Birding is fun

 January 24, 2014

Today my post for January is up click here for my  birding-is-fun-in-florida   I would love if you could visit me there. Just click on the link above.

My post for  Birding is Fun is a review on my Florida trip back in April 2013. I shared my Florida lifers and more. I hope you can stop by and check out my post.

Thank you and I always appreciate your comments.

EileeninMd

Royal Terns

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

I know it is really hard to believe but, I still have birds photos from my Florida April vacation. So my featured bird for Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes is the Royal Tern. They were seen at the Fort De Soto park.

The Royal Tern is a seabird. This Tern has a red-orange bill and a black cap at the top of its head during the breeding season. Almost all Terns species are black and white, mostly more white than black.

The Royal Tern is only found along the coastlines and only found where there is salt water. They dive into the water and catch their prey by piercing it with their bills.

The Royal Tern is a large tern, second only to the Caspian Tern. There are at least 17 types of Terns seen in North America. The Terns are known for their great distances travelled during migration.

The Terns are some of my favorite birds to see at the coast. Some of the Terns I am familiar with are the Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Least Tern and the Forster's Tern. I am hoping to add the Black Tern to my life list too. Do you love the Tern's too?

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

White Ibis

August 31, 2013

Happy Labor Day weekend!!!!

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin   I hope you are joining in and posting your birds and critters. 

These are some of my favorite shots of  one of the White Ibis we saw while on vacation in Florida. I love the color of the legs and bill. We were walking on a trail in the Fort De Soto Park near Tampa when we noticed this pretty White Ibis.

During the first 10 days of the breeding season, the skin deepens to deep pink on the bill and legs. Then the bill fades to a pale pink with a darkish tip.

We saw this bird while walking on one of the nature trails in Fort DeSoto Park on our last day of our Florida vacation.

A beautiful blue eye. The blue eyes remind me of Elton John's song Blue Eyes, Babys got blue eyes, like a deep blue sea, on a blue, blue day.


I will continue my favorite five bloggers list next week.

Thanks for stopping by and  I wish everyone a happy weekend.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.

Loggerhead Shrike and more

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

I know you all find it hard to believe but I still have more Florida birds and even a lifer I have not posted. So with out further delay, here is one of my cool Florida lifers.... the Loggerhead Shrike.

My Loggerhead Shrike lifer happened on the same street as my Burrowing Owl lifer.  Cool, two lifers within blocks of each other. The Shrike was sitting on a wire across the road I was driving on, I had to turn around and do a double take to make sure of the birds id. The Loggerhead Shrike is also known as the Butcher Bird. It eats insects, lizards and small birds. I will not go into the gory details on what the Shrike does to its food before its eat them.

Not the best photos of my Loggerhead Shrike but you can definitely see the bird's features.  The Shrike has a large hook bill, the head and back are grey and the underparts are white. The wings and tail are black,  with white patches on the wings and white on the outer tail feather. The black face mask extends over its bill unlike that of the similar but larger Northern Shrike. I have seen the Northern Shrike here in Maryland.

So, in the same Florida neighborhood I saw my lifer the Burrowing Owl and the cool Loggerhead Shrike. I would not mind living on this street with the cool birds.

Seeing the Burrowing owls was one of the trip's highlights for me. So seeing them a couple of times in different places made my day and trip.

 Seeing a new bird for the first time is exciting, I hope you enjoyed my Loggerhead Shrike and Burrowing Owls.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

More from Myakka

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday .

 For this week's post I am sharing my photos from our Florida vacation and Myakka River State Park. I did a post below on more of the birds and critters we saw while visiting Myakka.

A loop trail took us to the Canopy walkway where the tower soars 74 feet in the air. We had a view of the tree tops.

The boardwalk took us to a wildlife viewing area. During our short visit here we saw the wild turkeys, little blue herons, tr-colored herons, osprey, great blue heron, black vultures and some egrets.

You can take an airboat tour up on the upper Myakka Lake. Canoeing and kayaking was also available near the boat ramps or dock.

This Little Blue heron was keeping company with a couple of Black Vultures. We enjoyed our visit to the Myakka River State Park, we saw as much as could in a small amount of time.

 As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your 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!

Myakka River State Park

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin I hope you will join in on the fun and share your critters and birds.

It is hard to believe I still have Florida vacation photos to share. These are some birds and critters seen at the Myakka River State Park in Florida.

Tricolored Heron and a gator.

Pretty sure this is the Great Egret. I love this preening shot, the egrets are beautiful birds.

Great Blue heron

Cute deer

Anhinga and an Egret. The Anghina is drying its wings.

I believe this is the Red Shouldered Hawk. Please let me know if I am not correct with my id.

We saw a group of  wild turkeys in this field.

I had to zoom in to catch this Common Moorhen. As you can see there were some great birds and critters in the Myakka River State Park. 

 Ok, here is my new list for the week of my favorite blogs to visit and if you missed any... look back at all my previous Saturday posts they go as far back as 6/22/13.

 Visit with Irma @ Irma's blog  you can see some adorable Grebe babies and lovely nature photos.

Mona's Montanagirl blog is always worth a visit. She is a wonderful nature photographer.

Kim @ Lirralirra is another Australian blogger, she shares beautiful birds and nature photos.

Juliet can be found blogging @ Crafty green poet is from the UK. She shares beautiful nature scenes, poems and shares a lot of my beliefs on conservation.

Dawn @ Dawn's Bloggy blog has unbelievable energy when it comes to nature, birding and blogging. Dawn and her hubby share their travels in their home on wheels. Following Dawn's blog helped in joining the group Birders who Blog, tweet and chirp it can be found on facebook here BwBTC

I hope you are able to find some time to visit some of my favorite blogs above, they are all wonderful bloggers.

 I wish everyone a happy weekend.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.

Florida Skywatch

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

Taking you back once again to Florida, it was one of my favorite vacation spots. This week I am sharing a Florida sunrise from Key West.

This was the view from across our Key West hotel. On this morning we saw a colorful sunrise.

The three shots above are in order SOOC, the colors in sky was changing from a pink to orange.

The Magnificent Frigatebird was not a lifer for me but, I enjoyed watching this bird in flight along the Florida coastline.

The Piping Plovers are one of my favorite birds to see on the beach. The Plovers are adorable birds.

  I hope you enjoyed my birds and sky shots.
Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

Happy Skywatching  to everyone!
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Florida Whistling Ducks

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am featuring one of my favorites..the Black bellied Whistling Duck. We saw my favorite duck nearby the Venice Audubon Rookery while vacationing in Florida.

I am not sure what it is about these ducks but, they are so darn cute. They have the cutest eyes and beak, their legs look pink and the have the black belly. You can't help but to love them, I do.

In this spot across from the rookery I noticed the Black Bellied Whistling ducks, a few White Ibis and there were some Glossy Ibis also nearby. Seeing the Whistling Ducks made my day. 

I hope you enjoyed my Black bellied Whistling Ducks.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Everglades National Park

June 29, 2013

 EDIT: I am linking up with Favorite Fotos thanks to Lydia at Where the Wild Things Were 

I hope you will join in on the fun and share your critters and birds.

I enjoyed my Florida vacation so much I have to share some more birds and critters, these are all from the Everglades National Park. We saw a nice variety of birds in the Everglades. On this day we were near the Flamingo Visitor Center.

Osprey's were a common sight in the Everglades National Park

 Blue-winged Teal couple.

 Walk this way...Alligator on the visitor center parking lot . Most of the gators we saw in Florida were laying in the water, this was the first one we saw walking. I am glad he was walking away from us!

Above are two alligators with a turtle nearby.

This was my first time seeing both the Brown Pelican and the White Pelican together. Above, I see six White Pelicans and two Brown Pelicans.

One of the many White Pelicans we saw in Florida.

The American Crocodile we sighted in the Everglades National Park. The Crocodile has a narrow snout is and lizard shaped. The male crocodile can reach 20feet long. They live and thrive in salt water.

A Black Vulture's view of the Everglades wetlands.

 My last photo is my favorite the Green Heron, this shot shows off some of their pretty colors. And I love their eyes. I hope you enjoyed my tour of the Everglades National Park.

Like weekend I am sharing some more of my favorite blogs to read and visit. I hope you have a chance to visit. In case you missed my first time sharing my favorite 5 blogs for the week here is the link 1st Favorite 5

Betty always seems to have something positive or lovely to say Cut & Dry

If you have not already done so visit with Tex at the  Run*a*Round Ranch ..she see awesome birds at her pond.

I am always amazed at Fiona's gorgeous photos on her blog..go and check them out: Lady Fi

Chris at Las Aventuras has some awesome bird reports from Arizona and beyond.

Last but not least, I always enjoy the sky shots at Spare Parts and Pics..always a pleasure to go skywatching on this blog.

 I wish everyone a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments. 

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.

Florida Raptors

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.

Happy Father's Day!!

 These are some shots of the various raptors we saw while vacationing in Florida.

I am pretty sure this is the Red-tailed Hawk, it has the dark belly band.

 I believe this is the Red Shouldered Hawk

 A different Red Shouldered hawk sighting. My field guide says the Florida Red-Shouldered Hawk has a grayish head. What do you think, do you see a grayish head above?

 We saw the Swallow-tailed Kite often while we were on vacation. It was a cool bird for me to see and a lifer.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post. I hope everyone has a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments. To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.