMID bears are the best kind! :)

    Lovely wildflowers and birds..so colorful! :)

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  51. Superb journey to Shenandoah park, but, oh me, killing the Black Bears, I can't stand it.

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  52. What a great outing to the park. Loved seeing the variety of colorful birds - especially the Scarlet Tanager. Such a beauty. Black bears are fun to observe, as well, from a distance.

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  53. It must be so nice to live close enough to make day trips to all of these wonderful places. I enjoyed seeing the menagerie of animals,birds you saw in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Wonderful! Happy Monday!

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  54. Eileen what a beautiful array of birds and wildflowers....and bears. I always love to see them but give them a wide berth....have a greta week!

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  55. Beautiful pictures . . .
    I love seeing the Scarlet Tanager . . .

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  56. What fabulous photos Eileen especially the bear ones.

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  57. Beautiful birds and flowers and all so colorful!! Superb captures as always, Eileen!! And thanks, as always, for sharing the beauty with us!! Have a great new week!

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  58. A great series of photos.It sounds like a fun outing and I like the idea of birding, hiking and driving. I wouldn't feel too comfortable to be too close to one of those bears. I hope you were safe in your car!

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  59. Hi Eileen, your flora and fauna is fabulous! Black bear around, lovely! I love the birds, the flowers, everything wonderful. Good week, Hugs,
    Ailime

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  60. The flora and the birds are fascinating. I just hope it wasn't a very close encounter with the black bear :)

    Worth a Thousand Words

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  61. Awesome feathered friends photography and all of them! Amazing Black Bear Photo! You go girl!

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  62. Your country is so much more blessed with wildlife than ours, which is of course so much smaller.
    Have a great weekend!
    Wil, ABCW Team

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  63. What a beautiful place! I have a friend who hikes a portion of the Appalachian Trail every year, starting the next year where he left off the previous one. I've never been in the Blue Ridge Mountains but maybe later this year or next, if we can go to Asheville, a place I've been longing to see. The bear is beautiful - I hope you didn't get too close! The scarlet tanager is so vibrant! Beautiful birds, wildlife, and countryside, Eileen. I enjoyed seeing it all.

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  64. Fantastic shots! Love the tanager! Beautiful!

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  65. the collages you create are just amazing and colorful. the tanager is my favorite, i have never seen one!!!!

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  66. Amazing images! Hope you used the zoom lense for the bear shots!

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  67. That's such a beautiful part of our country. I love the tanager too...a rare sighting I think. And the bears are neat to photograph....at a distance. I love your photos as always! (you should travel all the time!) Hugs, Diane

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  68. I love your bird shots...and that view is just beautiful!

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  69. The scarlet tanager is one bird I'd like to see in person. I've learned so much about black bears since I started following the FB page of the bear sanctuary about an hour north of us. They have quite a few cubs in right now as mother was killed by hunters which is illegal.
    The last shot is stunning Eileen..on a clear day you can see forever.
    Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday.

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  70. That looks like a beautiful place - I wish I'd visited it when I lived in the east. I wonder how long until our clear Colorado air starts getting hazy.

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  71. How exciting to see ablack bear in the park, Eileen! I'm a little afraid of bears as I know how fast they run and how ornery they can be when angry. They come out at night around here, searching for food. It is not a good thing if someone forgets to close their garage door as they come in for the garbage cans and make a mess!

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  72. Such lovely bird captures! You have made a wonderful collage out of it. :)

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  73. That's a stunning skyline, and what a joy to be able to see bear and so many amazing birds.

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  74. this seems to be such a great park to visit. I think I have to see if there are any trips going there from Sweden :)

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  75. Looks like a fun outing. Beautiful birds and flowers. Your shots of the bear are wonderfully captured.

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  76. Misse another one!
    Love that Indigo Bunting
    and the Black Bears, they
    are cute :)

    Have a great day
    Tinna ✐

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  77. This seems to be such a great park to visit. I would like to go there.
    Have a nice day.
    Mormor

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  78. I saw a black bear at the cabin last week. It was the first sighting since we bought the cabin in 2001. We know they are in the area, but never thought a bear would try to come down the sheer granite cliff. We were startled awake by a noise in the deck. When I went out to investigate I heard the noise on the cliff and saw a bear exit the bushes and climb the rest of the way to the top of the cliff. We aren't sure it was the bear we heard, but there were a few clues left behind. I sure hope it doesn't become a habit now. - Margy

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  79. The birds are wonderful. The indigo bunting is so very special! It makes me crazy to think about florida having a bear hunt season which they are just now going to pass. I hate that. So happy you had that great sighting. The smog is beyond frightening. Same thing in California, and Arizona even.

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  80. Glad you joined in with NF Trees & Bushes this time too!

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  81. The black bear shots are awesome!
    Thanks for dropping by :)

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  82. I'm jealous of your great amount of beautiful birds that you see here shows :-)))) Really great beautiful. The bear is also very beautiful to see. Very nice evening.
    Greetings, Helma

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  83. first time I have seen an image of the Appalachian trail this way. I love it. Thanks for sharing Eileen. :)

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  84. A stunning array of the natural riches of this area. Black bears to warblers - now there's quite a spread!

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