Saturday's Critters # 623

 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!

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

These are my nature walks with hubby and Miney, these images are from various parks we visited. Hubby and I were able to visit some of our Maryland State Parks, Gunpowder State Park, North Point State Park in Baltimore County and the Susquehanna River State Park and Conowingo Dam. 

1. We walked the Black Marsh Trail at North Point State Park.  We saw a few Osprey, Eastern Phoebes and the Belted Kingfisher.  

2. At the end of the Black Marsh trail we had a good view of the Chesapeake Bay.  I had a good view of the Eastern Bluebird and an American Goldfinch. 

3. We walked on the NCR trail which is part of the Gunpowder State Park. 

4. Another day and another walk on the local NCR bike trail. 

On the NCR trail my Merlin app was picking up the sounds of some winter birds like the Golden-crowned Kinglet and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 

5. It was too early to see the Eagles migrating, that usually happens later in November.  We did see a few Bald Eagles, Double-crested Cormorants and the Great Blue Herons. 

Near the fishing pier at Conowingo Dam they have a pretty garden with a Bald Eagle sculpture. 

6. The Black Vultures are still plentiful near the Conowingo Dam and the Susquehanna River.

I can usually always see the Great Blue Herons along the Susquehanna River.  

7. Flashback photos are of various Kingfishers, seen here in the USA, Belize and Costa Rica. 

First I am sharing the male and female Belted Kingfishers seen in the USA.

8. The Amazon Kingfisher was seen in Costa Rica. 

The Green Kingfisher was seen in both Costa Rica and Belize. 

The Ringed Kingfisher was seen in both Costa Rica and Belize. 

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.

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Costa Rica bird Part 5....Montezuma Oropendola

Montezuma Oropendola  is a very strange name for a cool looking bird I saw in Costa Rica. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowland from Mexico to Panama. The males are mainly chestnut with a blackish head and a bright yellow tail.  The male song is heard during a bowing display and consist of  bubbling followed by loud gurgles. Sounds weird right?  I found these sounds to be funny and we heard them often at the Laguna Lodge in Tortuguero.

The Montezuma Oropendola's nest. I didn't count the nest but there were a lot of them hanging from the palm trees.

The Montezuma Oropendola is consider a common bird in parts of its range. It is seen in small or larger flocks foraging in the trees for insects, fruits including bananas. There are a lot of banana trees in Costa Rica.

The Montezuma Oropendola is a colonial breeder and builds it hanging woven nest of fibers and vines and hangs high in a tree.

For two days we were able to watch these birds flying around with there bright yellow tails making their crazy sounds and then land on the trees that held their nest.

Each colony has a dominant male which mates with most of the females following a elaborate bowing display. The female will lay two eggs which hatches in 15 days and they will fledge in 30 days. There are typically about 30 nest in colony.

I loved all the birds I saw in Costa Rica but I found the Montezuma Oropendola to be one of the more interesting birds.

You can also visit Michelle's Nature Notes and thanks to Michelle for hosting this great meme.

To see more critters you can visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting. 

To see more wonderful birds and critter please visit the Friday Ark

As always thanks for visiting my blog and have a great weekend.

Costa Rica Bird...Part 4

My entry for Bird Photography Weekly #85 Please click on my link ot see more.
I was lucky to see three different toucans while in Costa Rica. This Keel Billed Toucan showed up in a tree while I was looking at a red Summer Tanager. The Keel Billed Toucan ranges in length from 17-22 inches. Their colorful bill averages 5-6 inches of its length. Wikipedia states that the bill is large and cumbersome but is actually spongy hollow bone covered in a keratin a very light and hard protein. They mainly eat fruit, but will also take insects, small eggs and reptiles. I think they are cool cartoonish looking birds.

One the photo below You can compare the Collared Aracari to the Keel Billed Toucan

The main difference between the aracaris and the toucans are the tails. The Collared Aracaris have a sharp and pointed tail. The beaks are about 4 inches long.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and to check out more bird and critters visit the Friday Ark

also

this also my entry for Camera Critters visit Misty dawn's Camera Critters for some cute critters.

Costa Rica birds..Part three

The Red-lored Parakeet was one of the common birds I saw while in Costa Rica. It is not a common bird for me I thought they were pretty cool. It was neat to see groups of them fly in and make all kind of noises. Their plumage is primarily green but with a red forehead. Their food is fruit, nuts and seeds.

This is also my entry for Outdoor Wednesday and Nature Notes.  Thanks to Susan and Michelle for hosting these fun memes.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and to see more great photos visit Mary's Ruby Tuesday Thanks, Mary.

Costa Rica bird...part two

The Collared Aracari a Toucan is one of my favorite birds seen in Costa Rica. These birds were seen during our stay two weeks ago in Tortuguero. One morning we watched a couple leaving a nest in a telephone pole on the grounds of our resort. It seemed to me that the nest was made and being used by a couple of  Woodpeckers. The Collared Aracari were raiding the woodpeckers nest. We watched the Collared Aracari squeezing in and out of the hole in the telephone pole.

According to wikipedia.org the Collared Aracari eats fruit but will also take insects, lizards, bird eggs and other small prey.

The Collared Aracari are cool looking birds and just one of many exotic looking birds I had the pleasure of seeing in Costa Rica

Thanks for visiting my blog and you can view more wonderful birds at Bird Photography weekly

Costa Rica birds

I just got back from a ten day vacation in Costa Rica. The birds there are are just beautiful and some are so colorful. I'm sure my next few posts will be about the birds I saw in Costa Rica. I will start with the first birds I saw at our San Jose hotel.  They were the Clay colored robin which is the national bird of Costa Rica. Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Palm Tanager, White winged dove, unknown hummingbird, Great tailed grackle, Blue-Gray Tanagers and the Rufous collared sparrow. These are all lifers for me and I need to make a list of my Costa Rica lifers.


                                                                Palm Tanagers

Rufous collared Sparrow

Clay colored robin

Red lored parrot

Blue-gray Tanager

Thanks for stopping by to see my birds, to see more birds and critters visit the Friday Ark

To see more wonderful critters visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting this fun meme.