Saturday's Critters # 652

   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!

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

Click on images for better viewing.

This post continues with our little getaway to the Eastern shore of Maryland, we stopped on the way home at the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.  We saw so many birds, Eagles and Osprey were plentiful. There were Egrets, Herons, Red-headed Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatches, various shorebirds and gulls. 

1. Below are an Osprey couple, one Osprey  eating a fish perched on the side of the nest.  

My Merlin App showed just some of the birds seen and heard at the Blackwater wildlife refuge in Cambridge Maryland. 

2. Seen below are the Brown-headed Nuthatch top left and the Eastern Bluebird top right. Bottom left is the red-headed Woodpecker and a Killdeer on the right. 

3. We saw some Great Egrets hanging about in the wetlands. 

The Great Blue Herons are a common sight to see along the wildlife drive. 

4. My Merlin App picked up both the Lesser Yellowlegs and the Greater Yellowlegs. 

5. The Ospreys and Eagle sightings were plentiful.  I think both the Ospreys and the Eagles are impressive beautiful birds.  

6. There were two Eaglets in the nest, this photo is heavily cropped.

7. This pair of Eagles posed in a pine tree that was next to the wildlife drive. 

8. The sun was reflecting on the Glossy Ibis

A Killdeer with two chicks at the visitor center. 

Killdeer chick looked cute, it was seen on the visitor center parking lot. 

I hope you enjoyed my bird sightings at the Blackwater Wildlife refuge, these photos were all taken from my car window. My reason for not being perfect 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.

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Saturday's Critters # 509

 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!

These are photos from our Aug 16-17th overnight trip to Bombay Hook NWR and Dover Delaware.  After our 2 and 1/2 hour drive we arrived at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. It will always be one of my favorite places to see the birds. These are the birds I saw on the first day, we saw a family of Wild Turkeys, lots of Snowy and Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Glossy Ibis, American Avocets, Osprey and various shorebirds like the Dunlin, Dowitchers, Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Willets, Black Bellied Plovers and Mute Swans. 

1. Below in the mosaic, top row is a family of Wild Turkeys, American Avocets and a guess at a Yellowlegs. Second row are the Snowy Egret and Great Egrets, Long-billed and Short Billed Dowitchers with a Black-bellied Plover, more Egrets with American Avocets and more shorebirds. Bottom row an Egret, Great Blue Heron and Canada Geese with Willets.

2. Forster's Tern, Semipalmated Plover, Caspian Tern with Gulls and Terns. Middle row is an Osprey, Swallows and Mute Swans. Bottom row is a Mute Swan, Egrets and Egrets with Glossy Ibis.

3. Below are various images of the American Avocets, various shorebirds, Osprey Egrets with Glossy Ibis.

4. The American Avocets, a pretty shorebird has black and white wings, the breeding adult can have the burnt orange head. 

5. The Great Egrets with the yellow bill mixed in with the group of Snowy Egrets.

6. Below is a mix of shorebirds, Great and Snowy Egrets and the American Avocets. 

7. There is one Black-belled Plover mixed with Dowitchers and possibly other shorebirds. 

8.  More of the attractive American Avocets.

 

9. A mix of Terns, Gulls and I see the Semipalmated Plover. 

10. We saw a few Osprey perched in trees around the refuge. 

11. This Mute Swan was giving me a look, all my photos were taken from my car window. 

12. Snowy Egrets with a Glossy Ibis. 

13. A view of the pool with various Egrets and more American Avocets. 

14.  Taken off the Glossy Ibis, Terns and shorebirds. The Canada Geese were settled on the ground.

15. A young fox was walking by our car. 

I hope you enjoyed these photos from the Bombay Hook NWR . 

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 linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Saturday's Critters #296

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


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!

Our 2 day road trip to Maryland's Eastern shore also included a quickie trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.

I enjoy seeing the American Avocets, Egrets and the Glossy Ibis at this wildlife reduge. 

American Avocets seen with a Yellowlegs?

Various Egrets and a Great Blue heron was seen in the area below with some Clapper Rail chicks. 

A closeup look at the muddy area above provided great views of a few Clapper Rail juveniles.

The Clapper Rails blend in well with the mud, can you find 2 juvies in the photo below?

A Clapper Rail juvenile runs across the muddy water toward a Great Blue Heron. 

The Mute Swans are not native swans in Maryland. The Tundra Swan is a native swan in Maryland, usually the Tundra Swan can be seen in the winter months. 

The Black-necked Stilt is a breeder at this wildlife refuge. I did not see any chicks. 

Shore birds, I believe these are the Long-billed Dowitchers maybe mixed with Short-billed Dowitchers. 

Random rants and in the news, for the critter lovers:

Are changes coming to the Endangered Species Act? Are Corporations profits more important than protection of an animal species. Apparently it is OK now to pollute habitats and cut down trees on once protected national lands. The Spotted Owl and other birds are at risk. We need to preserve and protect for the future. What happens when all the animals are extinct, what will people do when all the animals are gone. 

In Maryland, the Chespeake Bay is a treasure. Keep it clean.
In Maryland, we need to keep clean water for the oysters, we need a check on the warming water. Fish will die from living in polluted waters. Overfishing and crabbing can have a big effect on the blue crabs and a favorite Rockfish. 

Being an animal lover, I can not understand how some people think animals are put on this planet for the sole purpose of human use. 

" We all have a responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the sake of own future generations." Loretta Lynch


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Dyer Park, Winding Waters & Spanish River Park

Hello and Happy Monday!

I am taking you back to our Florida trip, on Jan 10th we went looking for a park in West Palm Beach called Winding Waters Natural Area. There are always signs warning about the alligators. 

A Loggerhead Shrike was a common bird seen at Dyer Park. 

We saw a large flock of Glossy Ibis while walking the loop trail at Dyer Park. On the left side of the top photo you can see the trail we walked. 

There must have been hundreds of Swallows, flying over the nearby landfill. This photo looks better if you click on the photo for a larger viewing. 

We walked a loop trail used mostly by joggers and walkers. Each day we were in Florida we racked up some steps walking. Below are some of the birds we saw during our walk, Wood Stork, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Anhinga, Mockingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis with a Wood Stork and Moorhens and the Tricolored Heron. 

The Spanish River Park had a nice little nature trail. We did not see many birds, pretty plants a Palm Warbler and some colorful berries. 

Spanish River Park beach, to get to this beach we had to walk through a tunnel under the road. 

Spanish River Park Beach, Boca Raton Florida.

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.


Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Check out the links, I hope to see you there. Thanks to the hosts today. Enjoy your day and new week.


As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.