Saturday's Critters #337

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!



I am sharing some birds and critters from our most recent visit to the North Point State Park in Baltimore County, Md.  The park is located on the shores of the Chespeake Bay, it is a great place to see all kinds of birds. 

Adult Little Blue Heron, we saw a few of the adults and one mottled juvenile Little Blue Heron. 

 An Eastern Kingbird posed for a few photos.

 The bullfrogs were plentiful and very loud.

 The Tree Swallows were doing their thing catching bugs or posing for me and my camera.

 Mallard Duck resting on a log.

 Canada Geese and goslings, a nice family shot.

 The Red-winged Blackbirds were looking pretty. 

 The Slider Turtles were out on a log, catching the sun's rays. We counted 14 turtles in this line up, I could not fit them all on one photo, a branch was in my way.

A male Common Yellowthroat Warbler, one of the common warblers we see here in the summer. 

 I am guessing at this id, a female Common Yellowthroat Warbler. 

We only had a peak at the top of the Osprey's head that was sitting on the nest. 

Thanks to all my visitors and for all the wonderful comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.


Here is  my linky;

 

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the host Anni.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thursday! 

I have said many times before, I am thankful for a great weather day for a hike.  On May 15th hubby and I took a round trip 5.4 walk to the lake, this is a view of the fire road trail. 

 A look at the sky during our walk to the lake.

 Some of the birds I saw while walking to the lake, Indigo Bunting, Wood Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird.

 Some trees, plants and flowers seen along the fire road walk to the lake. 

"You belong among the wildflowers, you belong somewhere you feel free." Tom Petty

 The sky was reflecting on the lake, looking pretty.

 We had a great view of the Great-crested Flycatcher.

 I am pretty sure this bird below is the Prairie Warbler.

 The wild azaleas were blooming, looking very pretty.

"No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still spring up in the middle of nowhere." Sheryl Crow

Another look at the Great-crested Flycatcher.

The latest books I finished are :
The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner
The Lost Man by Jane Harper


I hope everyone is safe, happy and healthy! I am thankful hubby and I are both well!


I am always thankful for your visits and the comments.



Live simple and be happy!  😊 Spread joy & happiness!


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday


Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Our World, My World

Happy Monday everyone,

 Happy Memorial Day!

 Remember and Honor! 

I wanted to thank all our military, veterans and heroes who serve and or died protecting our country.  I also want to thank all the front line workers who are serving us during this pandemic, they are heroes too. This Memorial Day weekend is unlike any other I have experienced.

 I am always happy to take a walk in our nearby forest on the fire roads. These are some photos and the birds I saw on a recent walk.

Below in the mosaic top row on left is the Worm-eating Warbler, top right is an Ovenbird. Lower left the Ovenbird again and a Pink Lady Slipper is the wild orchid growing near the fire road.

 Below the Worm-eating Warbler is seen on some hilly section along side the fire road, they have a strange sound. They have a striped "buffy" head. This Warbler is a breeder in my area, I am thankful to see them in the nearby forest. You can hear them at this link Bird-sounds.net_Worm-eating-warbler

 The Ovenbird below is one of the loudest birds in the forest. I can hear them from my yard.

It is hard taking photos of the birds sitting in high in the trees, my neck hurts just looking up at them.

A view of our local fire road trail, a small creek runs into the lake in this spot.

 I am thankful to still see some of the Great Blue Herons in our local heron rookery.  I was starting to think they all were gone.  These photos were taken from the nearby fire road. I can hear them making their clacking noises from my deck. They can be loud but it is such a happy sound!

One more time sharing the Pink Lady Slipper orchid are beautiful to see and find along our fire roads. Hopefully no one pick this pretty and somewhat rare and wild orchid.

Maryland road to recovery from Covid-19. Maryland has had close to 47,000 positive Covid 19 cases and 2,277 deaths.  We are currently at Phase one, some counties and cites are opening and some are still closed. It depends on if there are more new cases each day.  My county is open, small businesses, retail and salons are open using the safety precautions and no large gatherings are allowed..


What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Saturday's Critters #336

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


Happy Memorial Day weekend! Remember and Honor!

If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!


May 9 through May 14th, these are some of the yard birds I am seeing. 


I am not sure if this is unusual timing but I am still seeing at least 1 Dark-eye Junco as of May 14th. 

The Pine Warbler was a frequent visitor to the suet feeder.  

 The Male American Goldfinch looked like a ball of fluff on a cold morning. 

 A closeup of the female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I was seeing just the females from May 3rd through May 11th.

May 11th female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

 I have been seeing a lot of the Downy Woodpeckers, they are also frequent visitors to the suet feeder.
On this day, I saw 3 of these woodies, 2 on the feeder and one on the railing catching the suet droppings.

Two Downy woodpeckers, the male has the red spot on it's head. 

Thanks to all my visitors and for all the wonderful comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.


Here is my linky;


 

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the host Anni.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

 Happy Thursday,

Simple pleasures make me happy and thankful. Things like a pretty sky, the wildflowers and of course the birds.   Below are images from our walk on the Susquehanna River trail. 

 A view of the sky, me and my shadow at the walking bridge and fishing area. 

I just missed an Osprey flying up the river.

 Early May is a great time to see the Warblers, we had a great sighting of the Black and White Warbler.

 The Black & White Warbler  can climb around the trees like the Nuthatches and Brown Creepers.

Other birds seen were the Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

From the trail below, lots of bird sounds were heard and we good see movement of various warblers in the tree tops.

 We found some Bluebells and other wildflowers along the Susquehanna River trail. 

A view looking towards the I-95 bridge over the Susquehanna River..

I am always thankful to be able to take a walk outdoors! I think of all the people who have been in lock down for a few months not being able to go outside at all because of a health risk.

Keeping well is a priority, stay safe!

I am always thankful for your visits and the comments.



Live simple and be happy!  😊 Spread joy & happiness!


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday

Our World, My World

 Happy Monday,

I hope everyone is safe and doing well. I am happy now that our neighborhood fire road trails are open now.  It is great not having to drive somewhere just to take a walk.  

It seems this year is not the best year for our neighborhood Great Blue Heron's nests/heronry .  Early in the season we counted 6-8 different nest. This was the last time we saw one Heron near a nest.  It is sad to say they have left, I am not sure if it was due to cold weather, high wind storms, heavy rain storms or a different reason.  

 This time of the year we look for the Pink Lady Slippers, they usually come back in the same spot every year.  We saw them one day and I took these photos.  We went back to see them again, it appears like someone picked at least 2-3 of the plants, maybe on Mother's Day? 

On May 10th we took a walk to the lake, along the way I look for any wildflowers or blooms.  The White Dogwoods seem to be doing well this year.  I saw these white wildflowers close to the ground and some purple blossoms on the top of a tree near the parking lot.

 These look like the Lily of the Valley blooms, seen near the fire road. The wildflowers are a happy sight to see!

 The recreation activity has opened at our parks and reservoirs, that mean hiking and fishing. This mean more people on the trails, more trash left behind and more vehicle traffic around the lake.

A walk to the lake includes a view of  the Bald Eagles nest, we did not see any eagle activity. If there were any eaglets we could not see them.   We will go back again to check to see if this Bald Eagle's nest was successful. 

 It is nice to be able to take a walk to the lake, it was a chilly windy day.

"Our very being, essence, health and happiness depend on Mother Earth."  

The is the view of the lake, across the way is the Bald Eagle's nest..

Between our neighborhood Great Blue Herons disappearing, the pink lady slipper orchids being picked and seeing no activity at the Bald Eagles nest, it seems like all is not well in our neighborhood.

May14th update, I am hearing some sounds coming from 1-2 Great Blue Heron nest, so we did loose a lot of nest over the last couple of months. Also on the same day, I found some more Pink Lady Slippers growing off the fire road. I hope no one comes along and picks these beautiful wildflowers. 




What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!