Throwback visit Bear Lake Wildlife Refuge

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.

My post is on Bear Lake Refuge but in the latest news the Oregon Malheur Wildlife Refuge  (Malheur was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt) was taken over or held hostage by some local ranchers. I did not follow the whole ordeal, but I heard it ended in a gun battle with the government. I am glad the take over has ended, just a shame one person died. I feel these wildlife refuges and the national parks are for all Americans not just for a select few. Malheur has 320 bird species and is a mecca for birdwatchers. I hope Malheur will soon be safe for the bird watchers to return.

Going back in time with this post is a throwback visit to the Bear Lake Wildlife Refuge located in Utah. On the way to Yellowstone National Park we stopped at this wildlife refuge. The view of Bear Lake, the lake borders Utah and Idaho.  I am posting only a few photos I took from that visit, only so I can document our stop there. To check out more of my wildlife refuge visits just click on the NWR label on my side bar.

This wildlife refuge was where I saw my lifer the White-faced Ibis. There are 160 bird species seen at Bear Lake Wildlife Refuge.

Some of the refuge birds seen where the Black-necked Stilt, Tree Swallows, Mountain Bluebird, White-faced Ibis, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Western Meadowlark.

The water color is so pretty, a gorgeous blue.  I think often of all my visits to various wildlife refuges to see the birds and animals. These wildlife refuges were created to protect and manage wildlife habitat for the waterfowl and migratory birds. Have you visited one of our nation's National Wildlife Refuge system? If not I hope you find a wildlife refuge close by where you live and check it out. You can find one near you on the link above, just click on your state.

January has just flown by, wishing everyone a happy month of February!
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your visits and nice comments. Have a happy day and new week ahead!


As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters #111

Saturday's Critters #111

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.

I am sharing some recent photos of our last walk on the Susquehanna River trail and Conowingo Dam to see the eagles.  There were not as many eagles as we saw back in November but there were enough around for us to enjoy and then there were the gulls.

For Teresa's Friday's Hunt   Thanks to Teresa

1. Starts with E

2. Week's favorite

3. Sky

For my letter E, I am sharing the Bald Eagles were seen in the trees next to the parking lot, above the trail and on the dam. I think the Eagle above has a cramp in his foot.

Plenty of gulls and a Bald Eagle standing on the end of the wall.

The Conowingo Dam is a great spot to find  the gulls in the winter.

The island in the middle of Susquehanna River is home to some wintering Great Blue Herons.

I call this shot above GULL Island.

A juvenile Bald Eagle seen as we were walking on the river trail.

Above is another Bald Eagle seen while we walked in the trail.

The Black Vultures were everywhere, some were just laying on the ground.

More Black Vultures were gathering in this area, not far from the parking lot and trail. I hope you enjoyed my birds and images. As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great 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.

Snowmaggedon

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.

Sharing some image from our Blizzard of 2016, they are calling this a record snowfall. I saw there was a poll asking to vote on a nickname for this EPIC storm. Snowbanaza, Snowzilla, Blizzarama are some of the names. I just want it to melt and go away now, I guess you can tell I am not a snow lover. But, here I am sharing some SNOW photos, I hope you enjoy.

A couple of my yard birds during the storm, the White-breasted Nuthatch and a male Downy Woodpecker.

Hubby made a trail next to the fence out to the wood pile.

During the storm, I spread the bird seed on the deck railing for the birds to have a buffet.

Our wonderful neighbor used his snow blower to clear our driveway.  God bless nice neighbors, we are grateful. Is it just me, I see an angel with red wings to the right and above our neighbor.

Snow covered street.

Thanks to our neighbor, our driveway is mostly clear.

After the storm, we saw a pretty sunset.

Not quite a full moon a couple of days after, the moon setting on Jan 25th.  I guess we can still have more snow storms, winter is not over yet. Stay warm and safe, praying spring comes early. Thanks for visiting and for the nice comments.

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 this past year it has been fun looking for fences for my post. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Around the yard

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.

Happy Sunday, enjoy your new week ahead! It seems like I am saying this often, are the weeks flying by that quickly?

Winter has finally arrived, we have had a few dustings of snow. As I type this our area is expecting a big snow storm 1-2 feet of snow with blizzard conditions.  I am hoping they are wrong or the big stuff misses us. Hubby loves the snow, me not so much! I would rather be on a beach with sunny skies and temps of 75°.

My pretty Cardinals and a White-throated Sparrow.

Cardinals in the snow! They do not look happy!

A little dusting of snow, our front yard, foot prints in the snow.

A snow covered bush next to our driveway.

The crescent moon, sunrise, cardinals and a Cooper's Hawk checking out my treadmill birds.

Sunrise with some pretty pink clouds, the woods next to our property.

This is the view of  part of our front yard. The Cooper's Hawk managed to land on the ground under all the pine tree branches to watch the birds I see out my window while I am on the treadmill. I may be back with some more snow photos, you will have to wait and see. The weather is unpredictable sometimes.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your visits and nice comments. Have a happy day and new week ahead!


As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters #110

Saturday's Critters #110

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.

They are calling for a big snowstorm (1-2 feet of snow)  this weekend. I am wishing the weathermen are wrong and we do not get as much snow as they are calling for. I am also praying our electric stays on and this storm goes by quickly. I hope everyone in the storms path stays warm and safe!

These are some images from our visit to Assateague Island National Seashore. We saw plenty of birds and the wild ponies.

The cute Yellow-rumped Warblers a winter bird for Assateague were the most common bird we saw. There must have been hundreds of them around the island.

For Teresa's Friday Hunt 

1. The letter D

2. Week's favorite

2.  Beautiful

For Teresa's Friday Hunt 

I am sharing this photo from our walk at Assateague Island. It is my Favorite photo from the day and I would say this trail is Beautiful. I like how the trail is lined with these bushes, it reminds me of a natural tunnel. 

A Great Blue Heron lurking in the grasses.

Some of the wild ponies were right on the road.

The horses were crossing back and forth in front of our car.

 For Teresa's Friday Hunt and the word Beautiful....I am sharing one of the BEAUTIFUL wild horses on  Assateague Island.

For Teresa's Friday Hunt and the letter "D" I saw a lot of Ducks, Grebes and Mergansers at Assateague Island, sorry the lighting was not very good for the shot above.

 I hope you enjoyed visiting Assateague Island. As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great 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. Thanks to Teresa for hosting Friday's Hunt

Delaware shore

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.

I am continuing our journey along the Delaware shore, we stopped at the Indian River inlet after leaving Bombay Hook and Prime Hook wildlife refuges and beach. The Indian River inlet is a great place to look for the seabirds and gulls.

Hubby and I getting silly with our shadow shots...at the Delaware beaches.

Another shadow shot, a pretty sky and view of the Atlantic Ocean.

There were a lot of Bonaparte's Gulls at the Indian River inlet.

A view of the bridge at the Indian River inlet.

Also seen at the Indian River inlet the Long-tailed Ducks.

More of the Long-tailed Ducks and some Surf Scoters.

It may have been a cold day but the clear blue sky made our visit worthwhile. After leaving the Indian River inlet we headed south to Ocean City, Md and our room for the night.

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 this past year it has been fun looking for fences for my post. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Prime Hook NWR

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.

After leaving Bombay Hook NWR (my previous post) we drove further down the coast of Delaware to the Prime Hook NWR. BTW, the coast of Delaware has awesome birding hotspots and  beaches. You can check out these birding spots on the Delaware Birding Trail.

 The start of the trail and walk at Prime Hook, a Mockingbird, our shadow shot.

With my photo above I am joining Cath @ Cath @ Home  and her
Word for Sunday which is Grateful. Stop by Cat's blog and say hello. You can check out her blog for more info and join in with her word challenge. Thanks Cath for hosting.

The sun reflecting on the water, a Great Blue Heron and some Ruddy Ducks.

The Great Blue Herons were a common sighting at Prime Hook NWR.

The herons were even in the trees.

We were surprised while watching a Common Merganser to see this Red-tailed Hawk fly in and grab it. The Hawk is standing on and holding the Merganser down into the icy muddy water.

For Tom's Barn Collective I found a barn not too far from Bombay Hook as we were leaving. Thanks Tom for hosting.

So far we were having a great day at Prime Hook and Bombay Hook wildlife refuges. Next post, we headed further along the coast to the Indian River Inlet where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean.

As always I appreciate your 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 Cath for hosting Word for Sunday
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday 

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday