Saturday's Critters #198

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters 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!

Can someone tell where September went, this month just flew by. These are some images from our more recent fire road walks and walks around the lake.

This Great Blue Heron was way across the lake and the photo was fuzzy, so I used Lunapic to make more of a watercolor painting of my Great Blue Heron.

This may be a snapping turtle swimming in the lake. It looks kind of big.

We found a Red-spotted Purple Butterfly sitting on the fire road near the lake.

The Double-crested Cormorant can be seen on our lake.

Some of the birds seen along the fire road, the Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, I believe the bottom right is the Eastern Wood-PeWee

I had a problem with my latest blogger "theme" , it was not compatible with Mr Linky for my  Saturday's Critter party. So once again I had to change my theme. I am not sure if it will stay this way, maybe just until I find one I like better that will work for the linky. 

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Sweetwater Wetlands Park

Hello,

I am sharing another great Florida park called Sweetwater Wetlands Park near Gainesville Florida. Sweetwater is considered a thriving habitat of 125 acres of wetlands and ponds. We met a Florida resident and birder at the Paynes Prairie Park earlier in the day and he told us that Sweetwater was a great place for seeing birds. Thankfully our Garmin GPS and my Iphone were able to take us there.

At Sweetwater Wetlands there are 3.5 miles of gravel trails and boardwalks. It was a pretty day for a walk on the trails and a lovely sky.

A Sora, a small secretive rail that hangs out in the marshes. It has a triangle body shape with a small yellow bill.

Black-bellied Whistling ducks with some Cormorants in the background.

This shot below looks better enlarged, there is a Belted Kingfisher perched on a stick in the background, a Great Blue Heron, two Wood Storks and a Limpkin far lower right.

Cormorant with fish.

A pretty blue sky with the white puffy clouds.

I believe these are two Savannah Sparrows below. These sparrows have a little telltale yellow colors near their eyes.

A Wood Stork showing off it's pretty wings.

I am sharing two videos, one with a large group of Whistling Ducks and Cormorants. the second video was of an alligator crossing the trail.





Be thankful for each day, because not everyone gets to see another one. 


For my thankful list today:
I am thankful for my Garmin GPS
I am thankful for friendly and nice people we meet on our outings.
I am thankful for blue skies and puffy white clouds.

Thank you for your visit and comments on my post. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Thanks to Michelle for the meme Thankful Thursday
I am also linking up to Skywatch Friday, I hope to see you there.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Making lemonade

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

I am behind in sharing my photos and jumping all around these are from April 30th. At this time the weather was usually either cloudy, rainy and chilly. The reason for my title, the weather was not going to clear up days so we took our chances and made lemonade out of one of the cloudy days. We were able to do some walking, birding and make it home before the rain started.


Teresa's Friday's Hunt:  The letter V,  Week's Favorite, Sunshine.

Start's with V..photo below. I like the Virginia Bluebells in bloom along the river trail.

 Weeks Favorite  is below, I like the mill and the big knotty tree. These trees in the spring are full of warblers and Baltimore Orioles. The birds, it is one of the reasons for being at the park on this day.

Random 5 Friday

1. Rock Run Historic Area with the Grist Mill at the Susquehanna River State Park in Maryland. I was looking for some fence scenes, the fence around the mill is perfect for Tex's Good Fence meme. The Grist Mill was erected in 1798 and in 1958 three hundred acres of this land was donated to the State of Maryland to create a park.

2. "Go all out, don't be embarrassed or scared." I love this shot below with the Great Blue Heron sticking it's head into the water for a fish.

3. We enjoy a spring walk at the Susquehanna River State Park, the wildflowers are so pretty in the spring. Advice from a wildflower: Show your true colors, delight in simple pleasures, celebrate your natural beauty, open up, spread seeds of joy, it's OK to be a late bloomer and be wild and wonderful. Thanks to Denise the host of Today's Flowers!

4. I do try to learn the bird id's. I guessed right on this bird and received confirmation that it is the Northern Rough-winged Swallow. This bird was flying around and under the fishing bridge at the Susquehanna River.

5. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  In our case it was get out for a walk on a cloudy chilly day. The weather was only going to get worse. My Friday Skywatch, a cloudy day at the Susquehanna River.

Did you have fun on my walk?  I hope you enjoyed my post and images. As always, thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. Have a happy weekend ahead!

To see more pretty skies, fences and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.  Thanks for visiting and for all the nice comments. I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.
Thank you to Denise the host of Today's Flowers

Thank you to Nancy the host of Random 5 Friday

Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt 
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Location, location, location

I have a list below of memes below. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.


Teresa's Friday's Hunt
1. Start's with T
2. Weeks Favorite
3. Evening

1. It is Thursday, I am Thankful for living in a beautiful area. It is like having a park right outside my door. I am blessed with beautiful birds visiting my yard like the Rose-breasted Grosbeak seen below. I guess you have heard the saying location, location, location when looking for a house. I can say we live in a beautiful location.

2. The other side of our lake is the dam and the Gunpowder River. I leaned over the dam wall to get a shot of the overflow of water. A cormorant was swimming in the lake above the dam.

Below,  it was a dreary foggy day but the rain stopped so we had to get out for a walk on the fireroad and to the lake.

3. The park I mentioned right outside my door is the watershed and reservoir. The lake is one of three reservoirs that holding drinking water for the city of Baltimore. I can walk out my door and take a walk straight to the lake.

My favorite photo below for the week, we see these wild White Dogwood trees growing in the woods around the lake and off the fireroads.

4. May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. I have always loved the Irish Blessings. Have you had to chance to visit Lynne @ Irish Garden House . Lynne has some beautiful images of Ireland on her blog.

Another favorite Irish blessing:
May the Irish hills caress you,
May her rivers and lakes bless you,
May the luck of the Irish enfold you,
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.


5.  A photo of a farm we ride by on the other side of the lake after leaving the dam for both Good Fences and The Barn Collective. Where I live we have the hills, lakes and rivers are nearby, it reminds me of the Irish blessing above.  The cloudy foggy sky continues,  our weather at the beginning of May was not very Springy..

For my Skywatch Friday I am ending my post with another favorite shot of the moon taken on the Evening of April 26th. After that our skies were either cloudy or rainy..

I hope you enjoyed my post and images. As always, thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. Have a happy new week ahead!

To see more pretty skies, fences and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.  Thanks for visiting and for all the nice comments. I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Thank you to Nancy the host of Random 5 Friday

Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt  

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Saturday's Critters #124

Saturday's Critters #124

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.
Are Saturday's coming fast for you, I am surprised how quickly the month of April disappeared. Happy May to everyone, I hope our weather will be warmer.
I am sharing some images from our visits to Virginia Beach and Back Bay NWR. While walking on the beach at Back Bay NWR we saw dolphins, northern gannets, pelicans, gulls and a grebe and an osprey on the bay side.

Brown Pelican

Horned Grebe

Red-wing Blackbird

Northern Gannet

Double-Crested Cormorant

Northern Gannet

Dolphin

Dolphin and Cormorant

Dolphins near the shore.

Osprey on nest.  I hope you enjoyed my collection of birds and the dolphins. 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!

An InLinkz Link-up

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Ocean City, Maryland

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.

I have more images of the sky and some fences from our last visit to Ocean City Maryland and Assateague National Seashore. I hope you enjoy!

A Cormorant poses.

For Teresa's Friday Hunt..Thanks to Teresa for hosting.
1. letter G
2. week's favorite
3. in my kitchen

Week's Favorite above and the letter G.... I am sharing these two photos above and below from Ocean City of a Cormorant and a Gull.

My Gull lineup in front of various fences. How many different fences do you see?

Another favorite for my photo hunt and skywatch. A neat looking sky over the bay side at Assateague Island.

The USA and Maryland flags at the Assateague Island visitor center.

One of the many yellow-rumped Warblers we saw at Assateague.

The boardwalk trail at Assateague.

A couple of horses seen near the tree and behind the bushes. I hope you enjoyed this post and photos. Thanks for visiting 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 this past year it has been fun looking for fences for my post. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Around the yard

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.


To break up my trip photos I am sharing some photos from our local walk to the lake and some birds and scenes from my yard and neighborhood. These images were taken back in September. On this day we walked to the lake in front of our place and passed by my neighbor's turkeys. The turkeys are raised and sold, I assume for Thanksgiving dinners.

This is a view of the turkeys from the fireroad. And on this day there was a turkey on the wrong side of the fence.

A cute fence scene...I was thinking your free, your free!  Run turkey... run and hide.

It was a pretty day for our walk to the lake, lovely sky, pretty berries seen along the fireroad and a cute chickadee.

The lake, clouds reflecting and some shadows from the trees.

Beside the usual GB heron at the lake we have been seeing some Double-crested Cormorants.

Another fence scene, I always enjoy seeing my neighbors horses. The two little ones are growing fast.

Hubby's sunset shot at the lake, if you look closely you can see a sundog reflection on the lake.

The sunset from the yard, a pretty pink sky.

My moon series taken on Sept 23rd.

I hope you enjoyed my photos from around the yard and neighborhood.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for your nice comments. Have a happy day and weekend ahead.

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..