Saturday's Critters # 525

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 images are from our visit and walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir, Baltimore County. It is nice to take a walk in a different location than our neighborhood. Usually we can see a variety of winter ducks at this reservoir. There are usually lots of Gulls and Mallards hanging around the parking area.  When we got out of our car, the ducks came running. They are used to people and being fed. Sorry ducks, we did not bring any food.  

1. Our first stop was near the secondary dam, here we saw a large group of male and female Hooded Mergansers, Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gull and some Mallard ducks. 

2. The Hooded Mergansers are one of my favorite ducks. The males have a fan shaped crest that can collapse. The females have a cinnamon colored crest.

This group of Canada Geese and Mallards were resting on the top of the secondary dam. 

3. This large group of Mallards and Gulls were just fed, a couple in a car pulled up with some kind of food. Hopefully it was not bread.  

4. The large group of Mallards are resting after just being fed.  

5. I know the bottom gull is a the Ring-billed Gull, I am not sure about the top gull. It does look like a juvenile?

6. We saw a large group of the Ring-necked Ducks. 

7.  I tried for a closer look at the Ring-necked Ducks. The male is black, gray and white with a prominent white ring on the bill. The females are brown with a white patch near the bill.

A closer look at the Ring-billed Gull. They have a heavy bill with a distinct ring.

8. On the way home we rode past the Friendly Farm ponds, there were 5 Bald Eagles on the ground. Three adult Bald Eagles next to one pond and there were 2 juvenile Eagles across the driveway and near the second pond. 

"Let us give nature a chance, she knows her business better than we do."

I wanted to ask if anyone could help me to create a new badge for the Saturday's Critters party. A new year and time for a change. Thanks in advance!

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. Also, if you like you can add the badge below on your Saturday's Critter post.  Thank you to Shiju for making the new badge. 

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 # 475

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. Early January we had a few nice weather days, mild temperatures but not always sunny. On this day hubby and took a walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir, usually you can always find some winter ducks on the lake between the two dams. 

2. The male Hooded Merganser, it is one of my favorite ducks. The males have a black head with a white patch that changes sizes when the crest is raised. They have a white breast with chestnut flanks. 

3. The Canada Geese had the highest count, the geese population seems to doing very well.

4. The Ring-necked Ducks have dark heads and backs with gray sides. Adult males have a prominent white ring on their bill. The females are brown and have a white patch near the bill. 

5. I could only find a few Bufflehead ducks mixed in with the other duck species and a large count of Canada Geese.

6. More Canada Geese, some Ring-necked Ducks and a few American Wigeons.

7. Below are a few Canada Geese, two Ring-necked Ducks and 4 American Wigeons. the male American Wigeon has a cream color forecrown.

8. There have been years that the Eurasian Wigeon would be seen hanging out with the ducks on this reservoir, I tried zooming in on various groups but I did not see any other duck species. 

9. Canada Goose, Ring-billed Gull with two male Hooded Mergansers.

10. The Ring-billed Gulls are a common sight to see at this reservoir, they can also be found on parking lots.

11. Male and female Mallards.

12. The Hooded Merganser couple, the handsome male with the female.  The female is a gray-brown with cinnamon tone on the head. 

13. More male and female Mallards hanging out near the shore, people come to feed the ducks in this spot. So the ducks seem to be more tame around people. 

Bonus image: our grandson Mason will be 1 year old on the 24th..  Happy Birthday to Mason.

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! Also, I am also 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 #367

 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 hope everyone had a very happy Christmas!  These are some photos from our visit to the Loch Raven Reservoir and dam.  I was looking for two Western Grebes that were being seen in the area, a few birds were seen but not the Grebes. 

1.  The Bald Eagle was seen a distance away, but I was able to zoom in to get a closer look. 

 

 

 

 

2.  I was scanning the trees across the river and found this Great Blue Heron. It was busy grooming to notice me. 

 

 

 

 

3. Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls and the Mallard ducks were all being fed

 

 

 

4. The Ring-billed Gulls were hanging out on a little island.

 

 

 

 

 

5. We watched these Mallards running up to a family that was feeding the gulls, geese and these ducks. 

 

 

6. These Canada Geese, Gulls and Mallards must be used to people feeding them,  they all flew and ran past us to get to the food.

 

 

7. These gulls were not interested in the food being offered, they sat out on the little island. 

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


Here is my linky:


 

 

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the host Anni.

 

Happy Thankful Thursday!

 Happy Thursday!

It is another day to experience the beauty of nature. Life is beautiful, soak it in and be grateful.  

1. I am always thankful for pretty sunny days! These days, hubby and I can get outdoors for a walk.  On this day we drove to the Loch Raven Reservoir, it is a reservoir that provides drinking water for Baltimore City, Md. For the past week,  two rare Grebes ( Western Grebe and possible  Clark's Grebe) were being seen at this reservoir. Of course I missed seeing the Grebes, but we enjoyed our outing.

 

2. We saw  a group of Hooded Mergansers and some Canada Geese just sitting at the top of the smaller dam.

The best things in life are the people we love, the places we've been and the memories we made along the way.

3. Hooded Mergansers, second smallest of the Merganser species. The male has the black bordered fan like crest, a white head patch. Below the crest is seen raised and lowered. The female has the brown crest and somewhat of a brownish body. They have a narrow bill.

4. It was a pretty blue sky day, the dam below somewhat hidden by the bushes along the road.

 

 

5. At times these birds disappeared diving underwater, I never could count them.

 

 

6.  This is a view of the water below the dam and a sunburst, not the best photo. But, I am always attracted to the sunburst images. 

I will share some more views of Loch Raven and more birds on my Saturday's Critter post. 

 I wish all ... peace, love and happiness this holiday season!

As long as Covid numbers are still going up, I remain thankful that we continue to stay safe and healthy.  I hope everyone stays healthy and safe. 

Go outside and breathe deeply.  Enjoy every moment. 

Take care and stay safe! 


Live simple and be happy!  😊 Keep smiling!

Thank you to Jutta for hosting Nature Thursday

Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday.  

Thank you Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday
 

Thank you for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!!  😊

 

 

Loch Raven Reservoir

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

I am sharing last weekend's walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir..It was a pretty day to be out walking and this is a nice spot when they close the road for the weekend for the walkers, bikers and joggers. All kinds of peeps were out enjoying the scenery and weather..

Loch Raven is one of three reservoirs in Baltimore county, they hold the drinking water for Baltimore City...

In the winter months the ducks, gulls and coots seem to make Loch Raven their winter home.

We saw 4-5 eagles..both adult Bald Eagles and the juveniles..In the mosaic above and the photo on the left there is an adult eagle sitting in the top of one of the pine trees .

Can you find it?

I love the reflection shot of the Canada Geese and I was amazed at the numbers of American Coots.. There must have beeen hundreds of them in rows on the lake and along the shores..

One of my favorite shots from our outing.. I hope you enjoyed my walk and post..I wish you all a happy week, a happy January and a happy New Year.

I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.
I hope you can join in on our fun at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith 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 ahead!

Wild Duck Hunt

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

Early Saturday morning hubby and I headed to Loch Raven Reservoir on our wild goose duck hunt. There were many reports of the Eurasian Wigeon being seen near the second dam at the reservoir. It has become my birding luck that the day I go the bird has left.  Last weekend, I did  a drive by hoping that a Pink-footed Goose was still in the area. No luck there either, how is your birding luck? I hope it is better than my luck. At least we did not see the snow they forecasted, one time I was glad they were wrong .

This is the lower dam at the reservoir..one of three reservoirs that supplies drinking water for Baltimore City.

Not the best shot but above is an American Wigeon, second from the left.  The American Wigeon has a green eye patch and a cream crown. The Eurasian Wigeon has the red head with the gray back dark eyes. It was hard looking at all the Redheads for one Eurasian Wigeon, they look alike.

Above is the larger dam with more Redheads, Mergansers and the American Wigeon.

Here is a larger image showing the assortment of ducks we saw at the reservoir.

The Redhead ducks seem to be the largest group seen in these photos.

This shot is one of the clearest I could get of the distant Redhead ducks.  Since, I work during the week I do not have the option to run and see a bird on the day it is first sighted. And I do not want to get started on this horrible weather. I can not complain on the amount of ducks we have been seeing like the Redheads, Ring-necked, Common Mergansers and Hooded Mergansers are plentiful. The sky was mostly cloudy which does not help my photos, but it was still cool seeing all the ducks.


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 ahead!