Saturday's Critters # 529

 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!

Most mornings I put out some peanuts in the shells and some peanut suet nuggets for my back yard birds. The Blue Jays my most common yard bird. They arrive in large numbers making a lot of noise. They take as much as they can fit into their beaks/mouths. 

1. I hope you are not tired of seeing the Blue Jays. They love to eat the peanuts and the suet peanut balls.  

2. Later we took our walk on the NCR trail, we did a little shopping at the local grocery store we rode past the Friendly Farms ponds on our way home. On Jan 5th we saw a big flock of Canada Geese and various ducks on the ponds. 

3. Some of the pond below has a thin layer of ice, you can see the Canada Geese are able to walk on the ice. The ducks were hanging out in a open water area of the pond. 

4. A blurry view of a groups of ducks hanging out on the pond.  

5. Below a nice variety of waterfowl, the male and female Buffleheads, the male and female Hooded Mergansers and an American Wigeon. 

6. Who's hanging out with the American Wigeon below? 

7. One of our first snows, was just a dusting. It melted quickly. Barely visible is a Blue Jay on the bottom left, eating some of the peanut nuggets. 

8. The male and female Cardinals are daily visitors to my deck. They enjoy the little peanut nuggets. 

9. The Blue Jays are another common yard bird for me, they love the peanuts in the shell. But, they we eat anything I put out there.

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 # 482

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!

I am trying to stay some what caught up with reports on my outings and posts. Most of my photos are from my neighborhood, our walks on the fire roads and to the lake.  

1. Feb 12th, our walk on the fire road looking down at the reservoir we saw a group of Canada Geese and a Mute Swan.  The Mute Swans are not native to Maryland but they are seen around the state. The Mute Swans are easy to identify with their reddish-orange bill. 

2. A larger look at the Mute Swan, I really had to zoom in for this photo. The fire road I was walking on is on the top of a hill and there are lots of trees in between the fire road and the lake. 

3. Feb 13th, hubby and I took our walk on the fire road that leads to the lake and to a view of the Bald Eagle's nest.  Along the way I found a couple of Brown Creepers, we saw the usual Common Mergansers and Canada Geese. We spotted the first Bald Eagle on the nest as soon as we got to the lake, the second eagle was sitting off in a tree across the lake. Soon both Bald Eagles were sitting in the same tree. 

4. Feb 13th, the Prettyboy Bald Eagles, this pair have been nesting nearby in a tree next to the lake. I like that they have been returning to the nest for years now. 

5. Feb 15th, hubby and I took a ride to where we saw the Golden Eagle . Usually there are ducks near the boat ramp parking lot.  I think the Golden Eagle has left this spot but we saw various ducks and geese.  Below are the Canada Geese, American Wigeons, Redhead Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks and Bufflehead ducks. I was happy to see this group of ducks some what closer for photos.  Maybe someone was there and threw some corn into the water for the ducks to eat. 

6. Below you can see a closer look at the Redhead ducks, the American Wigeon with the green eye patch and the Ring-necked ducks with the white band on their bill.

7. Feb 19th, our walk was on the fire road closer to home. We are seeing the Common Mergansers and Canada Geese and the Ring-necked Ducks during each visit to the lake. The Brown Creepers have been sighted each time too. The Downy Woodpeckers are seen pecking away and we saw a few of the Golden-crowned Kinglets were bouncing around all over the place. 

8. A Brown Creeper seen making it's way up the tree. These birds are brown with white underparts and have a slender decurved bill. 

9. Feb 20th,  another walk on the fire road close to home. We saw and heard the White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpeckers, Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks and a Bald Eagle some what hidden behind some branches. 

10. Feb 20th, I watched this hawk chasing a Mourning Dove away from my yard. It came right back and sat in a tree in our side yard. It was a small hawk, so I will guess a Sharp-shinned Hawk

Update: David who really knows his birds, says this is a Cooper's Hawk.

11. Feb 21st and Feb 24th, Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a dead tree in our yard. The photos look the same but they were taken on different days.

12.  Feb 24th, we watched our grandson Mason while Wyatt went for his check-up. We are always happy to spend time with our grandsons and the grand-dogs Nibbles and Winnie. They all love their Pop-Pop.

I hope you enjoyed my birds and post, I am looking forward to visiting your blog. 

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 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! Also, I am also 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 # 475

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!

1. Early January we had a few nice weather days, mild temperatures but not always sunny. On this day hubby and took a walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir, usually you can always find some winter ducks on the lake between the two dams. 

2. The male Hooded Merganser, it is one of my favorite ducks. The males have a black head with a white patch that changes sizes when the crest is raised. They have a white breast with chestnut flanks. 

3. The Canada Geese had the highest count, the geese population seems to doing very well.

4. The Ring-necked Ducks have dark heads and backs with gray sides. Adult males have a prominent white ring on their bill. The females are brown and have a white patch near the bill. 

5. I could only find a few Bufflehead ducks mixed in with the other duck species and a large count of Canada Geese.

6. More Canada Geese, some Ring-necked Ducks and a few American Wigeons.

7. Below are a few Canada Geese, two Ring-necked Ducks and 4 American Wigeons. the male American Wigeon has a cream color forecrown.

8. There have been years that the Eurasian Wigeon would be seen hanging out with the ducks on this reservoir, I tried zooming in on various groups but I did not see any other duck species. 

9. Canada Goose, Ring-billed Gull with two male Hooded Mergansers.

10. The Ring-billed Gulls are a common sight to see at this reservoir, they can also be found on parking lots.

11. Male and female Mallards.

12. The Hooded Merganser couple, the handsome male with the female.  The female is a gray-brown with cinnamon tone on the head. 

13. More male and female Mallards hanging out near the shore, people come to feed the ducks in this spot. So the ducks seem to be more tame around people. 

Bonus image: our grandson Mason will be 1 year old on the 24th..  Happy Birthday to Mason.

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

Nature is grand

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." Vincent Van Gogh


This is finally the last of my Washington trip photos. On this gray day we were leaving La Push and heading south on Rt 101 near the coast. Before taking our rental car back to the Sea-tac airport we made a few stops along the way. One stop at the Grays Harbor Nat'l Wildlife Refuge near Aberdeen Washington and then the Nisqually Nat'l Wildlife Refuge near Olympia Washington.

"The sea, once it cast it's spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." Jacques Yves Cousteau

Driving down the coast and below the resort at Kalaloch we stopped to view the beaches and the amazing numbers of Surf Scoters.

To really see this image it is best enlarged. All the small black dots are the Surf Scoters. It had to be the largest count of Scoters I have ever seen. There were more Scoters (a sea bird)  up and down the coast. It was an amazing sight to see, especially if you are a birder.

Above are some birds, the tree lined boardwalk and moss covered trees
scenes from the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge near Aberdeen Washington.

Grays Harbor NWR Great Blue Herons spending time with the gulls.

Above are some images from our short visit to the Nisqually Wildlife refuge. I wish we had more time here. They have a boardwalk that is 4 miles.

A scenic view at Nisqually, the boardwalk, wetlands and sky.

For Tom's meme The Barn Collective I am sharing the twin barns at the Nisqually NWR. The two huge barns were once dairy barns built back in 1934 and the wildlife refuge was once called the Brown Farm. The forest here is a rare natural occuring deciduous riparian forest found in Washington.

I hope you enoyed the images and post. I appreciate your visits and nice comments. Thank you! Have  a happy day and new week ahead!


As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Three Crabs, Sequim

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

For my Skywatch Friday and Good Fences I am sharing some more scenes from Washington state, the sunrise in Port Angeles and the sunset at Sequim. I hope you enjoy, we had a great trip with wonderful memories.

The sunrise and moon were taken one morning in Port Angeles.

Below is the view of the Dungeness Bay at Three Crab Road  in Sequim Washington. I read that this was a birding hotspot so I had to check it out while I was in the area. As you can see in the photo below there are a thousand or more American Wigeons, two Bald Eagles on a stump sticking out the water in the distance. It was a great spot to watch the sun setting.

The lighting was not the best for photos, but seeing the all these ducks was an amazing sight.

One of my lifers above was the Anna's Hummingbird. The birds ( Anna's hummingbird and the Oregon Junco)  above were seen in a Sequim neighborhood we were visiting.

A reflection of the sky on the Dungeness Bay, Sequim Washington. It may not be much of a fence, but the area was fenced off and a warning sign posted to stay off the property.

Another beyond the rope fence look  at the Wigeons on the left and the next two shots of a few Dowitchers behind the rope fence.

For my skywatch, a golden sunset with the Dungeness Lighthouse, Cormorants & gulls and the duck silhouettes at Dungeness Bay, Three Crab Road.

A beautiful sunset in Sequim, Washington. I hope you enjoyed my images and post. Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for your nice comments. Have a happy day and weekend ahead.

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..