Our World, My World

 Hello and Happy Monday,

February is flying by, at least it is for me.  I am looking forward to spring and walking in the warm sunshine.  But, for now these are some photos from my world, the nearby reservoir and our neighborhood. I will be happy to see green trees again. 

 "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." Paulo Coelho



Lately I have been seeing both the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers at my feeders. They both love the suet.  The Hairy Woodpecker is larger in size,  9 inches long. The Downy woodpecker is 6 1/2 inches long. The Hairy is on the left and the Downy is on the right in both of the mosaics below. 

The female Hairy Woodpecker and the female Downy Woodpecker.  The white (wider stripes) around the eye  on the Hairy Woodie also looks different. The suet feeder fits a small block of suet and is not big, you can see the smaller Downy Woodpecker does not take up much room on the feeder compared to the larger sized Hairy Woodpecker. 

 The male Hairy Woodpecker is on left and the male Downy Woodpecker is on the right.   Both male woodies have the red spots on their heads.

A view of the local fire road, one tree is down we either go around it, climb over it or turn back.

 A view of the reservoir, our lake seen through the trees.

 At the lake, way in the distance a saw a few Canada Geese, Common Mergansers and the Hooded Merganser.

"Smile more, Embrace the lessons, Love your life."

On Feb 16th we took a walk to the front part of the lake, we saw more Mergansers, and a few dogs and their humans were across the lake from us.  🌝  Dogs make me smile. 😀

Another cloudy day in the neighborhood, lake view and reflections.

Mergansers seem to be the most common waterfowl seen at our lake.

"Follow your dream, listen to your heart."


Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


Check out My Corner of the World  Thanks to Betty the host. 
 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Warmer Weekend

Hello,

Happy Thursday everyone! On Saturday Jan 20th we enjoyed temps in the 50's. Yay, finally some warm weather to get outside for a walk. Hubby and I went to the local bike trail and stopped at the bridge and our lake for some photos. 

I parked on the side of the road before the bridge and stood on the bridge for these photos. I zoomed in to see the Canada Geese and some Ducks. 

If you click on this photo below you can see a couple of Ring-necked Ducks. 

And if you click on this photo, you can find the Hooded Merganser. 

Our lake and the bridge. It was a pretty sky day, lots of blue and some contrails from the jets.

Looking to the right side of the lake from the bridge. 

The circles were just below the bridge, they are strange circles in the ice. 

I took this hawk photo thru my car window coming back home from the bike trail. Possible Red-shouldered? 

Spending time bird watching and outdoors in nature makes me feel happy. What makes you feel happy?  Can you slow down the clock, while enjoying nature. It is less stressful. I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. 

I am thankful for temperatures in the 50's in January. 

I am thankful to enjoy the simple pleasures and nature scenes.

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Again, thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day! 

Nisqually NWR

Happy Thursday everyone! 

I still have some May photos to share, promise these are the last. These were images from the Nisqually NWR near Olympia Washington state.  This was our second visit to this wildlife refuge the first visit was Nisqually NWR 2015

The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge has some nice trails, this boardwalk trail takes you to Puget Sound Overlook and the Nisqually Estuary. Along the boardwalk are several observation platforms. The trail (part grass/dirt and boardwalk) can be as long as a 4-5 mile walk from the visitor center. 

We saw lots of Canada Geese families. The goslings were so cute.

From the boardwalk we saw a couple of seals, they found a resting spot out of the water.

The sky was beautiful during our visit and walk on the Nisqually boardwalk trail.

For Tom's Barn Collective I have a couple of photos of the Nisqually twin barns.

The trail takes you past the twin barns. These barns are part of the wildlife refuge. 

Some of the birds we saw during our walk at the wildlife refuge, the Hooded Merganser, I believe the top middle are a couple of Gadwall, Great Blue Heron with some Gulls, Ducks, Song Sparrow, Cormorants, Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow.

A view from the boardwalk, gorgeous sky and view of the refuge wetlands.

I am thankful for places that protect wildlife and nature. I hope you enjoyed our walk at the wildlife refuge. I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thanks to Tom the host of The Barn Collective

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Nat'l Park

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week. 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.

Sharing our visit to the Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Nat'l park. After leaving the beaches the sky cleared up as we headed inland to the Hoh Rainforest and river.

 The Hoh River was formed thousands of years ago by glaciers. Look at the blue color of the river, just gorgeous.

I just missed getting a shot of an American Dipper here at the river. It did not stay still for long.

There are some tall Western Hemlocks, Sitka Spruce, Douglas fir trees and lots of moss and ferns in the Hoh Rainforest. Some of the trees in the Hoh Rainforest can grow up to 312 feet tall and 23 feet in diameter.

These trees growing in a row are growing from a fallen tree called a nurse log, providing water and nutrients as they decay.

Some of the fall colors on the Spruce Trail in the Hoh Rainforest. Some of the trees are the big leaf maples.

The fall colors were beautiful along with all the green ferns and moss on the trail.

Some of the ducks (mallards and merganser) seen near the Hoh Visitor center.

I hope you enjoyed this short visit to the Hoh Rainforest. As always I appreciate your visits and nice comments. Thank you! Have  a happy day and new week ahead!

Thanks for visiting my post and as always I appreciate your comments.

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

Dungeness Spit

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.

I hope I will not bore my blogging friends with some of our trip images. Even though I link up my post to the parties, my post is a way my hubby and I can look back on and enjoy the memories of our trips. On the the second day of our Washington trip we spent the afternoon at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and a hike on the Dungeness Spit. The Spit is the called the world longest natural sandspit. The trail to the end and the Lighthouse is 5 miles one way. It is home to 250 species of birds and 41 species of land animals. I am sharing some various scenes and birds during our hike at the Dungeness Spit and a Skywatch from the area.

Top row above is the Common Loon, Surf Scoter, two Surf Scoters. Middle row Green-winged teals and a Savannah Sparrow. Bottom row are the Horned Grebes and some Gulls.

Above is a larger image of the Common Loon seen at the Dungeness Spit.

Hiking on the Dungeness Spit is best during the low tide. The Lighthouse is not even in sight on this photo.

A view thru the driftwood, many large trees have washed up on the Dungeness Spit.

The mosaic above is for both my Skywatch Friday and Good Fences entry. Views of the sky and Strait, a coastguard heli, various fences along the cliffs.

The trail along the scenic coast with a distant view of the Dungeness Spit. The sky was beautiful, love the view of the Strait of the Juan De Fuca and to the far right you can see a fence to protect peeps from falling off the cliff.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for your nice comments. Have a happy day and weekend ahead.

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 and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Saturday's Critters #58

Saturday's Critters #58

It's Saturday and it's time to share your critters.. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who has linked up in the past and for those who are linking in on this week's critter party. And of course I always appreciate my blogging friends stopping by just for a visit.

These are some birds we saw last week at the Edwin Forsythe NWR in NJ.. Even though most of the water was frozen we did see some ducks and geese at the wildlife refuge..

A pair of Hooded Mergansers...

I believe these are Dunlins in flight and a couple of American Black Ducks..

A few male Hooded Mergansers along with a couple of female Hooded Mergansers. The females have those crazy "hairdos'. The Mergansers were seen in various spots along the wildlife drive.

I am pretty sure these are the Gadwall ducks..I do not mind if you need to correct any of my id's.. I can honestly say I know I have made id mistakes in the past..

A Northern Pintail is having a talk with the Gadwall ducks..

Above maybe an American Wigeon along with the gang of Gadwall ducks..Except for seeing some duck hunters we enjoyed our visit to the wildlife refuge... I hope you enjoyed your visit and my photos... As always I appreciate your nice comments..

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks to Tex Theresa aka Tex, I was able to add this link up button and thanks to  Jennifer for creating my photo badge.

<a href="http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/"><img src=" https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/15299083201_9709303697_m.jpg" width="185" height="240"></a>



To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Please visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Hooded Merganser

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes


For this week's Wild Bird I am featuring the Hooded Merganser. I have a few favorite ducks and the Hooded Merganser is one of them. 

The male is an attractive duck, with a crest that can be expanded or contracted. The crest has a large white patch. The head is black and the sides are reddish brown.

The Hooded Mergansers feed by diving underwater to collect small fish, crustaceans or aquatic insects.

The Hooded  Merganser nest in tree cavities or wood duck boxes near the water. They form pairs in early winter and the male will leave soon after the female lays her eggs. The chicks will leave the nest 24 hours after hatching, they are able to swim and dive at that time. The chicks will remain with their mother for 5 weeks.







The female Hooded Merganser has a reddish crest and the rest of the head and body is a grayish brown. The Hooded Merganser is the second smallest species of Merganser.  It is also the only Merganser  whose native habitat is restricted to North America.

Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

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 our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!