Saturday's Critters # 603

 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!

Edit: I may not be available as much in the next week, my hubby may be starting dialysis this week. He is very anxious about the treatment, can you please keep him in your prayers.

Another update, as of Monday morning Hubby is refusing to go for the dialysis, I am sure he is scared of the outcome. I am not able to force him. Quality of life is important. 

Today is Miney's 1st birthday, Happy Birthday to Miney!   🎂🎈 ❤️ We started fostering Miney on Jan 11th and we officially adopted her on Jan 20th. 

Photos are from the middle of May. My walks with Miney are always surrounded by nature, early morning walks are filled with the sounds of birds singing. 

Click on images for better viewing.

" A walk in nature walks the soul back home"  Mary Davis

1. May 15th, another walk on our local fire road, I was walking Miney and listening to the birds singing.  Most of my walks lately I hear the same birds below is the cute Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a quick little bird moving around in the trees.

May15th, I heard more birds off the fire road trail during our walk with Miney.  I think a storm might have been pushing some different warblers through our area. I do see some of these Warblers in the Fall in my backyard. They love the Devil's Walking Stick berries. 

The Northern Cardinals are a year round bird, they are seen in my back yard and in the forest next to our home.  They are often seen and heard while we are walking on the local fire roads. 

2. Below is a mosaic of the warblers and a Chat that were picked up by the Merlin App, top row is the American Redstart, second row is the Bay-breasted Warbler, bottom row are from left to right the Blackpoll Warbler, Nashville Warbler and the Yellow-breasted Chat. 

3. May 16th, my Merlin App picked up the Wood Ducks sounds on May 15th and 16th in the same area of the fire road trail close to a cove area of the Prettyboy Reservoir.

4. May 16th, I am hearing the Eastern Wood-Pewee calling in the same area of the fire road trail. 

5. On our walks lately I hear lots of Red-eyed Vireos. 

6. Miney is always on alert during our walks, looking for dogs or critters.  I think she has a good nose and can smell animals around. She goes crazy if she sees a deer running in the distance. 

7. Flashback to some Shenandoah Bird July 2019. On the trail I saw a few Warblers on the ground. The photos below are the Black and White Warbler and a female American Redstart.

Another look at the Black and White Warbler.

8. Another Shenandoah Flashback from July 2019, a male Eastern Towhee.

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 # 556

 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!

1. June 11-12th, hubby and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Shenandoah National Park, we like the Skyline Drive, hiking on the Limberlost trail and stopping at all the overlooks and of course the trails at Big Meadows. Below are photos from Shenandoah, birds that were seen and wildflowers and scenic views. 

2. Below are the Eastern Towhee, a Veery and I am guessing the Eastern Wood-Pewee.

I've been using the Merlin Bird Id app on my phone while I am out hiking, below are two screen shots of the birds I could hear while hiking on the Limberlost Trail. 

The Eastern Towhees were heard and seen all along the trail. 

3. The Mountain Laurels were blooming beautifully along the Limberlost Trail.

4. The Mountain Laurel blooms were either white or a pretty pink color. 

5. Our walk on the trail at Big Meadows , we saw some butterflies and lots of wildflowers. 

My first of the year Monarch Butterfly sighting. 

The speed limit on the Skyline Drive is 35MPH  for a reason, the deer and any wildlife can be crossing the road just around one of my many curves. 

One of the many deer we saw during the two days we visited the park. 

6. Birds seen at the Big Meadows were the Song Sparrows and the Field Sparrows and near the parking lot were the Cedar Waxwings. 

7. Stopping at various overlooks at the scenic views of the Appalachian Mountains, the White-tailed Deer , wild Columbine and an Indigo Bunting. 

8. The Limberlost Trail has always been a favorite of mine, below it looks like I captured a young Brown Thrasher, we saw  family of Wild Turkeys close to the parking lot. 

Shenandoah National Park is one of my favorite parks to visit, it is nice to stay overnight and be able to visit later in the day and early in the morning.  I hope you enjoyed the photos. 

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 # 444

 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!

Happy Father's Day weekend! 

I am sharing a few days, the photos were all taken on our neighborhood walks with the dogs and a few from my backyard. 

1. May 18th, our local walk on the fire road with the grand-dogs. I was able to capture somewhat of a decent photo of the Eastern Wood Pewee, view of the fire road and the dogs.

2. A larger view of the Eastern Wood Pewee, they have the wing bars and I think I can make out a partial eye ring.

3. May 19th,  another fire road walk different direction from our walk the day before.  The Indigo Bunting was singing loudly from a nearby tree top, American Goldfinches were pecking at something on a pine tree and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers..

4.  Is this a Magnolia Warbler or a Yellow-rumped Warbler. This bird has a broken eye-ring, yellow on the sides with white underparts and black streaks.

Edit: thanks to Sondra and Ken for confirming my Magnolia Warbler.

5. Along the fire road I found a few  Magnolia Warblers. A few were chasing each other around the trees and bushes. I do believe they are breeders in my area. 

6. May 20th, another local walk with the dogs. We have lots of fire roads here that wind through the Prettyboy Reservoir Watershed and our neighborhood. This walk is one of my favorites, I usually always see birds in this area. The Slider Turtles were lined up on a log, a Chipping Sparrow and a Red-eyed Vireo were also seen on this walk.

7. We saw two Spotted Sandpipers in an area where a creek goes into the reservoir. 

8. May 20th,  I've been hearing and seeing the Pileated Woodpeckers in our yard. They have plenty of wood piles to peck away.

9. May 21st, another walk with the dogs on the fire road, the Pink Lady Slippers were still blooming nicely and hubby and I found a Box Turtle next to the trail. 

10. May 22nd, a walk on my favorite fire road to the lake, The grand dogs will miss these walks, we are still waiting to hear when my son's home will be finished. I was happy to find a Baltimore Oriole nest in this area and a pretty male spotted in the tree tops above our heads. 

11. May 22nd, the male Baltimore Oriole. The male Baltimore Oriole has a black head, orange and black wing and orange rump and underparts.

I hope you enjoyed my photos, the grand-dogs, the birds and a few critters. 

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!

Saturday's Critters # 397

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 sharing some yard birds and birds seen from our local walk at the Hemlock Gorge part of the Gunpowder Falls State Park and our Prettyboy Reservoir watershed. 

1. Eastern Bluebirds in our yard, they are back to using one of my birdhouses.  The male Bluebird is often perched in a tree in the side of our yard which overlooks the birdhouse. A young bluebird has been sitting in the back part of the yard, easily id by the speckled chest. 

2. I am pretty sure the Bluebird below was born this year. The bluebirds can have 2-3 broods each year.  The young Bluebirds are speckled with touches of blue on their wings. 

3. The male Eastern Bluebird is beautiful, a lovely color blue, rufous underparts and a white belly.

4.  The only feeders I left up it the Hummingbird feeder, I can change out the sugar water and clean the feeders often.

5. The deer has been a regular visitor in our yard and on the neighbors driveway.  I can watch the deer from my kitchen windows.  

6.  An area of the Gunpowder State Park is always a good spot to see the Louisiana Waterthrush in the summer months.  These are some photos from one our our recent walks to Hemlock Gorge. 

7. The Louisiana Waterthrush breeds near a fast moving stream. They nest in thickets on the ground, they can be found walking along the shoreline in search of insects.  

8. A young Lousiana Waterthush below has found a tasty grub or worm to eat. We watched at least 3 Waterthrush foraging along the river on this day. 

9.  Another guess below is an Eastern Wood-Pewee. they have olive gray with dark wings and thin white wing bars. I usually can hear these birds before I can see them. They like to perch in trees with good view points. 

10. I believe below is an Eastern Phoebe, they have a dark head with a gray back and they lack an eye ring. 

I am happy to find the birds on our walks, there are times I have some great bird sightings.  Happy Birding!  

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!

Here is my linky:

YOU are all # 1.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.