More backyard skies

It's time to link up with my favorites memes Skywatch Friday and  NF Winged.

Gee, I am coming up with some of the best titles.  But, that it is just what I am posting... my evening sky from this past weekend and some more backyard birds.  The one good thing about my yard is I do see lots of birds. I am combining my NF Winged post with my Skywatch Friday , so I hope you do not mind seeing my birds and skies.

This is a shot taken from my dining room window, a pretty female Downy Woodpecker.

I love this shot of the White-throated Sparrow.

This shot was from this past Saturday, the sky was mostly clear but some pink clouds appeared in the west. Of course after Saturday we have had fog, rain, cloudy skies and more rain.

So, these are the last of my pretty skies from my backyard for this week anyway. I hope the weather is better over the coming weekend. It is a long holiday weekend I am off Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.


To see more beautiful photos and pretty skies please visit Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to the host of NF Winged.  Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Thankful

Hello, I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!

For this weeks post with Thanksgiving just days away I wanted to do a post on the things I am most thankful for. First it would be my family... my dear hubby and son and the rest of my family who will be here for Thanksgiving dinner.  I am thankful to come home from work to see my sweet hubby already having our dinner made..my son who luckily has a job and goes to school..my Goldie Girl who greets me at the door and lays by my feet. I am thankful for my job and so happy it is one that allows me time off to travel..I am thankful that I am healthy..except for a few aches and pain..I think of all those who are really sick and I realize how fortunate I am..

I am thankful for the some of the simple pleasures in life..like waking up to a beautiful sunrise and ending the day with a gorgeous sunset...for the beautiful birds I see in my yard. And I have to say even with the awful political fights going on lately.. I am thankful for being born in the USA..There are so many poor countries and people thru-out the world who do not have food, medicine and a good roof over there heads. I would like to see less greed and in my opinion most Americans have a great life and I can say I am one of those thankful Americans.  And here are some of my wishes.. I wish for the US politicians be willing to compromise and I wish for world peace. I wish that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving..

I am also thankful for the wonderful blogging friends I have made, the nice people that visit my blog and leave their wonderful comments. So thank you all! Have a safe and happy holiday!!

To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday
 Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy .  Thanks also for stopping by to see my post.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Sunrise to Sunset

It's time for some of my favorites memes Skywatch Friday and  NF Winged.



These shots are all from this past Saturday. The same day as our visit to Fort McHenry and Snow Buntings on my post below. I started by taking shots of our backyard sunrise and ended with our sunset from along the road home and our backyard. Also, included were a few of my backyard birds.

Looking west the sky and clouds turned a pretty pink with the sunrise.

A shot of the crescent moon above our house.

I am pretty sure this is a juvenile Purple Finch. He found a happy spot on my deck railing.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatches are one of my favorite visitors in the winter.

We stopped along the road to enjoy this sky, we were almost home.

 The last couple of shots were taken at my front street and backyard.

To see more beautiful photos and pretty skies please visit Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Pileated Woodpecker

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes

Last Saturday I was enjoying the sunrise and watching my yardbirds from my deck. I could hear the Pileated woodie towards the back of my yard before he started flying toward me.

I was able to take a small video of the Pileated. I am still practicing with the video on my camera so the Pileated is more of a silhouette but it is still a cool yardbird. Next I would love to see the Pileated woodie on my suet feeders. 

The Downy Woodpecker

The Redbellied Woodpecker

RedBellied Woodie and a Pine Warbler

The woodpeckers are some of my favorite birds. So far in my yard I have seen the Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Redbellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flickers, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers. The only other woodpecker for this area that I have not seen in my yard would be the Redhead Woodpecker. The Redhead Woodie is being seen above where I live.... like in my sisters yard in Hanover Pa and below where I live in Baltimore County. I wonder if I can bring one home from my sisters on Christmas Day. Santa, can you hear me singing all I want for Christmas is a Redhead Woodie for my yard?

To see more beautiful birds check out World Bird Wednesday   and to
see more nature photos please visit  Nature Notes

Thank you to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

I also appreciate your visits and comments. I wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a great week. Be safe and Happy Birding!!!! 

Goldfinches & Sunflowers

I am linking up my Goldfinch post  to the Friday Ark and Camera Critters  Both are great memes for the animal and bird lover. The American Goldfinch is a year round bird for me.  The male Goldfinch is a beautiful bird, such a pretty bright yellow in the summer months. The female is pretty but a much duller color. They have such a sweet sound, I love to hear them in my yard.

Watching and feeding my yardbirds is one of my favorite things to do. The sunflowers growing in my yard are from the birds dropping the seeds. They love the Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds also known as BOSS. And now it is a treat to see the birds pecking at and eating the seeds on my sunflowers.

On this day I was able to catch the American Goldfinch perched on top of the sunflower and chowing down.

I like to leave the flowers in our yard even after they are past their beautiful flowering stage because I know the birds like to eat the seeds from the dead flowers. The Coneflowers are another flower popular with the birds in the fall time. In a small way it helps me to cut back on my bird seed purchases, if the birds are eating the seeds from my flowers.

I chose to plant coneflowers in our yard because I read that the birds love the eat the seeds in the fall.

To see more wonderful birds and critters please visit the Friday Ark and Camera Critters.  Thanks to the host of the Friday Ark and to Misty Dawn of Camera Critters. Thanks also for visiting my post and blog. I always enjoy your comments. I hope you all have a great weekend and try to stay cool. It's HOT out there.

A few yardbirds

For this weeks Camera Critters I have a few of my yardbirds. Some are just passing thru and some are here nesting.

The bluebirds are one of my favorite yardbirds and probably the first bird that got me interested in birding. Sometimes I can see them year round and sometimes they leave and come back to build their nest.

The Ruby Throated hummingbird look pretty funky.

The Indigo Bunting is one of my summer birds. Summer birds are breeders here in Maryland and have a nest nearby.

The American Goldfinches are here year round but the males turn a duller color in the winter. They look beautiful in the summer.

The female Rose Brested Grosbeak was just passing thru to her nesting habitat. She decided she needed a quick fix of bird seed to keep her going.

I hope you enjoyed my yardbirds and to see more wonderful critters please visit

Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  Thanks to Misty for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post.

 I hope you all have a great weekend.

Cute Chickadees, the moon and a cup of coffee

I thought I mentioned in my blog that I had surgery on my thumb this past Tuesday. It appears my thumb does not like to stay in its proper place and dear Arthur set in from a previous thumb surgery. I must have mentioned it on my other blog. It will be in this cast until I go back for a follow up on the 31st.




These are a few shots from yesterday in my yard.   I have been keeping my camera on the tripod at the dining room window. It is easy to snap pic's one handed using the tripod. I'll be happier when my hand is out of this cast. Typing one handed is not fun.  Early in the morning I was able to watch the moon setting. Afterwards I enjoyed watching my yardbirds. These are a few of my favorite things that make me happy. Skywatching and birding...both can be addicting and fun.

I think these colors look good together, the moon and blue sky along with the chickadee with the pine tree background. Pretty nature scenes that make me happy.

My cute Carolina Chickadee

The moon setting

A wake me up happy has been found with using my new Keurig (a Christmas present) coffee maker. I am able to use it one handed. I am loving all the different coffee flavors and that it is so simple to use. The Kona and Hazelnut flavors are two of my favorites coffees.

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday and That's My World  Thanks to Mary for hosting and to the gang at That's My World.

Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post, I hope you have a great week.

Backyard birding

For this weeks Mosaic Monday I thought I would show some of my favorite backyard birds. The birds enjoy the feeders in the winter months especially when there is snow on the ground. They need a reliable source of food for wintertime survival. I usually try to keep foods high in fat and energy like suet, peanuts can provide protein and high calorie food like the sunflower seeds. I have a tree nearby and a tangled mess of a trumpet vine that the birds hide in for protection from predators. I also have a heated birdbath for clean drinking water.

In this mosaic are some of my favorite yardbirds.. the Cardinal, Junco, White Throated Sparrow, Pine Siskin,  Redbreasted Nuthatch, Whitebreasted Nuthatch, bottom row are the Pine Warbler, Carolina Wren and the American Goldfinch. These photos in the mosaic below were taken with my Canon Power Shot.

  The Cardinals look pretty with a snowy background and are a pretty red to show off for Ruby Tuesday.

Male Cardinal on birdcam

For this weeks Mellow Yellow Monday I have one of my favorite and colorful winter birds the Pine Warbler.

Pine Warbler on Birdcam

Birdcam captured just one of the many squirrels I have hanging on my bird feeders.

I was really happy to get a Wingscape Birdcam for a Christmas present. So now I can see my yardbirds that visit when I am at work. Below, I also made a mosaic of some of the birdcam captures.

The birds seen below on my birdcam are the RB Nuthatch, WB Nuthatch, Pine Siskins, Goldies and Pine Warbler, Cardinal, Chickadees, Titmouse and the squirrel who wanted a closeup shot for his portfolio.

Of course a lot of my birdcam photos are of squirrels and a night time visitor the raccoon.

I hope you can visit these fun memes Mary's Mosaic Monday and Drowsey Monkey's Mellow Yellow Monday and Mary's Ruby Tuesday

Thanks to these great hosts and thank you for stopping by to see my post. I hope you enjoyed my backyard birds and maybe you can help feed the birds this winter.

Have a great week!  Eileen

Outside my window

For my Camera Critters these are some of my backyard birds seen from my dining room window. I like that I can see the birds from my window and not even have to go out in the cold. It has been really cold lately and we a had a little dusting of snow yesterday. My backyard birds seem to enjoy my feeders even more when there is snow on the ground.

What birds are in your yard today?


                             Carolina Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Male Cardinal

                                    Bluejay

Below is another common visitor to my deck and bird feeders.

These are some of my backyard birds today.  To see more cute and wonderful critters go and visit Camera Critters
Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my critters.

Backyard Bird..Tufted Titmouse

I enjoy watching and feeding my backyard birds. The Tufted Titmouse is one of my year round backyard birds. The are a small songbird, they have a white face and a grey crest and a short stout bill.

They love the Black oil Sunflower seeds and peanuts.

This is my entry for Camera Critters and to see more cute critters visit

Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting Camera Critters.