Saturday's Critters # 395 & 12th Blog Anniversary

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

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 ! 

July 13th is officially my 12th blog anniversary, I am a little early. I am sharing some of my favorites birds seen over the last 12 years. Some were seen in my back yard and others were seen during our travels to various places.  I hope you enjoy.  Thank you for being a blog follower and for all your past visits and comments over the years.  

Click on images for larger detailed views of the mosaics!!

1.   2009..I am sharing my Spark Bird, the Eastern Bluebird.  I was lucky to see the Bluebirds nesting in one of my birdhouses. The juveniles would visit the feeders for some meal worms. 

2.   2010.. Bombay Hook NWR has always been my favorite wildlife refuge to visit. It is a great place to see the birds, below we saw lots of Egrets.  

3.   2011.. I am sharing various birds with a yellow theme. Top left is the Prothonotary Warbler, top right is the Hooded Warbler.

Bottom left is the eastern Meadowlark and bottom right is a White-eyed Vireo.

4.   2012...Hubby and I visited Curacao for our anniversary. It was fun traveling around the island looking for birds, enjoying the beaches and scenery. Below are the Black-faced Grassquit, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Yellow Warbler, Magnificent Frigatebird.

Middle row are the Ground Dove, Troupial Oriole, Bananaquit, Saffron Finch. 

Bottom Row are the Crested Caracara, Brown Pelican, Rufous-collared Sparrow and another Oriole and the Caribbean Flamingo. 

5.   2013..September I saw a beautiful variety of Warblers in my yard. The birds loved the Pokeberries and the Devil's Walking Stick berries.. 

Top row are images of the Cape May Warbler

Second row: Black-throated Green Warbler

Third row: Chestnut-sided Warbler three different photos  and the last one in the row is a Nashville Warbler

Bottom row: Black-throated Blue Warbler and  Northern Parula

6.   2014..included various trips where I saw the American Bittern in Chincoteague Island Virginia, Susquehanna River to see the Eagles, a Sora at the Viera Wetland in Florida, Black Skimmers in Ocean City Md, 

A cool sighting of Dusky Grouse in the Rocky MTN NP in Colorado, A cute House Finch dad with young in my yard, A Little Blue Heron in North Point State Park Maryland, Yellow-crowned Night Heron on nest at Jones Falls Baltimore.

Scarlet Tanager at Prettyboy Reservoir, Virginia Rail at Aberdeen Md, a Violet Sabrewing in Belize and last but not least a Snowy Owl at Edwin Forsythe NWR New Jersey. 

7.   2015.. Black Bellied Whistling Duck seen in Florida, the Prothonotary Warbler seen at Susquehanna River SP in Maryland, Sooty Grouse on the road to Hurricane Ridge Washington State, Varied Thrush seen near Mount Rainier NP Washington State.

Looking in my window a Screech Owl, a Summer Tanager in the back yard, Cape May Warblers in the back yard, a Belted Kingfisher seen at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.

American Oystercatcher seen at Chincoteague Island, Great Egret on nest at York Pa, a Tricolored Heron seen at North Point SP in Maryland, a Mottled Little Blue Heron seen at North Point SP in Maryland.  

8.   2016 was a fun year. I have lots of my favorite birds to share a different bird for each month of the year. We moved for a short time to Florida from Oct 2016 to March 2017. While we were in Florida, we visited so many parks and beaches. It was a like a 5 month vacation.  The top two rows are birds seen in my neighborhood or in a Maryland park, the last row of birds are from Delaware and Florida. 

Top row: Bald Eagle couple, Red-tailed Hawk, Barred Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker.

Middle row: Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Great Blue Heron, Scarlet Tanager and a Little Blue Heron.

Bottom row: Egret at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware, Black-bellied Whistling ducks in Florida neighborhood, Reddish Egret @ Merritt Island NWR and the Roseate Spoonbill. 

9.   2017...I have a variety of birds seen during this year on on my blog. I have so many favorite birds, I guess it is best to say my favorite bird is the one I am seeing at that moment.  It is hard to pick just 12 photos for the year,. These birds are from Circle B Preserve in Florida, Lakeland Florida, my neighborhood, backyard and from a visit to Sunset Beach North Carolina.

Top Row: Green Heron @ Circle B Florida, Wood Storks @ Circle B, Painted Bunting @ Circle B and Great Horned Owl nest Lakeland Florida.

Middle Row: Monk Paraketts @ Florida, Great Blue Heron @Prettyboy Md, Ovenbird @ Prettyboy Md,  Belted Kingfisher @ Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.

Bottom row: female Ruby-throated Hummingbird backyard, Northern Flicker @ Prettyboy, Black Skimmers @ Sunset Beach North Carolina, Tufted Titmouse backyard.

10.  2018...more of my favorite yard birds are seen. 
Top row: in my yard are the female Northern Cardinal, Eastern Bluebirds, Pine warbler and a Fox Sparrow. 

Second Row, American Bittern seen in a Maryland State Park, Summer Tanager off the fire road, Osprey nest at Piney Point Lighthouse Md, Brown Pelican at sunset at Point Lookout State Park, Md. 

Bottom Row are the Black-throated Blue warbler in my yard, Brown Creeper off the fire road, Screech Owl in my front yard, Pine Siskins at my feeder.

11.  2019...On this mosaic I am including my favorite birds seen during the year and some critters like the Assateague pony and the Black Bear. 

Top row: Snow Bunting, North Pt State Park Md, Assateague Pony, Purple Finches on my deck and Blue Jay on the deck railing.

Middle Row in my yard two Pileated Woodpeckers, Little Blue Heron at North PY State Park Md, Black & White Warbler with a female American Redstart at Shenandoah NP and A Yellow-billed Cuckoo seen off the fire road.

Bottom row is the Northern Fulmar seen in Iceland, Cooper's Hawk on deck railing, Black Bear seen in Shenandoah and in the yard a Cardinal couple.

12.  2020..What a year! The Covid-19 Pandemic curtailed our travels and activities with lots of social distancing. But, we managed to visit a few places before the lockdown. Most of the places were outdoor and nature related and easy to social distance. 

Top row: an Anhinga seen in Hilton Head SC, a Dark-eyed Junco on my deck railing, Pine Warbler on the deck, An American Goldfinch on the deck.

Middle row: Great-crested Flycatcher seen off the fire road, Scarlet Tanager seen in Shenandoah NP, Osprey on nest seen at Blackwater NWR MD, Common Yellowthroat Warbler seen at the NCR bike trail. 

Bottom row: Red-breasted Nuthatch seen at Hashawha Carroll Co Md, Black-throated Blue Warbler in back yard, Common Mergansers seen at Loch Raven Reservoir in Md and at my feeder a Tufted Titmouse with female Purple Finches. 

As you can see birdwatching was one of my favorite hobbies, I loved watching the birds in my yard, neighborhood and during all our travels over the years. 

"Birdwatching is your lifetime ticket to the theatre of nature."

I am also linking up to Anni's blog party found here I'd Rather B Birding   Anni always has some beautiful birds to be seen on her blog, check it out!

Here is my linky:

YOU are all # 1.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your comments now and over the past 12 years.  Stop back to see any replies to your comments.