Saturday's Critters # 510

 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!

This post is part 2 of our visit to Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware. Since we spent the night in Dover Delaware we were able to visit the wildlife refuge early in the morning.  I like seeing the refuge during the low tide also the lighting is different on the pools. 

1. I love seeing the large groups of Snowy Egrets and the Great Egrets, we also saw a Tricolored Heron hanging out with the Great Egrets and a few Green Herons. The American Goldfinch was eating some seeds off a nearby plant, American Avocets look busy grooming themselves, a Common Moorhen was hidden in the wetland grasses. In the last row, I was undecided if I was seeing the Purple Martins or Swallows, someone listed Bank Swallows on ebird for this sight. A pair of Bald Eagles were seen off in the distance near their nest and last are more Egrets with a Glossy Ibis. 

As always, click on images for larger viewing.

Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and the American Avocets. 

Below are the Great Egret and a Tricolored Heron.  The Tricolored has the long bill and a white belly.

The Green Heron, one of my favorite herons.  One of the smaller herons only 17 inches tall. 

The male Indigo Bunting, is a pretty color blue.

We enjoyed watching this Indigo Bunting, calling out his familiar sound.

A pretty male American Goldfinch, found some seeds to eat. At this spot I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a Least Bittern. The Least Bittern disappeared into the grasses, it was too fast for my camera but a great sighting. 

The low tide brings out the Clapper Rails, foraging in the muddy area of the wetlands. 

The two Clapper Rails went off in different directions and soon disappeared in the grasses. 

The Semipalmated Plover is a cutie! 

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the car while watching these two Green Herons at the edge of the pond. 

A front view of the Green Heron, it looks comical. 

A view of the pool, way off in the distance are lots of little shorebirds looking like little brown spots, closer in are the American Avocets, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and the Glossy Ibis.

Bombay Hook NWR is a great place to see the birds,  many are breeders and are here during the summer. 

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. 

Saturday's Critters # 509

 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 are photos from our Aug 16-17th overnight trip to Bombay Hook NWR and Dover Delaware.  After our 2 and 1/2 hour drive we arrived at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. It will always be one of my favorite places to see the birds. These are the birds I saw on the first day, we saw a family of Wild Turkeys, lots of Snowy and Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Glossy Ibis, American Avocets, Osprey and various shorebirds like the Dunlin, Dowitchers, Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Willets, Black Bellied Plovers and Mute Swans. 

1. Below in the mosaic, top row is a family of Wild Turkeys, American Avocets and a guess at a Yellowlegs. Second row are the Snowy Egret and Great Egrets, Long-billed and Short Billed Dowitchers with a Black-bellied Plover, more Egrets with American Avocets and more shorebirds. Bottom row an Egret, Great Blue Heron and Canada Geese with Willets.

2. Forster's Tern, Semipalmated Plover, Caspian Tern with Gulls and Terns. Middle row is an Osprey, Swallows and Mute Swans. Bottom row is a Mute Swan, Egrets and Egrets with Glossy Ibis.

3. Below are various images of the American Avocets, various shorebirds, Osprey Egrets with Glossy Ibis.

4. The American Avocets, a pretty shorebird has black and white wings, the breeding adult can have the burnt orange head. 

5. The Great Egrets with the yellow bill mixed in with the group of Snowy Egrets.

6. Below is a mix of shorebirds, Great and Snowy Egrets and the American Avocets. 

7. There is one Black-belled Plover mixed with Dowitchers and possibly other shorebirds. 

8.  More of the attractive American Avocets.

 

9. A mix of Terns, Gulls and I see the Semipalmated Plover. 

10. We saw a few Osprey perched in trees around the refuge. 

11. This Mute Swan was giving me a look, all my photos were taken from my car window. 

12. Snowy Egrets with a Glossy Ibis. 

13. A view of the pool with various Egrets and more American Avocets. 

14.  Taken off the Glossy Ibis, Terns and shorebirds. The Canada Geese were settled on the ground.

15. A young fox was walking by our car. 

I hope you enjoyed these photos from the Bombay Hook NWR . 

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. 

Saturday's Critters #396

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 are some photos from our visit to Bombay Hook NWR, we were able to visit early in the morning since we had spent one night at the Dover Delaware hotel.  It is one of my favorite places, to bird from our car. The bugs can be horrible in the summer, I was happy to take my photos from the car window. 

1.  Top row are the Snowy Egrets and American Avocet, Black-necked Stilts, Great Blue Heron and a Great Horned Owl. Middle row are the Black Skimmers, Willet, Ospreys and Mallard. Bottom row are a rabbit, possible Mud Turtle, Bald Eagle and a Mute Swan.

2.  We saw a few Blue Grosbeaks, easy to id with their rusty colored wing bar. 

3. The Black Skimmers seen doing their thing skimming over the pond. 

4. The American Avocets are so pretty, one of my favorite shorebirds. 

5. A few Snowy Egrets with an American Avocet. 

6.  The non-native Mute Swan are a common sighting at Bombay Hook NWR. 

7. Apparently the Black-necked Stilts do not approve of the Mute Swans being in their habitat.  The Black-necked Stilts had a nest nearby they were being very protective. 

8. Hubby and I enjoyed watching this Great Horned Owl from our car, we making are way along the wildlife drive when I spotted this owl out on a branch in the open. 

9. I was happy to see this Great Horned Owl out on an open branch. 

10. Ospreys were on the same trees as the day before, a small bird is chasing one of the Ospreys. 

11.  A Great Blue Heron shows off his wing span and is happy to be social distancing. 

I hope you enjoyed the birds from Bombay Hook NWR, it is a great place for birding from the comfort of your car.  

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. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post. 

Saturday's Critters # 394

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!  Happy July everyone! 

 

 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!

Latest news in my area, birds are going blind and dying. Here is a link to this article.

Take bird feeders down in D.C., nearby states, experts say - BirdWatching: No word yet on the cause of bird deaths in and around D.C., but as a precaution, you should take your feeders down and clean your bird bath.

The local Md and Virginia are birding clubs and bird club facebook pages are asking for people to take down their feeders. It is not known if the disease is contagious? Could they be eating insects/cicadas that have been sprayed with poisons?  Just a heads up, I have already taken my feeders down,  a few months now due to critter problem.  

Hubby and I enjoyed an overnight in Dover Delaware, the reason for our little getaway was to visit Bombay Hook NWR in Smyrna Delaware. It is also nice to be close by for an early morning drive on the wildlife drive. Timing for some bird sightings and wildlife sightings was great. I will break up our 2 day visit into two posts. 

1. June 16 we arrived around 9:40 am and we drove on the wildlife drive  till around 2:30pm. Near the entrance are the Purple Martin houses, seen along the wildlife drive were the Great Blue Heron, Common Yellowthroat Warbler, American Avocets, Raccoon family, Snapping Turtle, Black-necked Stilts, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Mallard ducks, Black-crowned Night Heron with Great Egret, Black Skimmers with various Terns and Gulls, Indigo Bunting and a Blue Grosbeak. 

2. The American Avocet were looking pretty with their breeding colors. 

3. Raccoon family walking across one of the ponds. 

4. Mute Swans and some Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets.

5.  Black-necked Stilt on nest. 

6. Two Osprey with a Great Blue Heron flying by. 

7. Indigo Bunting, such a pretty deep blue.

8. A Blue Grosbeak, shows off his chestnut colored wingbars. 

9. Great Egret and a some what hidden Black-crowned Night Heron.

10. Port Mahon Delaware, Double-crested Cormorants 

11. Port Mahon Delaware Osprey on nest. 

I hope you enjoyed the birds and critters, we had a nice little trip and visit to the wildlife refuge. 

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!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post. 

Here is my linky:

YOU are all # 1.