Saturday's Critters # 643

   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.

1. Hubby and I went out for a walk, we decided to drive by the Friendly Farms Ponds to see if there were some ducks.  I saw a few Bufflehead and there were more Ring-necked Ducks seen below in the mosaic. 

2. Below are a few Bufflehead, they have white below and a white patch on their heads with black on the back. 

3. Below are some Ring-necked Ducks with a male Bufflehead. 

These ducks are the Ring-necked Ducks. They have white ring on the bill. 

4. These images are from our 2 miles roundtrip hike to the Prettyboy lake. I  could hear the Canada Geese soon after we started walking. I was surprised to see a large flock of Tundra Swans, various ducks and a Horned Grebe. 

My Merlin App captured birds along the fire road to the lake. 

5.There was a layer of fog hanging right above the water.  

6. The largest count of birds were the Canada Geese, they were spread out all around the lake shore and on the lake.  

7. The fog was not the greatest for taking photos of the lake, the geese and swans. 

8. A pair of Bald Eagles were sitting in their usual tree above the water.  

Below are large groups of Canada Geese and Tundra Swans. 

 

On the lake I found a Horned Grebe.

We drove around the lake stopping at the dam and I found a small group of Common Mergansers.  The Males are a pretty white bottom with a green head. 

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 # 580

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!

Click on images for better viewing.

I did not go on many birdwatching outings in December.  It seemed like the month flew by, with both hubby and I being sick off and on. We both had the flu/stomach bug. I had a few episodes of vertigo. Hubby was out of commission for a few weeks having the Shingles on his face, even after having the Shingles vaccine. His eye was infected from the Shingles. We had multiple trips to the ER, a health clinic and his eye doctor. Finally he got the all clear the day before Christmas. For an added safety precaution we kept our distance from the family, especially the grandchildren. We met up with them the Saturday after Christmas. 

1. Dec 25th, we were surprised to see our neighborhood Peacock walking around our yard and on the deck.  I gave him some of the peanut suet nuggets and he quickly ate them all. 

2. Our neighborhood peacock came for a visit.

3. A little late but we enjoyed Christmas with the grandkids. It was a joyful time with the kiddies. 

4. Dec 27th, hubby and I were walking on the local fire road when I saw this Pileated Woodpecker fly and land on a nearby tree.

5. Dec 30, we rode past the Friendly Farms ponds on the way home. There were lots of Canada Geese and a group of male and female Bufflehead ducks. 

6. A view of the ponds, the ducks look way to small but you can see small bits of white which are the Buffleheads.

7. A larger image of the male Bufflehead with three females. 

Bonus: Yesterday our grandson turned 3 years old, Happy Birthday to 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.

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Saturday's Critters # 534

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!

Feb 8th-10th, hubby and I were on a getaway to Maryland's Eastern shore, we stopped at Blackwater NWR in Cambridge Md and then onto Ocean City, Md for 2 nights. The first images are from Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and the last ones are from the Ocean City Inlet. 

1. At Blackwater, we enjoyed seeing lots of Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, Snow Geese, Northern Pintail and a GB Heron. 

At Blackwater NWR, it is a treat to see the Snow geese, this huge group of Snow Geese was out on the Blackwater River. 

While we sat in our car and watched the Snow Geese, they all flew up, circled around and came back down and landed on the river. They are extremely loud, an Eagle or Hawk must have upset them.

A landscape image of Blackwater, lots of Tundra Swans, Canada Geese and a variety of ducks. 

We did some birdwatching and wave watching at the Ocean City Inlet.  Birds seen below are top row are the Surf Scoter and a Ruddy Turnstone with Sanderlings. Bottom row are male and female Bufflehead with a Red-breasted Merganser.

We had dinner at the Ropewalk restaurant in Ocean City, located on the bay side. A perfect spot to watch the sunset while having dinner. They had some beautiful murals on the walls outside the restaurant. 

The murals are pretty scenes, Maryland fishermen with gulls and another mural of the sea creatures and birds in flight.

I loved this mural with the birds and fish below.

From inside the restaurant we watch the pretty sunset on Ocean City's bay. 

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. I am also joining Sami with Monday Murals

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:

Saturday's Critters # 529

 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!

Most mornings I put out some peanuts in the shells and some peanut suet nuggets for my back yard birds. The Blue Jays my most common yard bird. They arrive in large numbers making a lot of noise. They take as much as they can fit into their beaks/mouths. 

1. I hope you are not tired of seeing the Blue Jays. They love to eat the peanuts and the suet peanut balls.  

2. Later we took our walk on the NCR trail, we did a little shopping at the local grocery store we rode past the Friendly Farms ponds on our way home. On Jan 5th we saw a big flock of Canada Geese and various ducks on the ponds. 

3. Some of the pond below has a thin layer of ice, you can see the Canada Geese are able to walk on the ice. The ducks were hanging out in a open water area of the pond. 

4. A blurry view of a groups of ducks hanging out on the pond.  

5. Below a nice variety of waterfowl, the male and female Buffleheads, the male and female Hooded Mergansers and an American Wigeon. 

6. Who's hanging out with the American Wigeon below? 

7. One of our first snows, was just a dusting. It melted quickly. Barely visible is a Blue Jay on the bottom left, eating some of the peanut nuggets. 

8. The male and female Cardinals are daily visitors to my deck. They enjoy the little peanut nuggets. 

9. The Blue Jays are another common yard bird for me, they love the peanuts in the shell. But, they we eat anything I put out there.

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 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 # 482

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!

I am trying to stay some what caught up with reports on my outings and posts. Most of my photos are from my neighborhood, our walks on the fire roads and to the lake.  

1. Feb 12th, our walk on the fire road looking down at the reservoir we saw a group of Canada Geese and a Mute Swan.  The Mute Swans are not native to Maryland but they are seen around the state. The Mute Swans are easy to identify with their reddish-orange bill. 

2. A larger look at the Mute Swan, I really had to zoom in for this photo. The fire road I was walking on is on the top of a hill and there are lots of trees in between the fire road and the lake. 

3. Feb 13th, hubby and I took our walk on the fire road that leads to the lake and to a view of the Bald Eagle's nest.  Along the way I found a couple of Brown Creepers, we saw the usual Common Mergansers and Canada Geese. We spotted the first Bald Eagle on the nest as soon as we got to the lake, the second eagle was sitting off in a tree across the lake. Soon both Bald Eagles were sitting in the same tree. 

4. Feb 13th, the Prettyboy Bald Eagles, this pair have been nesting nearby in a tree next to the lake. I like that they have been returning to the nest for years now. 

5. Feb 15th, hubby and I took a ride to where we saw the Golden Eagle . Usually there are ducks near the boat ramp parking lot.  I think the Golden Eagle has left this spot but we saw various ducks and geese.  Below are the Canada Geese, American Wigeons, Redhead Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks and Bufflehead ducks. I was happy to see this group of ducks some what closer for photos.  Maybe someone was there and threw some corn into the water for the ducks to eat. 

6. Below you can see a closer look at the Redhead ducks, the American Wigeon with the green eye patch and the Ring-necked ducks with the white band on their bill.

7. Feb 19th, our walk was on the fire road closer to home. We are seeing the Common Mergansers and Canada Geese and the Ring-necked Ducks during each visit to the lake. The Brown Creepers have been sighted each time too. The Downy Woodpeckers are seen pecking away and we saw a few of the Golden-crowned Kinglets were bouncing around all over the place. 

8. A Brown Creeper seen making it's way up the tree. These birds are brown with white underparts and have a slender decurved bill. 

9. Feb 20th,  another walk on the fire road close to home. We saw and heard the White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpeckers, Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks and a Bald Eagle some what hidden behind some branches. 

10. Feb 20th, I watched this hawk chasing a Mourning Dove away from my yard. It came right back and sat in a tree in our side yard. It was a small hawk, so I will guess a Sharp-shinned Hawk

Update: David who really knows his birds, says this is a Cooper's Hawk.

11. Feb 21st and Feb 24th, Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a dead tree in our yard. The photos look the same but they were taken on different days.

12.  Feb 24th, we watched our grandson Mason while Wyatt went for his check-up. We are always happy to spend time with our grandsons and the grand-dogs Nibbles and Winnie. They all love their Pop-Pop.

I hope you enjoyed my birds and post, I am looking forward to visiting your blog. 

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.