Birds, Butterflies and blooms

Hello,

It is almost the end of August, where did summer go? I hope you are not tired of seeing Butterflies. I have been enjoying all the butterflies in my yard this summer. The buddleia bushes are filled with various species like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the Great Spangled Fritillary, Red Admiral, Cabbage Whites and the beautiful Monarch.

A few Black-eyed Susan's have survived the bunnies and deer that roam our yard and neighborhood.

A cute Skipper was also seen on the buddleia bush.

These are some barn scenes we pass by on our way to our favorite local ice cream place. We did enjoy some ice cream this summer, surprisingly we did not get to our favorite snowball stand.

A female Cardinal, looks like a juvie.

As I mentioned on a previous post I have been reading a lot more this summer, another book I enjoyed was called The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman. The title caught my eye being a birder "a life list" is a list of all the birds you see in your lifetime. The list in this book is more like a bucket list. Do you have a bucket list of things you would like to accomplish or places you want to see before you die? I can not count how many places are on my bucket list, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and some of South America are on the top of the list.


I hope you enjoyed my birds, butterflies and blooms. As always, I thank you for visiting and as always thank you for the nice comments.  Have a great day and new week ahead!

Here is my list of memes for the week, I hope you can check one or some of these fun memes and the participants post.

Thanks to Tom for hosting the The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh for hosting Seasons
Thanks to Maggie of Normandy Life  the new 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 #141

Saturday's Critters #141

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 one of my Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and various species of Butterflies.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Monarch

Fritillary, Monarch and two Swallowtails.

I hope you enjoyed my hummer and the pretty butterflies. I was thrilled to see at least one Monarch in my yard this season. 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.

Mish-Mash

Hello

I am sharing some photos from some morning walks on our local fireroad to the lake and shots from around our yard.

The Chickadee and Titmouse were very fussy as I walked by them on the fire road.

A pretty male Cardinal on my deck railing, I hope this counts as a fence shot.

One of our pretty morning glories growing on the chained link fence.

Various images from my walk, the spider's web, a view of our lake, some ferns and a mushroom.

A pretty blue sky with some puffy white clouds for my Skywatch.

My moon shot taken a few days before the August full moon taken on August 16th.

 I hope you enjoyed your visit and my post. I appreciate your nice comments. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, I hope to see you there. I have a few fence and my deck railing for Tex's Party and some pretty sky shots.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences.
Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

NCR Trail

Hello

I have been jumping around with my posts lately these are images are from June. On this day back in late June, hubby and I took a walk on our local NCR bike trail. I am sharing some of the scenes from our walk, the trail, a Common Yellowthroat Warbler, daylilies and a fish.

A Common Yellowthroat Warbler is seen all summer along this trail. It is a cute bird wear his black mask and quite the singer.

The NCR bike trail.

This stream follows along side the NCR trail. Looking over the side of the bridge we saw this big fish, not sure what kind it is?

NCR trail are the initials for the North Central Railway. This walking and biking trail was an old railway that went from Northern Baltimore County into Baltimore City.

Along the bike trail we tasted some wild berries, a rose bush on private property and some daylilies along the river bank.

On the way home a farm and barn scene. I tried to zoom in on the barn and silo but it sits down low on the hill.

Also, sharing some local barns for Tom's Barn Collective. The barn below is a little hidden behind the tree, the brick silo is cool.

 I have not been out on many birding trips lately, I have been reading a lot more. My most recent book was called The Shell Seekers. It is a 1987 novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, a great story by a wonderful author. I highly recommend this book. Back to the birding, I hope to go to the Delaware shore soon to seen the migrating shorebirds.


Thanks for visiting and as always thank you for the nice comments.  Have a great day and new week ahead!

Here is my list of memes for the week, I hope you can check one or some of these fun memes and the participants post.

Thanks to Tom for hosting the The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh for hosting Seasons
Thanks to Maggie of Normandy Life  the new 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 #140

Saturday's Critters #140

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 assume the birds have nothing better to do in the Florida weather than to just hang out and stay cool. These are more birds we saw at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive.

The Little Blue Heron seem to be one of the more common birds we saw on this day.

White Ibis has a cool looking bill color.

Great Blue Heron with an Egret in the background. This Heron almost blends in with the sticks all around.

There were a lot of Barn Swallows hanging out near a bridge, I believe their nest was under the bridge. One bird look different below do you see it?

Update: Thanks to Ken for the id of my unknown bird below. It is the Bank Swallow.

The Swallows are sweet birds, I love seeing them flying around doing what they do best catching the bugs. 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.

Lake Apopka, Florida

Hello,

I still have more Florida photos, these are some shots from the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. If you like the birds, this wildlife preserve was wonderful. Beside the Osprey I posted about in a previous post we saw a lot of Moorhens, Barn Swallows, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, Little Blue Heron and the Green Heron.

The Cattle Egrets were one of the first birds we saw while entering the wildlife drive.

 For Tex's Good Fences I found more Cattle Egrets on both side of the fence.

A Green Heron with an odd look.

A pretty sky scene from the wildlife drive.

A gator on the other side of the fence.

A Little Blue Heron with a crazed look.

I love the cute Barn Swallows, these were seen perched on the wires for my skywatch.

A Barn Swallow sky.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and my photos and post. I appreciate your nice comments. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!


Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, I hope to see you there. I have a few fence and my deck railing for Tex's Party and some pretty sky shots.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences.
Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Around the yard

Hello,

It is hard to believe it the middle of August, time is just flying by. It has been hot and humid here in Maryland...feels like FLORIDA... I am sharing some scenes from my backyard, at the lake and the neighborhood. The weather is still summer like, hot and humid.


The Buddleia bushes in our yard are attracting a lot of butterflies. The Tiger Swallowtail is one of the most common butterflies I have been seeing.

The Great Spangled Fritillary is another common butterfly I see in our yard.

One morning, I took a walk to the lake, I saw a couple people kayaking and a few damselflies.

During my walk to the lake and I was seeing and hearing numerous Scarlet Tanagers.

A line up of the damselflies.

A few drive-by neighborhood barns. I am used to see some goats around the flag barn but lately I have not been seeing them. :(

Thanks for visiting and as always thank you for the nice comments.  Have a great day and new week ahead!

Here is my list of memes for the week, I hope you can check one or some of these fun memes and the participants post.

Thanks to Tom for hosting the The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh for hosting Seasons
Thanks to Maggie of Normandy Life  the new 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 #139

Saturday's Critters #139

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 had fun one day watching the hummers at the trumpet vine flowers. Sometimes the hummer would disappear inside one of the blooms. The Tiger Swallowtails were enjoying the butterfly bushes.

The hummer disappeared inside the trumpet bloom below.

Below are the male and female Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies.

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

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.