Happy Thankful Thursday

 Hello, Happy Thursday!

Hubby and I look forward to the nice weather for our walks and outings.  It seems like the weather people can not always predict the weather lately. We wanted to get away for a night or two but the weather was not cooperating.  

 

1. So we go on, taking our daily walks. On this day we were able to drive an 1 1/2 hour away to the Great Falls National Park in Potomac Maryland. We walked a total of 5.3 miles at the C&O Canal Trail earlier and at Great Falls.  

 

 

2. Great Falls National Park visitor center. It was a pretty blue sky day...My kind of weather, cool, sunny and clear skies.

3. The C& O Canal Trail at Great Falls, not a cloud in the sky.

4. The Canal Boat and canal was being worked on while we were there.

5. Me and my shadow are seen below in the white water without a raft and paddle.

 

 

 

 

 

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6. Below are a few Warblers and friends, top row Northern Parula. Bottom row is the Black & White Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo and a Black-throated Green Warbler.  These were all seen in one spot along the trail to the Great Falls Overlook.

 

 

 

7. Below is the view from the Great Falls overlook, the Potomac River.

 

 

8. From the Maryland overlook you can across the river and see the Virginia Overlook.

 

 

 

 

9. These are some of the birds I saw during our visit to Great Falls NP.

Below top row are the Black Vulture, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron. Middle Row are the Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Bottom row are the Canada Geese, Double-crested Cormorants, Mallard Ducks. 

 

 10.  A Yellow-billed Cuckoo seen right off the trail. I do not usually see these birds on the ground, they are usually found in the tree tops. This Cuckoo was seen flying and landing on the ground.

 

 

 

11. Pretty blue sky and the Potomac River.  The Great Falls National Park is split between the states of Maryland and Virginia by the Potomac River. 

 

 

 

I am thankful for correct weather predictions.

I am thankful for planned outings.

I am always thankful to survive driving on the DC 495 Beltway and on the I-95, there are some crazy drivers out there.  

I am thankful for long walks with nature.

Take care and stay safe! 


Live simple and be happy!  😊 Keep smiling!



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


Thank you for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!!  😊

Saturday's Critters #249

Welcome to Saturday's Critters !

Happy Autumn!

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 had a few days around Sept 12th-14th seeing the fall warblers moving through my yard. I was happy to see them enjoying the berries on the devil's walking stick we planted years ago for the warblers. I took all these images from my dining room window so some images maybe fuzzy. 

The Black-throated Blue Warbler is a beautiful bird. 

The male Cape May Warbler has some bright yellow colors.

Top row are the male and female Cape May Warbler, bottom row is the Black-throated Blue Warbler and another Cape May Warbler seen with the Black-throated Blue Warbler.

This is either the female Cape May Warbler or a first year male?

Top left is the female or juvie Cape May Warbler and below to the right is the Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Black-throated Green Warbler.

This could be the female Scarlet Tanager or a first year juvenile Male?

The Worm-eating Warbler came to the deck and was watching a House Finch in the feeder right below.

I believe this one below is the Tennessee Warbler. First fall female or male?

Not sure if this is the Northern Parula, female or first fall? I've been fooled before with a Yellow-throated Vireo, so this one below is tricky for me.

The Chestnut-sided Warbler below has some pretty colors.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments ! 

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Critters #199

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters 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 sharing my backyard warblers, in the fall it seems some warblers like the Cape May Warbler and Tennessee Warbler like to eat the wild berries growing in my yard. They are fast moving little birds, hard to get clear photos from my dining room window.

Cape May Warbler, they love the berries growing on the Devil's Walking Stick plant.

Pretty sure this is the Tennessee Warbler

Any help with this id? Edit: thanks to Ken this is a Bay-breasted Warbler.

Another Cape May Warbler

1st year Bay-breasted Warbler

My mosaic includes, the Cape May Warbler, Eastern PeWee and or Phoebe, Black-throated Green Warbler and an unknown warbler. The fall warblers look different than their spring colors.

I am just thrilled to see these warblers in my yard and from my window. There were more warblers I did not get photos of, they seemed to notice me at the window and were camera shy.

These are some birds from our local fire road walk. The the top row is the Black & White Warbler. The Black & White Warbler hugs the trees like the Nuthatches.  I was told the bird on the bottom row is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I wish these birds were more out in the open, so many tree branches and twigs.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Critters #94

Saturday's Critters #94

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post..  I will be away from the computer during this post but I will catch up and visit and comment on your post as soon as possible. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

The last few years I have been seeing the fall warblers stop by my yard to eat some of our wild berries growing in our yard. This year we saw some warblers maybe not as many as previous years. Some of these warblers were in my yard and some seen in the local woods near my house.

If you click on these image you will see a larger image which looks better.

 On our devil's stick berries the Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Above the male American Redstart, another quick mover.

The female American Redstart in our Weeping Cherry tree. It is hard to get a clear shot of these fast moving birds.

Above is a breeder here at the watershed next to our house the Hooded Warbler. It was constantly on the move and hard to get these images.

The Hooded Warbler would not stay still for a second. It was hard just getting the shot above.

The Black-throated Green Warbler in our Weeping Cherry tree.

Above is a fall Tennessee Warbler, the line across the eyes is helpful for this id.

Above on the left is the Black-throated Blue Warbler and on the right the Cape May Warbler.

On one day, we were seeing two-three Cape May Warblers on the Devil's Walking Stick berries.  The brighter yellow colored warbler above is the male.

In the mosaic above is the female Black-throated Blue Warbler. It has an arc under the eyes and a small white patch on its side.

I hope you enjoyed my warbler post. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and thanks for the nice comments. I also appreciate everyone joining in with my critter party. Have a happy weekend!

Again I want to mention I will catch up with everyone's post as soon as possible..

An InLinkz Link-up

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.  

Backyard Warblers

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this weeks featured bird I actually a variety of warblers that stopped by my yard for the last week or so.
 I believe I have already shown the Chestnut-sided warbler but I have a few others that I am excited about. It seems the warblers are really attracted to Pokeberries. They LOVE them.

 A fall Black-throated Green Warbler.

A fall Cape May Warbler

A Cape May Warbler at the pokeberries.

Another Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Another Chestnut-sided Warbler

This Goldfinch looking bird is really a Tennessee Warbler..The beak is one way of id-ing a warbler. 

At times I was seeing two Cape May Warblers together, but it was hard trying to focus on one bird with the pokeberries and leaves in the way. I believe I had some other warblers moving around my yard, a few times I would see a warbler disappear into our weeping cherry tree before I could id.

Looks like the warblers also found the crepe myrtle to be a favorite like the Scarlet Tanagers in my previous post.

All of these photos were taken from my deck or my dining room window. It is pretty cool to be able to see all these warblers right in my yard. I am wondering what warblers I was missing all week while I was at work. These shots were taken Friday evening, Saturday morning and some more on Sunday.  I am lucky I did not have to travel to see them, they all came to see me or more like eat our pokeberries.



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 Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

New Yard birds..September Warblers

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

 I do not remember such a great time for seeing new yard birds but September was awesome for seeing Warblers passing thru my yard. I saw the Black-Throated Blue Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Nashville Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Northern Parula, Pine Warblers, Cape May Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warbler and a quick glance at a Hooded Warbler. My yard list grew in the month of September.

 I know I have posted some of these photos but since I think Warblers are cool birds I thought I would do a re-cap and show all of them together. All of these shots were taken from my dining room or kitchen windows.

 Tennessee Warbler and the Northern Parula.

 Tennessee Warbler

An awful shot of a Chestnut-sided Warbler, but I have to record that this bird was in my yard.

 A female Black-Throated Blue Warbler

 The Male Black-Throated Blue Warbler

 Nashville Warbler

Cap

 Cape May Warbler

Another shot of the Cape May Warbler

I believe this is still the Tennessee Warbler

This photo caused some confusion as to the id of either a Tennesse or the Northern Parula.

The Black-throated Green Warbler

Another shot of the Black-Throated Green Warbler

Days later the Tennessee is still around.

Not too sure if this is still the Tennessee, look like it.

These are all the warblers I saw in my yard during the month of September. There were a few others I saw like the Hooded Warbler and some others moving thru the branches I could not id. I could hear the Pine Warbler close by.   I am thinking I missed even more warblers while I was at work Monday-Friday. Most of these shots were taken either on the weekends or in the evening after work. So, it is possible my yard saw many more warblers. I have seen the Pine Warbler here even in the winter months. The Northern Parula is a breeding bird in the woods around my house.


I am also sad to think that if the they decided to do more logging in the woods around my house it will be BYE-BYE Warblers. The trees and woods here are probably the main attraction for these warblers. They have already done a large clear-cut and then had the nerve to spray herbicide on the area. I against any kind of spraying in this area, we have well water here and I would think they have not proven that herbicides do not hurt the birds and critters.

To see more beautiful and wonderful photos please visit: Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.