Saturday's Critters #98

Saturday's Critters #98

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

Can you believe it is the end of October? This month just flew by for me. I am sharing more of the birds and critters we saw during our visit to the beaches and the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park.

Top row: flock of Snow geese, Perched on the seastack various Brown Pelicans, and Cormorants and Gulls, Green-winged Teals in flight. Second row: Red-throated Loon, Cute puppy dog, gulls. Third row: male and female Elk, squirrel. Bottom row: Mallard, Hooded Merganser & friend, Mallards.

I am watching you!

A foggy look at the seastack with the perched Brown Pelican on the top left side and a lot of Cormorants.

A flock of Green-winged Teal flying by the beach!

An InLinkz Link-up

I hope you enjoyed my critter post and images.. As always I appreciate my blogging friends joining in on my Saturday Critter party. Thanks for linking up and I also appreciate the nice comments. Have a Happy Weekend.

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

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Around the yard

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.


To break up my trip photos I am sharing some photos from our local walk to the lake and some birds and scenes from my yard and neighborhood. These images were taken back in September. On this day we walked to the lake in front of our place and passed by my neighbor's turkeys. The turkeys are raised and sold, I assume for Thanksgiving dinners.

This is a view of the turkeys from the fireroad. And on this day there was a turkey on the wrong side of the fence.

A cute fence scene...I was thinking your free, your free!  Run turkey... run and hide.

It was a pretty day for our walk to the lake, lovely sky, pretty berries seen along the fireroad and a cute chickadee.

The lake, clouds reflecting and some shadows from the trees.

Beside the usual GB heron at the lake we have been seeing some Double-crested Cormorants.

Another fence scene, I always enjoy seeing my neighbors horses. The two little ones are growing fast.

Hubby's sunset shot at the lake, if you look closely you can see a sundog reflection on the lake.

The sunset from the yard, a pretty pink sky.

My moon series taken on Sept 23rd.

I hope you enjoyed my photos from around the yard and neighborhood.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for your nice comments. Have a happy day and weekend ahead.

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

More from Olympic National Park

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. 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. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

This was our 2nd full day in Washington state, it was a long day driving to two beaches and a visit to the Hoh Rainforest. All of these places are considered part of the Olympic National Park.

The tall trees that border Rialto beach, some look ready for the waves to come and claim them.

The first beach we stopped at is called Rialto Beach, the driftwood was actually whole trees washed up on the beach. Some of the roots were taller than we were when we stood next to them. I am pretty sure the birds flying over were the Snow Geese, a closer look at my photo you can see they were white with black edges on the wing tips. It was a cloudy day but only a little drizzle, it did not stop us from doing what we planned.

The beach at Rialto is made of stones and lots of washed up trees and driftwood.

Above are some scenes from the second beach called Ruby Beach, this beach was my favorite. I love the seastacks, the forest, and the ocean. Bird sightings included the Savannah Sparrow, various gulls like the California Gull, Cormorants and Brown Pelicans and the Bald Eagle.

A pretty Savannah Sparrow kept me company while hubby walked further down the beach.

Seastacks, driftwood and stone sculptures and cliff with the pine and fir trees all pretty scenes from Ruby Beach.

Above the cliffs with some caves, a seastack with Cormorants and Pelicans, an Eagle on the beach, seastack with trees and driftwood roots that look like a sculpture. I hope you enjoyed our visit to the Olympic National Park beaches.


As always I appreciate you visits and nice comments. Thank you! Have  a happy day and new week ahead!

Thanks for visiting my post and as always I appreciate your comments.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Mersad for hosting Through My Lens.

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to Sue for hosting Wordless Wednesday

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters #97

Saturday's Critters #97

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

For this week's critter post I am sharing some various yard birds and some critters that were all seen in my yard during the month of September.

Above is the juvie male Scarlet Tanager seen with the dark wings.

The Gray Catbirds were seen all summer long.

The Tennessee Warbler hung around for a couple of weeks. It was enjoying the berries.

I believe this is the Eastern Wood Pewee perched on our Weeping Cherry tree.

The female Ruby-throated Hummingbird hung out in the weeping cherry tree, close to the hummingbird feeder.

A chipmunk likes to sit on top of our wood pile.

This American Bullfrog was enjoying his favorite rock next to our little pond.

A young deer maybe a female showed up in the yard on Sept 21, the bow hunting season in the woods near our house started on Sept 11th. I hope this deer stayed safe.

The Swainson's Thrush was another new yard bird for me.

A new yard bird for me, it is the Summer Tanager. It is neat comparing the Summer Tanager to my first photo above of the juvenile male Scarlet Tanager. I hope you enjoyed my yardbirds and critters. As always I appreciate my blogging friends joining in on my Saturday Critter party. Thanks for linking up and I also appreciate the nice comments. Have a Happy Weekend

An InLinkz Link-up

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

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Big Pool, Maryland

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

EDIT: I am linking up with Favorite Fotos thanks to Lydia at Where the Wild Things Were

It is hard to believe I have images from back on August 21 that I have not posted. It was a longer day trip for hubby and I to a place called Big Pool, Maryland. It is located off of RT 70 west, exit 12. There is a section of the C&O Canal trail that was new for us, a pretty lake and the C&O trail, lots of birds and the nearby Fort Frederick. Lots to see and do at Big Pool.

The birds of Big Pool, Md top row: Green heron, Wood Duck, DC Cormorants, GB Heron. Middle Row are possible Yellowlegs, Little Blue Heron, Goose, Wood Ducks. Bottom row are an unknown bird, Kingfisher, Great Egret with geese, and two Vireos.

Can you find the two Red-eyed Vireos in the photo above?

I found out after getting home that this sighting of the juvie Little Blue Heron was an unusual sighting for this county.

The long and winding C&O canal trail.

The Wood Ducks seemed to be everywhere along the canal trail, but I liked this shot that included the Green Heron with the Wood Duck.

Big Pool is located at mile 112.5 of the C&O Canal Trail. It was a nice spot for a hike, the birds and scenery were awesome. The C&O Canal trail runs thru the grounds of the Fort Frederick Park which is a national historic landmark.

 Before leaving Big Pool, we toured the Fort Frederick. They were preparing for the re-enactment that was happening the following day. Fort Frederick is a restored star shaped Fort that was active in the French and Indian War 1754-1763 and the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783.

For my Skywatch entry, it was a pretty clear blue sky on the day of our visit, I thought this entrance to the fort made a great fence shot for Tex's Good Fences.

On the grounds of the Fort is an old homestead and farm area that is used for the visitor center. This is where I found the caterpillar and I hope you noticed the blurry fence in the background.

And I always love a shot of the sky and flag for Skywatch Friday. I hope you enjoyed my birds of Big Pool, our walk and the tour of the Fort Frederick.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for your nice comments. Have a happy day and weekend ahead.

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Olympic Nat'l Park

 From now on to save time I am doing one post for all. I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week. 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. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.


On the first morning of our Washington trip I stepped out of our hotel room and looked up to a clear sky and a pretty view of the moon. My previous post on the Dungeness Spit was on the afternoon of this same day. With this post, I am going backwards on this day. After hearing so much about dreary weather conditions in this area I was ecstatic to have a first full day of clear skies and pretty weather. On this morning we drove back to the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic Nat'l Park and one of hubby's favorite places in park. His favorite spot as of this day!

A lovely shot of the moon on the first morning of our trip. It was awesome to see the clear skies.

A view of the visitor center and the glacier or snow topped mountains in the distance.

Above some of the scenes from the Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Nat'l Park.

I think I see some tracks in the snow/glacier at the top of the mountains. The tracks could be from humans or the mountain goats?

For NF Trees I am sharing the birds were decorating the pines and fir trees at the ridge. Above top row, a Raven or is it the Crow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, American Robins. Bottom Row is the Golden Crowned Kinglet, and the Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

The Golden-crowned Sparrow was seen outside the visitor center at Hurricane Ridge.

We saw 5 or maybe 6 Blue Grouse, they may also be known as the Sooty Grouse crossing the road on the way to the Hurricane Ridge.

I had to stop the car to let the Grouse finish crossing the road. There were 3 in the middle of the road and two or three already in the grasses on the side of the road. A cool sighting, but it was not my first time seeing these birds. Since we were the only people and car around we enjoyed the sighting and let the birds calmly walk across the road. They did not seem to be in a hurry.

Hubby and I hiked on the trail to Sunrise Point.

Another shadow shot of hubby and I.  Hubby is waving hello to you all.
The views were fabulous! I hope you enjoyed our visit to Hurricane Ridge and the park. I will have more photos and post to share on other parts of the Olympic National Park.  Always I appreciate you visits and nice comments. Thank you! Have  a happy day and new week ahead!

And special thanks to Donna for sending me the Obedient Plants and for sweet hubby doing the planting.


Thanks for visiting my post and as always I appreciate your comments.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Mersad for hosting Through My Lens.

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to Sue for hosting Wordless Wednesday

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters #96

Saturday's Critters #96

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

Hello, I had this post scheduled to go in case I was too busy. These images are from our visit to Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge on Sept 2nd. Hubby and I always enjoy seeing the birds and wildlife during our visit to this refuge.

Above a female Belted Kingfisher posed nicely for me. I was surprised usually the kingfishers are very shy.

A large group of terns, various ducks and gulls.

Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilt and gulls.

A Green Heron is usually seen at the Finnis Pool.

The Belted Kingfisher was posing so nicely.

A frog, wildflowers and slider turtles.

I just loved this frog, he/she looked like it was smiling at me.  I hope you enjoyed my birds, frog and turtles. Thanks for visiting my post and for all the nice comments.  I hope you enjoyed our visit to Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge.

An InLinkz Link-up

As always I appreciate my blogging friends joining in on my Saturday Critter party. Thanks for linking up and I also appreciate the nice comments. Have a Happy Weekend

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

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.