Saturday's Critters #176

Saturday's Critters #176

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

I will be away from my computer and internet for a bit. I will be visit your blogs and comment as soon as possible.  

I was asked to share a post on the 34th World Series of Birding happening in Cape May New Jersey on May 6th. This post is on a young birder named Etan. He is  competing in the youngest category of birders age group 6-18. The youth challenge team members must be in grades 1-12. The World Series of Birding is a fun competition and way to raise money for critically needed conservation priorities. 

The youth groups will be in teams, and each team has a mentor. The teams will have the time period 5am  to 8pm to identify either by sight and or sound as many species as possible.

Etan is also taking on the challenge in the 6-18 age youth group.

The youth team can find approx 150-200 species in the time period.  The top overall total wins. The Cape May Point State Park is the finish line. A team and not the individual kids will be labeled as the winner in each division.



Donation page is here for the teams  World Series of birding All teams

Above are some of my Cape May birds seen during a previous visit. Good luck to Etan all the team members.

As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

Cape May NJ

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

For this week's Good Fence and Skywatch Friday memes I am sharing an overnight visit to Cape May/Atlantic City, New Jersey earlier in July. It was a pretty day to visit Cape May and the beach, I think I even got a little sunburnt.

A mosaic of the Cape May wildlife: Top Row is the Purple Martin house, Halloween Pennant Dragonfly, Carolina Wren. Second Row : Black Crowned Night Heron, Muskrat, Bunny, Third Row: Least Tern, Oystercatcher, Black Skimmers. Bottom Row: Blue Grosbeak, Mute Swan, possibly Forster's Terns.

For my Skywatch shot, the Cape May lighthouse and the Purple Martin birdhouse.

You have to look closely for this fence, just a white string tied to the area closed sign. This is to protect the birds nesting on the beach and dunes.

Another sky shot,  hubby and I sat on our beach chairs watching the waves. A few dolphins swimming by and the planes with their advertisements.

The Least Terns recognizable with the white spot on their foreheads. LOL, do birds even have foreheads? My birds posts are just for fun and I hope the serious birders do not find my post on the birds, their birdie parts and or how I type their names unacceptable. I guess they are skipping the part, that I admit I am blogging just for fun, I am an amateur photographer and I must admit sometimes I might miss a spelling error or put a dash on a bird's name when it does not belong.

Which leads me to bird slang, are you a birder or a birdwatcher? Maybe you are a twitcher or a dude.  Definition of a Dude: a low-keyed birdwatching hobbyist with a lack of devotion or enthusiasm.  A dude, really? Why bother birdwatching if you are not enthused with the birds? I love all the birds and wildlife, my favorite thing to do is go out and look for any species of wildlife. Maybe I am not understanding the definition of a Dude, could I be a dude-woman? I found this link with bird slang check it out Bird slang

A fence scene and a happy couple walking down the trail to the beach. This shot works for both Tex's Good Fences and for my Skywatch Friday shot. I hope you enjoyed our Cape May visit.

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments.
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

More Jersey shore

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences

My skywatch and fence shots are from the Jersey shore.. along the Cape May beach they had fencing up near the dunes to protect the breeding and nesting Piping Plovers and Oystercatchers..

 Some fencing along the beach is sturdier protecting the dunes. The sky was kind of gloomy when we arrived. And it was not the best morning for taking photos..But LOL, that does not stop me!

Other fencing was temporary to protect the nesting birds like the Oystercatcher above. This fence does not stop the birds like this Piping Plover from walking along the beach but it does help to keep people out.

Some scenes from our walk along the Cape May trail..

The skies around Cape May did clear up and we enjoyed our time there.

The Mute Swans seem to like hanging out at the Cape May ponds.. I included this shot in a mosaic on my previous post. But, I wanted to share the whole photo. I like the reflection.

We left Cape May and drove up the Jersey coast to the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge it is located close to were we were staying in Atlantic City.  Above is a shot of the Osprey couple and nest with the Borgata Hotel & Casino in the background..

A view of the sunlight over the wildlife refuge.. I hope you enjoyed my post..


To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences


Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

Cape May NJ

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

May 4th....Happy 24th Anniversary to my hubby!

Hubby and I celebrated our 24th anniversary a little early, we headed to Cape May & Atlantic City NJ on Thursday for an overnight getaway.. We had a great time walking around the Cape May beach near the lighthouse and on the trails..

A foggy lighthouse scene and some scenic views from the park trails and a Yellow Warbler.

 A pretty male Yellow Warbler singing..

 

Above one of many Yellow Rump Warblers, Brown thrasher, Eastern Kingbird, Mute Swan, turtle, Cardinal, Chipping Sparrow and Mallard Ducks.

 

We saw a lot of the Yellow Rump Warblers in Cape May.

Above is a cute Piping Plover and an American Oystercatcher and some Sanderlings on the beach.

The fog and misty weather was clear before we left the Cape May Lighthouse Park. Hubby and I joke about how the weather always clears up whenever I go on a trip.. Cape May was just the start of our getaway, I will have more photos to share later in the week. Thanks for stopping by and for the comments.


Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

SWF>>>>Cape May, New Jersey

I am linking up my Cape May skies with Skywatch Friday.  I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July holiday.

You can click on the individual photos for a larger image. 

These are from our most recent Cape May and the Jersey shore trip. It was a beautiful day with a gorgeous sky and weather. One of our favorite spots in Cape May is the Cape May Lighthouse beach.

 
There is a boardwalk that meanders thru the Cape May park.  Cape May is a great place for birding. There are always great birds to see in Cape May. The sky was a beautiful blue and not a cloud in the sky.

 Not sure what this plant is, it looks very similar to the Queen Anne's Lace. I liked this shot with the pretty white flower against the very blue sky.

Looking into the sun, I found a juvie Oriole along the boardwalk trail.

Right next to the juvie Oriole, we saw this Common Yellowthroat Warbler.

At one of the viewing sections of the boardwalk we were able to watch this Green Heron hunting for food.

The Lighthouse Beach Park looked mostly empty but there were some other people there.

 

 One of my favorite views of the Cape May Lighthouse.

I hope you enjoyed my Cape May Skywatch. To see more beautiful skies from
around the world please visit: Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch and thanks for visiting and commenting on my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Black Skimmer

I am linking up with  World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

My World Bird this week is the Black Skimmer.

Last week hubby and I saw quite a few Black Skimmers. We saw them both at Edwin Forsythe NWR on Thursday and at Cape May on Friday.  The Black Skimmers are Tern-like seabirds.

Above my photo captured a few of them head on but I really like the side view showing off their cool looking beaks.

At Cape May I believe they were nesting on the beach. They have roped off a part of the beach and sand dunes to protect the nesting birds. They breed in loose groups on sandy beaches. Three-seven bluish eggs are incubated by both the male and female.

At the nesting area we saw the Black Skimmers, Terns and American Oystercatchers.

I tried hard to catch two Black Skimmers flying low over the ocean at Cape May. I hope you enjoyed my post and to see more beautiful birds check out World Bird Wednesday  and for more nature scenes visit Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman of World Bird and to Michelle the host of Nature Notes. Thanks for stopping by to see my post, hope the rest of the week is a good one. Happy Birding!

Birding Cape May

I hope everyone had a GREAT Mother's Day!!

For Mosaic Monday I have a little of my Cape May birding from last weekend. Hubby and I took an overnight trip to the Jersey shores last weekend and stopped at a few of the birding places that are known to be good in the spring time.


In this mosaic I have the Purple Martin birdhouse and the Cape May Lighthouse, Swallowtail butterfly, one of the many bunnies we saw,  a few baby geese, and the beach.

We practically had the beach to ourselves.

A mute swan on the trail, swan in flight, Terns and Laughing Gulls, Egret, Oystercatcher and a Coot

This a Great Egret you can id this Egret by the large yellow bill.

I hope you enjoyed my Cape May photos and to see more wonderful mosaics please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday.  A big thanks to Mary for hosting this fun meme and thank you for visiting my post. I hope everyone has a great weekend.