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!!  😊

Shenandoah Nat'l Park

Happy Thankful Thursday


On July 9th-10 hubby and I took an overnight trip to Shenandoah Nat'l Park. We spent the night in nearby Harrisonburg Va. We picked 2 days when they were calling for cooler and less humid weather.  In 2 days we hiked a total 10 miles, we saw lots of birds, butterflies and some deer. My photos are below with a caption explaining the photo. I hope I identified the birds correctly. 


Below is the view from the Pass Mountain overlook, we took a short loop trail at this parking lot. The next 2 photos show the pretty sky during the first day of our Shenandoah trip. 

The Indigo Buntings were plentiful in the park. 

We also took a short walk on the Compton Gap Trail where we saw this pretty sure this is a Blue-headed Vireo on the nest.

A juvenile Scarlet Tanager or maybe a female?

A deer seen off the Compton Gap Trail.

I am not positive about this flower's id, I was thinking it looked like white Bee Balm.

Bee Balm and a Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.

A mosaic with images from the Big Meadows, we saw lots of Milkweed, daises, Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on milkweed,  unknown bush with yellow blossoms, Thistle, Song Sparrow and a female Brown-headed Cowbird. 

Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, not sure of the orange flower id?

Some wild daisies on the Big Meadows @ Shenandoah Nat'l Park.

On the Limberlost Trail, we heard a lot of American Redstarts, Hooded Warblers. This is a guess, I think it is an Eastern Phoebe. 

A pretty male Eastern Towhee seen off the Limberlost Trail.

Below is from our walk on the Limberlost Trail. 

I am thankful for the wildflowers. 
I am thankful for nice hiking weather. 
I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 


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



Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Some Shenandoah birds and critters

I am linking up with one of my favorite meme's Camera Critters. I have always been an animal lover.....from dogs, cats, birds, turtles and frogs, And the big critters too horses, cows, deer and bears. It is wonderful to see these critters and enjoy them.

These are some shots from our Shenandoah Nat'l Park trip on June 2nd.   We started somewhat early on my favorite Limberlost trail by 9:30am. It is a great trail to see some birds closeup in the underbrush. I was happy to be seeing lots of Redstarts, Towhees, Robins and Blue-headed Vireo...I should start carrying a notebook with me to keep a list of the birds I see. I know I saw and heard more birds but I can not remember them all, a notepad and pen is important for the next time.

 My only shot of the Blue-headed Vireo. This Vireo has a blue head, white throat and a greenish back. The sides are washed with yellow-olive and also has strong wingbars.


As we walked along the trail I stopped every once in awhile looking for birds, I looked up the hill and turned to hubby and said look there is a black bear. He was amazed at how calm I was just turning and saying quietly that there was a black bear. I was really excited it was only the second time we have even seen a bear while walking on a Shenandoah trail. We have been there hundreds of times too. We stood and watched the bear until it was out of sight, very cool.

So we continued walking along the trail hoping to see the bear cross over the trail. no luck there. So I went back to looking and listening to the birds.

 We heard a lot of Eastern Towhees, this female Eastern Towhee was the only one that came out into the open. She did not seem to care that we stood and watched her. We finished the loop trail and headed back to our car, we were ready to head down to the Big Meadows store for some lunch.

 At the parking lot we saw this group of riders on their horses. You can arrange to take a trail ride at Shenandoah, something we never seemed to have time for, we usually prefer to hike.

If you want to know where your winter birds go in the summer we saw lots of Dark-eyed Juncos near the camp store. We ate our lunch and headed back onto the Skyline Drive for our next hike, it was a new one for us called the Upper Hawksbill. It is the highest part of the Skyline Drive and the views were beautiful. Back in our car  and driving on the Skyline Drive we came across our second bear sighting. This one was just walking along side the road.

I have always enjoyed seeing bears, I just love them. This was a first time we had the bear to ourselves. No other cars came around so we were able to stop and watch the bear for awhile without more cars coming to scare it away. I believe we were still in the middle section of the Skyline Drive and heading home when seeing the second bear. We still had the north section of the drive to go. We stopped at some overlooks and we were still looking for deers and bears on the north section before heading out of the park.

Our next sighting was seeing this cute fawn and its momma along the road. I stopped my car to watch them for awhile until a bike rider came along and they ran away into the woods.

Almost out of the park and close to the entrance gate another black bear ran across the road right in front of my car and went right into the woods. It was moving quickly but we still stopped and watched till it disappeared into the woods. Wow, I could not believe we had sighted three different black bears. There are times we go and do not see one, so I consider myself really lucky on this trip.

I hope you enjoyed my Shenandoah critters and to see more beautiful and cute critters please visit Camera Critters . Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and HAPPY weekend. Also Happy Birding!!