Monday, January 29, 2024

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week! 


"Happiness cannot be far behind a grateful heart and a peaceful mind."





"The best things in life are the people we love, the places we've seen and the memories we made along the way."


"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Saturday's Critters # 528

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 ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!


A month behind, I am still trying to catch up. These images start with an early morning Christmas day walk to the lake. 


1. Our walk was on a fire road that leads to the lake and a view of the Bald Eagle's nest.  We didn't see an Eagle on the nest but there was an adult Eagle in one tree and a juvenile across the lake. 





2. This Bald Eagle was calling to another Eagle that flew away from the tree.  






3. Dec 29th, our walk was to our back part of the lake. We were happy to see a large flock of Canada Geese and 20-30 Common Mergansers.  We were a distance away and the Mergansers were still spooked and flew further across the lake. 




Below is one male Common Merganser with three females. The male has more white on it's body and a green head. I cropped this photo, I wish it was a clearer photo they were a good distance away. 





4. Just a few of the Canada Geese seen at the lake.






5. Along the fire road we watched a flock of Eastern Bluebirds, I was surprised to see a large group hanging out together.  Below are the Male Bluebird on the left and the female is one the right. 





6. On New Year's day I like to record the first bird I see, it was the Blue Jay. After putting out some peanut nuggets on the deck railing, the Blue Jays were the first bird I saw along with the Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse and the White-throated Sparrows.






7. Jan 2nd, our walk to the front part of the lake. We saw 3 Bald Eagles, 2 in flight and one sitting in a tree. A big flock of Robins were seen along the fire road. 





8. I was able to snap a few photos of the Robins, they were flying back and forth across the fire road as walked close.  




Jan 24th, was our grandson Mason's 2nd birthday, we were happy to be there to celebrate on the actual day.





Here is a Saturday's Critters badge if you would like to add it to your post.





Thank you for sharing your critters and post!


Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.





Here is my linky:




I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!


"Kindness is choosing love over hate, light over darkness, compassion over judgement."





"Spread a little kindness wherever you go."


 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Saturday's Critters # 527

 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 ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!


These photos are from our morning visit to the Edwin Forsythe NWR on day two of our little getaway to Atlantic City, New Jersey


1. Resting in the grass below are some Northern Pintails and below photos are a mixed of Pintails and Hooded Mergansers and a large group of Dunlins.




Below are a Northern Pintail, male and female Hooded Mergansers. 





Three Snow Geese floating in the water foraging for food.





Dunlins and gulls





Lots of waterfowl and shorebirds hanging out at this one pool area. 






I am guessing at the bird id below , the Dunlins have been listed in high numbers at this wildlife refuge.






The Snow Geese were seen flying in large groups all around the wildlife refuge.







There were 3 juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons hanging out below.








Can you find the 3 Black-crowned Night Herons below?






A pretty Great Egret seen near the Great Blue Heron. 





This is the end of our visit to Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. It is a great refuge to see the winter ducks, snow geese and shorebirds. 


Here is a Saturday's Critters badge if you would like to add it to your post.





Thank you for sharing your critters and post!


Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.





Here is my linky:




I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!


"When we choose to trust the journey and embrace love and joy, we are free to fly."






"If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down."


 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Saturday's Critters # 526

 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 ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post! Here is a Saturday's Critters badge if you would like to add it to your post.


Dec 12-13th we were on the road again, just one night in Atlantic City NJ and 2 visits to the Edwin B. Forsythe wildlife refuge. This wildlife refuge is a great place to visit in the winter, to see all the winter ducks and the Snow Geese. My photos were taken from the car while driving on the wildlife drive. 


1. Dec 12th, we arrived mid day to find the visitor center was closed but the wildlife drive is open. 




A view from the wildlife drive and across the bay you can see the Atlantic City hotels and casinos. 





2. Below various ducks we saw were the Green-winged Teal, the Northern Shoveler and the Northern Pintail. 





3. Near the beginning of the wildlife drive, I had a great view of the American Bittern. If only it stayed to pose for my photo, it turned tail and hid in the grasses. 






4. The Hooded Mergansers were seen in big groups at times along the drive. 





5.  We saw lots of female Buffleheads and only a few shy male Buffleheads. 



6.   The Ruddy Ducks look cute with their stiff tail feathers.  




7. The American Black Ducks are a common sight to see at this wildlife refuge.  





8.  Below a Great Blue Heron hanging out with a Great Egret. 




9.  The Canada Geese seemed to be happy standing on the wildlife drive, I hope they stay safe with the cars riding by. 






10.   We saw a few Mute Swans, they looked like they did not want to be disturbed.   






11. The Snow Geese arrive in the winter months in large flocks. They are fun to watch when something upsets them and they all take off making lots of noise only to fly around and land again on the ground or in the water.







12. One lone Snow Geese was looking for food in the grasses along the drive.  




I hope you enjoyed this visit to the wildlife refuge.  


Thank you for sharing your critters and post!


Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.





Here is my linky:




I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Monday, January 8, 2024

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!


"Conserve wetlands to preserve biodiversity."



"Wetlands are like a small version of Earth themselves because they are the homes to so many different types of plants and animals."



"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday, January 6, 2024

Saturday's Critters # 525

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 ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!


These images are from our visit and walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir, Baltimore County. It is nice to take a walk in a different location than our neighborhood. Usually we can see a variety of winter ducks at this reservoir. There are usually lots of Gulls and Mallards hanging around the parking area.  When we got out of our car, the ducks came running. They are used to people and being fed. Sorry ducks, we did not bring any food.  


1. Our first stop was near the secondary dam, here we saw a large group of male and female Hooded Mergansers, Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gull and some Mallard ducks. 






2. The Hooded Mergansers are one of my favorite ducks. The males have a fan shaped crest that can collapse. The females have a cinnamon colored crest.




This group of Canada Geese and Mallards were resting on the top of the secondary dam. 





3. This large group of Mallards and Gulls were just fed, a couple in a car pulled up with some kind of food. Hopefully it was not bread.  





4. The large group of Mallards are resting after just being fed.  





5. I know the bottom gull is a the Ring-billed Gull, I am not sure about the top gull. It does look like a juvenile?





6. We saw a large group of the Ring-necked Ducks. 





7.  I tried for a closer look at the Ring-necked Ducks. The male is black, gray and white with a prominent white ring on the bill. The females are brown with a white patch near the bill.




A closer look at the Ring-billed Gull. They have a heavy bill with a distinct ring.





8. On the way home we rode past the Friendly Farm ponds, there were 5 Bald Eagles on the ground. Three adult Bald Eagles next to one pond and there were 2 juvenile Eagles across the driveway and near the second pond. 




"Let us give nature a chance, she knows her business better than we do."

I wanted to ask if anyone could help me to create a new badge for the Saturday's Critters party. A new year and time for a change. Thanks in advance!

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!


Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post. Also, if you like you can add the badge below on your Saturday's Critter post.  Thank you to Shiju for making the new badge. 





Here is my linky:




I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Saturday's Critters # 541

  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 ...