Saturday's Critters # 569

  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 was our last full day in Alaska, we were making our way back to Anchorage from Glacier View. We made a few stops at some nature areas before returning our rental car. We had a good 12 hours at the Anchorage airport before our 2am flight back to Seattle.

1. The sunrise from the Glacier View lodge, we got an early start on the road back to Anchorage. 

2.  Our first stop was at a place called Reflections Lake, a short distance from the Glenn Hwy.  My bird sightings were few, a lone Spotted Sandpiper and a little flock of Black-billed Magpies. 

I liked this photo showing the mountains in the background and the Black-billed Magpie in flight looks pretty. 

3. A closer look at the beautiful Black-billed Magpie, he/she showing off their pretty colors, of black, white and blue sheen. 

4. The juvenile Spotted Sandpiper was standing at the edge of the lake.  

5. A closer look at the Spotted Sandpiper, most likely a juvenile. 

6. Reflections Lake, Palmer Hay Flats a game refuge. 

7. A view of the trail at the Palmer Hay Flats, this hiking trail is around a mile. A loop trail around the Reflections Lake. 

8. Another stop before returning our rental car was at the Westchester Lagoon near downtown Anchorage, also nearby is the Fish Creek Estuary and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Of course it had to rain while we were there, the views could be seen from the car while we were parked in the lot. Below are birds seen the Red-necked Grebe, Trumpeter Swans and some Mallards. 

Rainy days are not good for bird photos but I wanted to get a record of all the birds I saw while in Alaska. Below is a groups of the Trumpeter Swans. 

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.

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:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Saturday's Critters # 565

 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!

Prayers for Florida, I hope everyone is safe!

These photos are from Aug 3rd, our second full day visiting Denali National Park and Preserve. We decided to drive as far as we were allowed to mile 15 on the park road. 

1. We had a nice breakfast at the nearby Rosie's cafe and then we headed to the park which was just 13 miles away from our hotel.  Our first critter sighting on the road to the park, was this mama Moose and her young was standing off the road in Healy.  

2. On this day I was happy to see so many moose. Moose are one of my favorite critters.

3. This bear was seen from the parking lot at the Savage River trail head. The Grizzly Bears attract a lot of attention from visitors and park rangers. 

4. This bear stayed in the same spot for awhile, it must have found something good to eat. 

5. Another moose on the loose, something upset this moose it started jumping up and ran for a short time.

Moose on the run!

6. The Willow Ptarmigan was a lifer for me, they were seen all along the park road. Groups of 4-5 were seen eating something off the ground. 

7. The Willow Ptarmigan are heavy bodied ground feeding birds. These birds are similar to the Grouse, they are brown in the summer time and turn white in the winter. They live in Denali year round. 

They were not shy birds, they just seemed busy foraging for food. 

8. The Black-billed Magpie are seen all over the park, a common bird in Alaska. They do look pretty in flight. 

9. These birds are the Dark-eyed Juncos. They were seen along a trail, we took a short walk and a break from driving. 

10. Our dinner was close to our hotel, it was at the 49th State Brewery. The scene below is from their parking lot. 

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.

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:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Saturday's Critter's #44

Saturday's Critter's #44


Happy weekend and welcome to Saturday's Critters! I am sharing more of the birds and critters seen during our Colorado vacation.. Besides birds, hubby and I loved seeing all the elk.. The biggest herd were seen in the Beaver Meadows area ..Specifically off the road that goes to the Cub Lake trail.. Every day the cars were lined up on the side of the road, people sitting out in their chairs watching the elk show.. One big bull elk was bugling and chasing another male around and away from the rest of the herd. 

A Yellow-rumped Warbler was one of the common birds we saw around Estes Park and the Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park. 

The chase is on.

This Black-billed Magpie was going bald..molting..




If you turn up the sound all the way you will hear the bull elk bugling on my video..It maybe too long, I do not mind if you do not watch it all, lol.


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

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An InLinkz Link-up


I hope you enjoyed my critters and now I am looking forward to seeing the critters you are sharing this week..
Thank you for linking up to the critter party. I also appreciate the visits, comments and the support of my blogging friends................... Have a happy weekend!


To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Please visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin. Also, sharing with Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting.

Black-billed Magpie

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am sharing the Black-billed Magpie from our visit to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park.
The Black-billed Magpies were a common bird seen during our Colorado vacation.. Many would be hanging around the parking lots and picnic grounds..

The Black-billed Magpie is in the Crow family. They are found in the western half of the USA, from Alaska to New Mexico. In the photo above you can see their tail makes up for half of their length.

The Magpie is black with white shoulders and white belly. They have dark blue-green wings and tail.  I think they are handsome birds and look beautiful in flight.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Magpie, they are cool looking birds..
Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to both of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and our host Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Jays,Crows & Kin

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes


I am diving into my archives for this post which includes the Jays and Kin in the Corvidae family..Some photos of the Blue Jay are from my backyard and other shots are from my travels.

The two shots above are from my backyard. The Blue Jay is a regular year round visitor in  my yard.  It loves peanuts in and out of the shell. They are loud and always announce their presence on my deck. They are able to imitate a hawk sound so well it really fools me and my little birds.

The Stellar Jay was a common sight during our Washington State travels.. It has a sooty black head and crest, blue wings and tail.

Sorry, for the quality of this shot above but it is the only one I could find of the Gray Jay I was while traveling around Wyoming and Montana.  I need to do some checking on my back up files for a better shot of the Gray Jay. It is a beautiful bird, it is dark gray above and pale gray below. This Jay does NOT have a crest.

The Clark's Nutcracker was seen at Bryce National Park. This bird has a long bill, gray body with black wings.

 And the (Corvidae) Corvid family also includes the following

 The Common Raven has a heavy bill, long wings and tail. The Raven seems to be a more common sight in the western part of the USA.

These Ravens were seen in the Bryce Nat'l Park in Utah.

The Black-billed Magpie was a common bird seen in Yellowstone Nat'l Park. They were usually hanging around the parking lots. They have a black head and breast, white belly and an elegant long tail.

 The Corvid family includes a list of Crows. Above is the American Crow seen in my backyard. The American Crow is overall black, also has a heavy bill, broad wings shorter than the Raven. Somewhere I may have a shot of the Fish Crow seen during my travels.. I wish I had labeled my older photos, to save a lot of searching. 

I am missing a few or more Jays for my lifer list.. Some day it will be nice to see some of the other Jays like the: Brown Jay, Pinyon Jay, Mexican Jay and my favorite the Green Jay.  There are also three Scrub Jays: the Western Scrub Jay, Island Scrub Jay and one I have seen the Florida Scrub Jay. Did you know there were so many Jays?

Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!