Saturday's Critters # 522

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!

Nov 5-9th, 2023 hubby and I enjoyed a short getaway to Turks and Caicos. Also known just as TCI, it is a British territory. These islands are located close to the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. The Turks Islands consist of 8 major islands and many smaller islands inhabited. We stayed at a beach resort located in the Grace Bay area of the island of Providenciales.  

1. A view from our resort at Grace Bay, on the island of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. 

"Collecting memories one destination at a time."

The TCI waders seen were the Great Blue Herons flying over the bay, Great Egret and Green Heron at the resort. 

2.   The Great Egret was one of the birds seen  at our resort.  This egret may have been looking for a dinner of  a lizard. 

Workers at the resort said the Green Heron was their friend, hanging around the pool area and outside restaurant areas. 

3. I saw a few kitties at the resort, they may be enjoying the lizard meals too. 

4. Enjoying a relaxing time on a beach chair, I watched these Great Blue Herons fly by, until they were closer  I thought they were Brown Pelicans. 

5. Another look at the Green Heron this one was on top of an umbrella over a pool chair.  

Sunset, moon and Kestrel sighting. 

6. From our balcony, this American Kestrel (TCI version has more of a white chest) was perched on the roof right above us. 

7. The Brown Anole, they can have a whitish or yellow pattern on it's back. They are found in the Caribbean and Florida and expanding north in coastal Georgia. They eat insects and spiders. Other lizards seen in TCI are the Curly-tailed Lizard.

Smooth-billed Ani

8. The Smooth-billed Ani, it was neat seeing this group of 6 Ani's. They make a strange sound, announcing their arrival.  They also hung around the resort area. 

9. Another shot of the Smooth-billed Ani, it is a glossy backed cuckoo with an oversized bill. They eat insects, lizards and fruits, groups of these birds do everything together. 

10. A closer look at the bill of the Smooth-billed Ani. 

11. I found another Kestrel at the resort, this time on the path to the beach.  We saw a pair of them almost every day of our visit. 

"Life is short and the world is wide."

Hubby and I love to travel, hubby was able to snorkel at Grace Bay, I was happy with my book and a beach chair with a beautiful view. Another day I was able to arrange to do some birding with a local birder. I will have one more post on the birding outing with the local guide. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the island. 

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.

Happy Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!

January has flown by, I am hoping February will be short and warmer. 

During our trip to Florida we visited many parks and this post is on the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is actually part of the northern Everglades wetlands. It was another wildlife refuge that was partly open during our visit, located in Palm Beach County. We had a nice walk, saw some birds, 2 alligators and a very pretty sky. 

Below are some of the birds and the wildlife we saw at the refuge: the Tricolored Heron, American Kestrel, Cattle Egrets, Moorhen, White Peacock Butterfly and I am guessing a Florida Cooter Turtle?

Below are some White Ibis hiding in some tall grasses,  I had to zoom in for this photo. The White Ibis have an orange curved beak.

A pretty sky, reflection of the sky on the wetlands. 

More capture of the clouds reflecting in the canal. 

A limpkin was seen walking among the tall grasses. 

We saw a couple of gators, this bigger one and a smaller one was nearby.

I am just guessing at the id of the turtle below, could it be the Florida Cooter?

Another look at the trail and sky. 

A Great Blue Heron was standing perfectly still.

I am thankful for each day, even though I am wishing the cold winter weather  away. 
A thankful heart is a happy heart. 
I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 


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


Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

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

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

Hello,

Happy Easter everyone!

I am sharing another great Florida park called Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. This park consist of 54,000 acres or dry prairie. It is home to many endangered plants and animals. Two of my favorite sightings were of the Loggerhead Shrike and the Crested Caracara. Both of these birds were seen on the long 5 mile entrance road into the park. This is supposed to be a great park for viewing the night sky, we were only there for the day.


A Loggerhead Shrike, a songbird with raptor habits. It's nickname is the Butcherbird and is related to the Northern Shrike.

The Crested Caracara, one of my favorites.

Great Egrets have a party and invited the  Crested Carcara.

Egrets and herons and warnings of alligators.

One of the views of the trail, a pretty clear blue sky and some palm trees.

Near the visitor center, there was a sculpture of the Carolina Parakeet. This parakeet is now extinct and was the only parrot species native to the United States. The last known wild Carolina Parrot nesting location was in this park. Also in the collage is a  Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly.

A Wood Stork sky.

Eastern Meadowlark

American Kestrel

Most of our walk on the trail was out in the open, no shade to be found. I would suggest going to this park on a cool day.

On the trail at Kissimmee Prairie



"There is no happier person than a truly thankful, content person."


My thankful list for today:
I am thankful to find birds that are on my want to see list. :)
I am thankful for pretty days to take our walks.


Thank you for your visit and comments on my post. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Thanks to Michelle for the meme Thankful Thursday

I am also linking up to Skywatch Friday, I hope to see you there.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Saturday's Critters #71

Saturday's Critters #71

Happy weekend, everyone!  It's Saturday and it's time to share your critters.. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who has linked up in the past and for those who are linking in on this week's critter party. And of course I always appreciate my blogging friends stopping by just for a visit.

I am at the end of sharing our visit and photos from the Merritt Island NWR, here are some more birds and a dolphin seen on the bay side at the Canaveral National Seashore..Do not be disappointed though I still have lots more Florida photos to share, lol!

An American Kestrel seen at the Merritt Island NWR.

A male Belted Kingfisher, sorry the branches were hanging down.. It still looks cute!

We walked to the bayside at the Canaveral National Seashore and just in time to see this dolphin swimming close to the shore..

A Willet on the beach at the Canaveral National Seashore..I hope you enjoyed this series of birds and the dolphin.. Now, I am looking forward to seeing your critters.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks to Tex Theresa aka Tex, I was able to add this link up button and thanks to  Jennifer for creating my photo badge.

<a href="http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/"><img src=" https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/15299083201_9709303697_m.jpg" width="185" height="240"></a>

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.

Thank you for the visits and for all the nice comments.. As always I appreciate your participating with my critter party..Have a happy weekend!

Daytrip to Gettysburg, Pa

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  

Hello, another break from vacation photos, I am sharing some Gettysburg Pennsylvania photos. Also time for sharing some Skywatch photos for Skywatch Friday and some fence scenes for Tex's Good Fences memes.

On March 11th, hubby and I visited the Gettsyburg National Battlefield and drove some of the auto tour..We can drive to Gettsyburg Pa under an hour, it is a nice place to spend the day..

LOL, an American Kestrel sky. A Kestrel perched on at statue at Gettysburg Battlefield.

From the Gettysburg tour road, fences are all over, I love the red barn and the big evergreen tree.

It was a cloudy day we when visited Gettysburg and this supposedly haunted covered bridge called Sachs Covered Bridge.

The Blue Jays and Robins, Redbellied Woodpeckers and a Redheaded Woodpecker were seen all around the battlefield auto tour.

Above you can still see the Kestrel perched on top of the Soldier's hat. Some days we just have to put up with the gray skies..At least it was not snowing at the time of our visit..

Above a view of the Pennsylvania countryside, battlefield, trees, fences, snow and mountains in the distance..

According to the legend three Confederate Soldiers convicted of being spies were hung from the beams in the covered bridge. Their bodies were recovered by the Unions soldiers.. It is said their spirits haunt the bridge and sometimes people have said General Lee's pipe smoke can be smelled on the bridge..

There are many barns and old homesteads on the Gettysburg battlefield, some still standing have an old bullet hole in the house or barn.

The belly band is a tip to iding the Red-tailed hawk.  Even though this is not a great photo I wanted to include photo of the birds I saw while touring the battlefield..

The statues of the soldiers are one of my favorite parts of touring the Gettysburg Battlefield..This soldier looks to be riding into my scene...

I hope you enjoyed some of our auto tour and thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments..

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..