Happy Monday!

 Happy Monday! 😊

Wishing everyone a happy day and a great new week!

Concord Point Lighthouse, Havre De Grace Maryland. 

" Today I choose JOY."

"Nothing can dim the light that shines from within."

"Choose joy, choose happy, choose to shine."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off! Enjoy your day!

Havre De Grace, Maryland

Hello and Happy Monday everyone!

This is the last Monday of January, did the month go by quickly for you?  I am just happier we are a little closer to Spring.  I am looking forward to seeing Spring flowers and feeling the warm sunshine and spending more time outdoors to get my vitamin D.  

Jan 21st, last weekend hubby and I enjoyed a day trip to the Susquehanna River, Conowingo Dam and Havre De Grace Maryland. We saw the Bald Eagles at the Dam and river and we took a walk on the waterfront boardwalk at Havre De Grace. So here are some of my photos from that day. 

Two adult Bald Eagles with one juvenile eagle.

This juvenile looks like he is starting to get his white head.

Conowingo Dam attract lots of gulls in the winter, sometimes a rare gull or sighting can happen.

The Lighthouse at Havre De Grace Maryland.

A flock of Canada Geese and it looks like one white Snow Goose mixed in.

Various ducks and Canada Geese at the waterfront in Havre De Grace.

More ducks, gulls and geese.

Just a reminder, don't forget to look for the Blue Moon, the second full moon of the month on January 31st. 

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

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Swan Harbor Farms

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.

These images and mosaics are from our walk and daytrip to Swan Harbor Farms Park in Havre De Grace Maryland. I have done other posts on this park and the Rails we have seen at this park.

For my Nature Notes and Wild Bird post I sharing the birds below in my mosaic. On this day we heard the rails but could not see them, we did see the Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Mallard ducks, and a Green Heron in flight which was spooked by some Canada Geese landing. There were some pretty wildlfowers and daylilies.

Above are some of the birds we saw on our outing, the Kingfisher, GB heron and the Green Heron in flight.

I am not sure what the Kingfisher has in it's mouth, maybe a frog?  It show the rufous belly bands of the female Belted Kingfisher. The male has a bluish breastband.

The yellow waterlilies or are the lotus flowers, either way they looked beautiful.

For my NF Trees/bushes I have the the wild hibiscus. I believe it is like a bush. But I am not sure about the name for the purple flowers. As always thank you in advance for visiting my post and for the nice comments. Have a happy Day and new week ahead!

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Mersad for hosting Through My Lens.
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees
Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to Sue for hosting Wordless Wednesday
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

I hope you enjoyed our daytrip to the wildlife refuge. As always thank you for visiting my post and for the nice comments. Wishing everyone a happy Monday and new week ahead!

King Rail

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes and Wordless on Tuesday

For this week's wild bird I am sharing the King Rail seen at the Swan Harbor Farms park in Havre De Grace, Maryland. My persistence paid off, this was our third trip to this park to see the King Rail.  The third time was a charm and not a strike out. It was not a lifer for me, but it was the first time I was able to get some photos. It is usually a shy bird but this King Rail came out into the open a few times while we sat in the blind and watched.

 I read on our listserve that this bird was being seen in the open on a few different days. I can not say enough how happy I am to be retired so I can go now and see these cool birds whenever I want..

A funny head on view of the King Rail. They are rufous above and below and they are found in fresh water marshes year round.

I hope you enjoyed my wild bird post. Till next week's wild bird post.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird and nature photos please visit:

 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes and Wordless on Tuesday

Thanks to all of our hosts. Michelle for Nature Notes and Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday and Sue for Wordless on Tuesday.

  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Wilson's Snipe

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am sharing the Wilson's Snipe seen at the Swan Harbor Farms in Harve de Grace, Md.  Swan Harbor Farms is known as a birding hotspot, last year I did this Swan Harbor post....it-was-rail-day. The Snipe is one of my favorite birds.

The Wilson's Snipe has greenish legs and a large straight dark bill.

They breed in marshes, bogs and tundra. They forage in soft mud looking for their food.

They are shy birds and are usually well camouflaged in the grasses..

Where's Waldo shot... there are two Snipes in this shot above can you find both of them?

 I hope you enjoyed my wild bird post.. Till next week's wild bird post.. I wish you happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird and nature photos please visit:

 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes

Thanks to all of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.

  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

A Snowy Owl & Eagle Day

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

December 15, 2013

Early Saturday morning, I was reading the listserve for Maryland birders and I saw all the people posting about their Snowy Owl sighting near HavreDeGrace, Md.  I was undecided about going, between the weather forcasting more snow for the day and I had already recently seen the Snowy Owl in Delaware. Then I thought this my be may be my only chance to see a another Snowy Owl in my own home state. So, hubby and I took off around 10am,  I was on a back road I usually take when I noticed this Bald Eagle on a pole hanging over the road. Well with no cars were coming either way, I had to stop and snap a few shots.

I am always excited seeing Eagles.  I thought to myself this outing is starting off great.  A little further up the road I caught the back of a hawk or an owl flying off into the woods. Now with a car coming behind me I had to move on..on to see the Snowy Owl and no time to waste I wanted to be back home before the roads became a nightmare.

The morning's outing started off great with this Bald Eagle sighting.

We had easy directions and this Snowy Owl  was probably one of the easiest birds I have been able to spot. It is in the photo above....like Waldo..can you find the Snowy Owl?

We were a distance from the Snowy Owl, standing along side the road and the owl was across the field on the opposite side of a pond.

Apparently this is a female Snowy Owl and she seems to be doing well.. She has been seen flying around the field... As with any Snowy Owl or any bird sighting..it is best to keep your distance.

The weather was feeling cold, windy and damp, even though the snow had not started yet.  We made a quickie visit to see the Conowingo Eagles..I was surprised to see the parking lot just about empty...We talked with one of the photographers there for a bit..He drove from Boston just to take photos of the Eagles while it was snowing..Well I was not waiting for the snow to start...I snapped a few photos of the Eagles in the trees and checked out the river..seeing lots of gulls and a GB Heron..Hubby and I took off for home..3 hours roundtrip total..I'd say it was a pretty good outing..




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!

 Just a reminder about my new MEME called Saturday Critters..posted early every Saturday Morning...join in on the party and post your cute pets or critters.

Birding HarveDeGrace, Maryland

For my Our World post and to show my Tern's I am linking with World Bird Wednesday

On Saturday, hubby and I decided to do some walking and birding at HarveDeGrace, Md. It is a waterfront town and has a nice boardwalk on the waterfront. We spent a good part of our visit watching the Terns diving into the water. They are amazing to watch as they just kind of fall from the sky and dive into the water. They kind of reminded me of how the Northern Gannets dive into the water.

The Forster's Tern is about 14 inches in length. They nest in salt marshes and on barrier beaches. My field guide has that the older juvenile has a black eye patch.

After checking out the dark spot around the eye and the beak color I am still guessing at this id. But, I believe it is the juvenile Forster's tern.

So far I have been seeing Forster's Terns, Common Terns and Caspian Terns. I am still on the lookout for the Black Terns.

HarveDeGrace, Md is a fun town with a nice park, marina, lots of antique stores and great restaurants. Hubby and I chose to eat an early dinner at Chipparelli's Italian restaurant. We were familiar wth the famous Chiparelli's restaurant of Little Italy in Baltimore City. It is nice that they opened a new place in HarveDeGrace.

A walk along the boardwalk was mostly birdless except for the Terns and some seagulls. The water was a high level and the herons we usually see were not around on this day.

The lighthouse look small in size but I always enjoy seeing lighthouses so, I had to have a photo of this HarveDeGrace lighthouse.

There were many people in the park area enjoying Labor Day weekend picnics.

I hope you enjoyed my Tern and tour of HarveDeGrace, Md. Please visit Our World for more wonderful post and photos and to see more great birds make you sure you visit Springman's World Bird Wednesday.

Thanks to the host of Our World: Arija, Gattna, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy and also thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday.

Thanks also for visiting my post and blog, I hope everyone has a great week.