Bermuda birds and scenery

With this post I am link up my mosiacs with Mosaic Monday and the yellow chested Great Kiskadee for  Mellow Yellow Monday and with the beautiful blue water of Horsebeach Beach and the lovely skies  for Blue Monday. I recently read that Smiling Sally is in the hospital, please say a prayer for her and wish her well.

Ruddy Turnstones seen on the Horseshoe beach

I think by now everyone knows I love to go birding and that includes birding while on vacation. During our port of call stop in Bermuda I was able to check out the birds on the Horseshoe beach. A popular beach with pretty blue water and pink sand.

Hubby was able to go snorkeling while I did my birding so we were both happy. At Horseshoe beach I saw a bird I see on the beaches at home, the Ruddy Turnstone. Other common birds I saw in Bermuda, the Eastern bluebirds, Cardinals, Mourning Doves and lots of pigeons, starlings and lots of house sparrows. I did add a lifer to my list with the white-tailed tropicbird. I will do another post on my lifer the Tropicbird.

Below we were at Tobacco Bay, known to be a great snorkeling spot. Hubby was happy seeing pretty Parrotfish while snorkeling. Here, the birds I saw were more of the Great Kiskadee with their pretty yellow chest and lots and lots of House Sparrows.

These birds below the Great Kiskadee were seen all over the island.  I watched these two Kiskadees while hubby, son and his friend were snorkeling at Tobacco Bay. They have such a pretty bright yellow belly.

Please visit these fun memes: Mary's Mosaic Monday and Drowsey Monkey's Mellow Yellow Monday and Sally's Blue Monday.  A special thanks to these great hosts:  Mary, Drowsey Monkey and Sally. Thanks for visiting my blog and my post. I hope you all have a great week.

My snowy world

These are some shots from my backyard and one of the pretty trees on my street. Being stuck inside with my  arm in a cast has not been fun and I get bored stuck in the house after a while. I have been checking out my yardbirds, looking out every window in my house. I did enjoy watching the Food Network and all the cooking shows during my two weeks at home. Maybe someday I will learn how to cook like Giada, Paula Dean and Rachel Ray.  I am nearing the end of being stuck in the house. I have a follow up with the doc tomorrow and I am suppose to be able to go back to work on Tuesday.

I do admit I was happy to be able to stay safe at home with the snow storms happening the two weeks I was off work.

Below, seeing blue skies poking thru are very welcome and looking very pretty.

The skies eventually turned all blue and now the snow is falling off the trees. My bird feeders do get busy during snowstorms and they are always fun to watch. I managed to get some OK shots of the bluejay on my deck. Next, I will be feeling blue because I have to be back in the routine of working five days a week and missing my yardbirds.

It will be nice when we do not have to look for our mailbox down the street because the snowplow knocks it off as it goes by.

I did notice that the bluejays like the cracked corn besides peanuts.

I am not really a snow and winter person and I am really looking forward to Spring. It would be great to see some signs of an early spring. The thought of some pretty bluebirds nesting in my yard sounds really nice right now.

I am linking up with Mary's  Mosaic Monday and Sally's Blue Monday and That's My World.  Thanks to both Mary and Sally  and the gang at That's My World for hosting these fun memes.

Also, thanks for the well wishes and for visiting my blog. Stay safe, warm and have a great week!

Red and Blue

On these cold dreary winter days I have been enjoying my colorful yardbirds. The Bluejays and the Cardinals really add some color to my yard. Their blue and red colors remind me of the pretty flowers that will be popping up in spring. Yes, I am thinking of and wishing Spring will come here fast. Neither of these two birds migrate so they are here year round and providing pretty colors to my yard. At times there are quite a few of the jays acting like piggies eating the peanuts I put on my deck railing.

Surprisingly just as many or more Cardinals both males and females are also visiting my feeders. The Cardinals look breathtaking in any snowy backyard. Come spring my Cardinal couple will chase off any other Cardinals that visit my yard. They are very territorial when it is their mating and breeding season.

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday  and Sally's Blue Monday . I hope you will join in with these fun memes. Thanks to Mary and Sally for hosting and thank you for stopping by my post.  Have a great week!

Birding the shores

Hubby and I decided to take a last minute trip to Delaware and the Maryland shore. I was hoping to add some lifers to my list. So we left early in the morning on New Year's Eve and drove to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware.  The first bird I saw on the trail to the beach was a Hermit Thrush..a lifer for me. The Hermit Thrush ..my field guide says it is grayish brown, eye ring and spotted chest. Cool, I was off to a good start adding to my lifer list for the end of the year.

In the mosaic above pictures included are the sunrise, Cape Henlopen dune, Hermit Thrush, White Winged Scoter, Red Throated Loon and the Cape Henlopen beach.


As we got to the beach I started scanning the dunes and beach for the Snow Bunting, a bird I have been wanting to see since I started birding. We walked along the beach and I was able to pick up two more lifers..the Surf Scoter and the White Winged Scoter. Then we drove down to the point, a place where the Snow Buntings have been seen in the past. Walking along the beach a large flock of birds flew  past quickly and I just had a feeling that they were the Snow Buntings. An awful photo enlarged and cropped did verify they were the Snow Buntings.  I do not like including a bird as a lifer unless I get a good look at the bird. It would have been great if they could have stopped and landed but no luck there. So this winter I will still be on my quest to see a good sighting of a Snow Bunting. Here is a link to Cornell's All about Birds with some facts about the  Snow Bunting .



Below, is my quick point and shoot shot of the flock of Snow Buntings. They flew by so fast, I as surprised I ended up with any of the birds in my photo. I thought it would be one of my famous blue sky shots. The male Snow Bunting is mostly white and has dark wing tips.

Since we finished kind of early at Cape Henlopen we decided to do a loop and drive to Ocean City Maryland and Assateague Island. Ocean City's inlet is usually great for birding. We stopped for lunch at a place called Dumsers famous for their ice cream. We had started with delicious seafood bisque (it was filled with scallops, shrimp and crab meat) and hubby had a crab cake and I had a tasty barbeque pork sandwich. A great place for lunch,  I would highly recommend Dumser's on Coastal Hwy. After lunch we were onto the inlet to check out the birds there. The birds I saw at the inlet were not lifers but I enjoyed seeing the Common Loon, Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings. There was still some snow around, this was the first time I had seen snow on Ocean City's beach. We even saw a snowman near the jetty at the inlet.

In the mosaic above, pic's of some cute birdhouses on the dunes at Ocean City, Purple Sandpiper, Common Loon, Snowman and the sunset at Assateague Island. We were making so many stops we decided to spend the night and continue having more fun at Ocean City and Assteague on New Years Day.

Above is one of Assateague Island famous wild ponies. Assateague Island and the beach is another spot known to have Snow Bunting sightings. Hubby and I enjoyed another walk down the beach looking for the  Snow Buntings. I was determined to find a Snow Bunting before the end of the year.

Above is the beautiful sunset we were lucky to see at Assateague Island. Even though I did not see my Snow Bunting hubby and I had a great New Year's eve.

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday  and to show off the pretty blue skies check out Sally's Blue Monday  and That's My World . Click on the links to visit these fun memes. Thanks to both Mary and Sally and the hosting team at That's My World for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post.

My favorite birds of 2010

I thought I would do a post showing my favorite bird sightings of 2010. They are not all lifers for me but just ones that I enjoyed seeing. I have to say most of the favorites were from my trip to Costa Rica. The Toucans were so cute.

Three different kind sof toucans in my mosaic are the Collared Aracari, Chestnut Mandbiled and the Keel Billed Toucan.

Parrots on the grounds at our Arenal hotel in Costal Rica

Another Costa Rica bird the Montezuma Oropendola,  very cool and different looking bird.

This Barred owl was not a lifer but it was cool sight to see it out in the open.

The Clapper Rail sighting was another favorite, I was excited to even see one out in the open they are very timid birds.

This Bombay Hook Blue Grosbeak was seen at Bombay Hook another one of my favorite birds.

The Eastern Bluebirds nesting in my yard are always a treat to see.

 This Chincoteague Egret eating a snake was an amazing and cool sight to see

One of my all time favorite sightings is of the Little Blue heron below and on my header shot.

This is another Littel Blue below.

Now I am looking forward to another great year and adding to my list of lifers. My life list is at No. 251 and my last two lifers were the Golden Crowned Sparrow seen yesterday here in Maryland and the Wilson Snipe NO.250.

I am linking up with Misty Dawn's Camera Critters  thanks Misty Dawn for hosting. I am also linking this post to Sally's Blue Monday and Drowsey Monkeys Mellow Yellow Monday and Mary's Mosaic Monday

Thanks to our host and  for stopping by to see my post.

Outer Banks Pelicans

Hubby and I arrived home yesterday after spending three and half days in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My first time there and I loved it, the waves were wild and rough but the skies were a pretty blue. The road (route 12) was closed earlier due to high water in many places. Once they opened the road we were able to drive all the way down to Cape Hatteras.
We saw a lot of brown pelicans and I loved watching the pelicans as they flew all around us. Pea Island is a great place for birding. 

 

I am linking up with Sally's Blue Monday and That's My World.

My thanks to Sally for hosting Blue Monday and to the hosting group of That's My World.
Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post.

Snow Geese

For my post today I am linking up with a few memes, Mary's Mosaic Monday and Sally's Blue Monday and That's My World You click on the links to visit these fun memes.



These photos were taken last weekend during my trip to the Delaware shore and Bombay Hook NWR. It was a great day to be outside the sky was so blue and clear. So my blue for the week is the blue sky and the water is blue.

My birding friends and I were surprised to see so many Snow Geese at Bombay Hook last weekend. It seemed like they arrived early this year. Apparently small groups of migrating snow geese have arrived in October in previous years. This group looked close to a thousand. We were happy to hear their honking and we had fun watching them.

Bombay Hook is one of my favorite places to bird. On this day beside the Snow Geese, we saw Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Marsh Wren, Yellow Crowned Kinglets, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Yellow Rump Warblers, Northern Harriers, Kestrels, Canada Geese, Mallards, Black Ducks and other shorebirds. But, the Snow Geese stole the show, just because of their numbers.

Thanks to the wonderful host of these fun memes, Mosaic Monday, Blue Monday and to the group of  That's My World.

Also, I appreciate the comments and visits to my post and blog. Have a wonderful week!

Birding the Potomac

For my post today I am linking up with a few memes, Mary's Mosaic Monday and Sally's Blue Monday and Marytheteach's Ruby Tuesday  You click on the link to visit these fun memes.

On Saturday we visited The C&O Canal and the Great Falls on the Potomac River. It was a beautiful day the weather and sky were perfect to be outside. I was looking birds and my hubby just enjoys the river and the falls. I can almost always be guaranteed to see the Great Blue Heron here because across the river is a Great Blue heron rookery. The Canada Geese, Mallard ducks, Cormorants and Turkey Vultures were another common sight. I did see a few warblers in the trees along the canal but they were too quick for me to snap a shot. It was neat to watch this kayaker near the Great Falls. We couldn't miss seeing him with the bright red kayak and his blue life vest and helmet.

Virginia Creeper

A great blue heron and if you look closely some turtles

A beautiful sky

Please visit these great memes listed above Mosaic Monday, Blue Monday and Ruby Tuesday. Thanks to the wonderful host of the fun memes. And thank you for stopping by to visit my post and blog.

Cascade Loop

These some shots from our recent trip to Washington state. Hubby and I drove around the Cascade loop stopping in various places. After flying into Seattle we hopped right into our rental car and drove to our first nights stay near Marblemount. This part of the drive is next to the Skagit River and is very scenic. We stopped at the overlook for Diablo Lake which has a beautiful torquoise blue color. Even the rivers were a beautiful shade of blue. The color comes from the surrounding glaciers grinding rocks into a fine powder which creates this brilliant torquoise luminosity. Even on the dreary and rainy day we were there the lake's blue color really stood out.

The rivers and trees were just beautiful.

 Some of my other photos included in my mosaic were of some Cedar Waxwings that were in the nearby trees along the overlook. This was the first time I actually saw some juvenile Cedar Waxwings. They were cuties.  The Cedar Waxwings and the Red Breasted Nuthatches were the most common birds we saw. And during our 9 days there we must have heard or saw thousands of them.

I have to mention my dear hubby stood over me holding the umbrella so I could get these shots, isn't he nice. Even the poor birds look wet but still cute. The rain did not stop us from taking walks on the trails the umbrella worked perfect for these times too. After leaving Marblemount we drove onto our next stop along the loop which was Lake Chelan which will be on another post.

We did stop at the town of Winthrop for dinner, which is like an old western town. A neat place to stop and check out the stores, eat dinner and get an ice cream.

To see more cool mosaics visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and to see more of Sally's Blue Monday
thanks Mary and Sally for hosting this fun memes.

I am also link to That's My World.  My vacation in Washington State was going around the Cascade Loop and was my world last week and a half.

Also thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you enjoyed my post.

Blue Monday, Blue Sky and Bald Eagles

On Sunday morning, my hubby and I went for a walk along the Susquehanna River. It has a nice trail to walk along the river and enjoy the birds. There must have been hundreds of Great Blue Herons  standing on rocks in the river. And in the sky we watching juvenile Eagles chasing each other and some adults flying nearby. The sky and the river were both a pretty blue and the weather was perfect.

Hundreds of Great Blue Heron standing on rocks in the river.

Not the best eagle photos, but my camera only goes so far.

It was fun watching the eagles chasing each other.

I am linking my post to Sally's Blue Monday  stop by and visit the Blue Monday post.

Thanks for visiting my blog and I appreciate your comments.

4th of July

HAPPY 4th of July to everyone!

I tried to make my mosaic this week with red, white and blue colors. So, I have some Bluejays, Cardinals, my pretty Bluebird, a Penta flower called Butterfly red, the flag on my deck and a pretty sky photo.

I like these flowers and they reminded me seeing red fireworks exploding in the sky.

I am linking up with three memes with this post

 for Mosaic Monday  Thanks to the host Mary of Little Red house
and
Blue Monday   Thanks to host, Sally of Smily Sally
and
Ruby Tuesday  Thanks to host, Mary  of Work of the Poet

Thanks to everyone who visit my blog and post, Have a great 4th of July and a great week.