Eastern Neck NWR, part 2

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.

Blog update:
To those who have not heard, I am truly sorry to pass on this sad news and to hear of the loss of our blogging sister Tina  @ EG Camera Girl and her husband. My heartfelt condolences and prayers go to the family, may God give them peace and comfort in these difficult days. Tina will be truly missed in our blogging world. I will remember Tina when I look back at her beautiful photos, she has left many photograph memories that we can cherish.

RIP Tina.



This is part 2 of our visit to the Eastern Neck NWR in Rock Hall Maryland. I am sharing some of the birds we saw, the trails and views of the river and bay.

My mosaic above shows a lot of the birds we saw during our visit to the wildlife refuge. Top row: American Black ducks, Common Mergansers, Ring-billed Gull. Second row are the Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagle and Black Vultures. The third row Great Blue Heron in flight, Tundra Swan group, Tundra Swan. Bottom row is a Northern Cardinal, Flock of Canada Geese, various Gulls.

For Teresa Friday's Hunt one of two images for the week's favorite above: The Tubby Cove boardwalk.

Thanks to Teresa for hosting.

Friday's Hunt
1. the letter I
2. week's favorite
3. something blue

The Tidal Marsh Overlook trail.

Live life to the fullest, there may not be a tomorrow!

A flock of Canada Geese in my skywatch shot.

The Chester River Sanctuary and in the distance you can see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

For my week's favorite and something blue a Bald Eagle couple with an airplane flying over. I hope you enjoyed this post on the wildlife refuge and my 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..

Eastern Neck NWR

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.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!  

I am sharing various images from a daytrip hubby and I took to see the Eastern Neck NWR in Rock Hall, Maryland. We walked on the various trails such as the Tubby Cove Boardwalk, the Wildlife Trail, the Tidal Marsh Overlook Trail and the Bayview Butterfly Trail.

A view of the bay from the Bayview Butterfly trail. We were happy to see that the snow had melted on Maryland's eastern shore. The trails may have been a little muddy or wet in places but not too bad.

Loblolly Pines are a common tree seen in the wildlife refuges on Maryland Eastern Shore. They can grow up to 100 feet tall, the bark is thick and scaly. They are known as pioneer trees, meaning they are one of the first trees to grow.

A pretty view of the river, it is sad to see the plastic water bottle. Do you know it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bottle to bio-degrade.

This Great Blue Heron was spooked, I managed to capture it as it flew away.

The Eastern Neck Wildlife Rufuge a 2, 285 acre island is located on the Chesapeake Bay and Chester River. Some scenes from inside the visitor center.

Large numbers of Tundra Swans arrive at this refuge in November before migrating 4,000 miles in March. They can fly up to 50 miles per hour.

The Bald Eagles a common sight on Maryland's Eastern Shore. They start to work on their nest in December. We saw them at the wildlife refuge and flying along the road and on the fields during our drive to the refuge.

For Tom's Barn meme, I am ending our daytrip with a barn scene we pass close to home. You can see our neighborhood still has a lot of snow left from the big snow storm.  Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your visits and nice comments. Have a happy day and new week ahead!


As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Birding the Eastern Neck NWR

Working a full time job makes it hard for me to go on the chase for lifers. I am a little envious of other birders who can run and see new birds at any time. So,  when I do get the chance to see a "rare" bird on the weekends I grab my hubby and I am on the go too. On this weekend the rare bird was a Golden Crowned Sparrow, sighted in Kent County across the Chespeake Bay.  The Golden-crowned_Sparrow is a western bird, seen in the west coast states of the USA. I used Wikipedia's link for a photo because even though I saw the bird I was not able to get a photo. Still I was a happy birder, just being able to see the Golden Crowned Sparrow and to add a new bird to my life list.

Here a few of the other birds we saw in the same area as the Golden Crowned Sparrow.


                                    A field of  Snow Geese

White Throated Sparrows, Cardinal and Bluejays. Every once in a while my new lifer the Golden Crowned Sparrow would join these other birds down on the ground.

                                        Cedar Waxwings

Not a bird but, I thought this sheep sticking its head thru the fence was funny and cute.

After being able to see the Golden Crowned Sparrow twice, hubby and I visited the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. It was a cold windy so most of the birding was done by car on the wildlife drive.

One of the first birds we saw at the refuge was the Bald Eagle.

The Bufflehead ducks and some Scaups pictured below were bobbing around in the Chesapeake Bay.

A view of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge.

These are my Camera Critters for this week, I hope you enjoyed them. To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

Thanks for stopping by to see my post. Have a great weekend and good birding!