Saturday's Critters # 632

      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!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

Click on images for better viewing.

I am sharing a mish-mash of images taken on various dates. They include  my back yard birds, local fire road and reservoir scenes and some archive images. 

1. On our deck railing a Dark-eyed Junco was taking a break from the feeder. 

Hubby, Miney and I took walk on the fire road at Prettyboy and then we drove around the lake to the boat dock.  Usually in the winter months we see various ducks, geese and sometimes an Eagle. we saw a few ducks too far away to id and a large group of Canada Geese. 

Same day as above, the peacock is still visiting on a cold winter day. He is walking around on our driveway. 

2. Hubby and I took a ride out to get some milk and decided to take a short detour around the lake to look for some winter ducks.  We only saw some Canada Geese on the reservoir and a juvenile Bald Eagle perched in a tree near the boat dock. 

3. After our Christmas dinner hubby and I took Miney for a short walk on the fire road.  

4. We celebrated Christmas with our son, dil and the grandkiddies on Christmas Eve. Grand-dog Winnie had to sniffed the toy fox for Sophie. 

5. One of my favorite species of birds I have been able to see are the Booby species.  I have been lucky to see the Brown Booby and the split Cocos Booby, the Masked Booby, the Red-footed Booby, the Blue-footed Booby. These photos are all from my archives. 

The Brown Booby below was seen while we were on a shuttle boat to the island of St. Johns in the Caribbean. 

6. Cocos Booby the photos below were taken from boat ride to the Marietas Islands in Puerto Vallarta Mexico 2023. 

7. The Masked Booby was seen on the island of Oahu, Hawaii..

8. The Red-footed Booby was seen at the Kilauea Point Lighthouse NWR, Kauai 2022. 

9. The Blue-footed Booby below, the photo was taken from boat ride to the Marietas Islands in Puerto Vallarta Mexico 2023. 

Bonus image:  I want to wish a very 4th HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my grandson Mason.

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.

Check out  Catblogosphere.com

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

Saturday's Critters # 487

 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 critter photos, join in with my critter party ! You can share your post that includes any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

March 8, this is part 2 of our boat trip to the Marietas Islands in Puerto Vallarta. If you are ever in the area, the Vallarta Adventures Marietas Eco Discovery boat tour is highly recommended. Boats are not allowed to land on the island, it is a national park and sanctuary for the birds. Snorkelers are allowed in the water for 30 minutes and have to be back on their boats in the allotted time. They have park boats around enforcing the rules. All my photos are taken from our boat. 

Click on photos for better views. 

1. Seeing the Blue-footed Booby was a highlight of the tour for me, I did love seeing the whales too. The baby Blue-footed Booby is born all white, their bright blue feet are a product of their diet. 

2. The Blue-footed Booby nest on the ground, they are excellent divers plunging into the water and eat mostly small fish. They have a wingspan of almost 5 feet. 

3. During mating season the males will strut around showing off their bright blue feet.  

4. The Magnificent Frigatebird nest on the islands too, we watched a few come and go to this nest.  Their nest are usually located near the Bromelia plant, the thorns keep predators away and providing the eggs and babies protection .

5. The Magnificent Frigatebird  is a large seabird, it has a forked tail and has a sturdy long bill with a hooked tip. They like to chase other birds and steal their food.  

6. The Brown Booby is common and widespread, my first sighting was in the Caribbean in St. Thomas. They are seen around the Atlantic and a few times at the Baltimore Harbor. 

7. The Brown Booby are a dark brown with white bellies. They have pale bills and yellow feet. Juveniles are dark billed and mostly brown in color. The nest and forage in groups, their nest can be on the beach, cliffs and hillsides. 

8. There were plenty of gulls around the island, we saw the Laughing Gulls and the Heermann's Gulls, which were both plentiful. 

9. Various photos from the boat tour, we had lunch and drinks. We had to watch the gulls they were trying to steal lunch right off our plates. Hubby decided not to snorkel, the water temps were cold. He would have needed to bring his wet suit. We were also entertained by the crew. It was a fun tour and a great last full day in Mexico. 

10. On the islands and in the sky, the birds were being seen everywhere we looked. Above are the Magnificent Frigatebirds , the Booby, Laughing Gulls and Heermann's Gulls. Also seen were Egrets and Great Blue Herons. 

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 # 486

 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!

Happy Easter!  🐇🐰🥚

March 8th, hubby and I went on a boat tour to the Marietas Islands.  We saw so many wonderful sights on this tour I am breaking up the trip into two posts. The photos were from two docks, we were first on the boat at the Nuevo Vallarta Marina, then we picked up more people at the Puerto Vallarta dock. We had a great sightings of the whales and birds in flight on our way to the Marietas Islands. 

1. In the mosaic below are photos of the dock, a Magnificent Frigatebird, Pirate Ship and Cruise ships both at the dock, lots of Terns, Gulls and Brown Pelicans. 

Click on images for better viewing.

2. Magnificent Frigatebird perched on top of a boat. 

3.   At the Puerto Vallarta docks, I saw the Terns. I saw on ebird that both the Royal Tern and the Elegant Terns are seen at the Puerto Vallarta cruise port.  For some reason they all look similar to me, I do see some that have a lighter color gray. 

4. Laughing Gull, Brown Pelican and Terns. 

5. I am a little obsessed with Terns. Are they Royal Terns or Elegant Terns, or a mix of both? I am pretty sure they are not Caspian Terns, which are larger in size with a thicker heavy bill. 

6.   Some views of the whales sighted on the way out to the Marietas Island in the Bay of Banderas. 

7. I went from looking at the whales to looking up in the sky at the Blue-footed Boobies. These birds seem to be attracted to the water around the boat, they would dive into the water right next to the boat.  

8. It was fun watching these birds flying low over our boat. 

9. Which way to look, up or down. Of course, I was looking up at the Blue-footed Boobies. 

"Inside us all patiently waiting, sits a tiny little adventurous bird."

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. 

The Booby

I am linking up my  post with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

How do you like my catchy title? You would never guess it is about birds right? Ha!Ha! It is all about birds!  I know I have shown my Brown Booby (taken from a boat on the way to St Johns)  before but not so sure if I ever put up my Blue-footed Booby from Panama.

Above is my Blue-footed Booby seen in Panama 2011.  The Boobies are aerial divers and a pelagic bird.

 It is not the best photo, the bird was in flight and I was on a boat heading into the Panama Canal.  I am not the best taking photos of birds in flight and it is even harder when you are moving too.

I was a little luckier with this Brown Booby flying by. I was sitting down on the side of the boat (turning green)  when the bird flew right along side the boat. This fly-by was meant for me, I am sure! On this day we were on a tour to St Johns from our cruise ship which was docked at St Thomas.

 They were both lifers at the time and very exciting birds to see. I have not done much birding lately at home so I am diving into my archives to do this post. Other Boobies are the Masked Booby and the Red-footed Booby and I read both of these could be seen at the Dry Tortugas in Florida. I am researching a possible trip to Florida and adding lifers to my list will be exciting too. I guess that means another boat ride is necessary, I will have to take some seasick pills to see these other boobies.


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.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

SWF>>>>Panama

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday and Friday Ark

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday!

These shots were from the boat ride we took thru the Panama Canal. It was a four hour ride and a very neat experience to go thru the locks and to learn the history of the Panama Canal. It was cool also to look for birds from the boat. I saw lots of Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Blue-footed Booby, Seagulls, Herons, Egrets and some White Ibis.

                                A vew of Panama City from the causeway.

A lifer.... the Blue-footed Booby seen while on the boat ride as we entered the canal

Every day we saw a steady stream of Vultures flying over the Panama Canal.

One of the many Brown Pelicans seen at the Panama Canal.

Bridge of the Americas

I hope you enjoyed my Panama skies and birds and to see more beautiful photos please click on my link Skywatch Friday and Friday Ark

Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to the hosting group at Skywatch. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I appreciate your visits and comments. Have a great weekend, happy skywatching and happy birding.