Circle B Bar Reserve, Lakeland Florida

Hello

First I want to thank Maggie of Normandy Life she is the new host of Mosaic Monday. Can you believe tomorrow will be August, where did the summer go?

During our visit to Florida I managed to fit in some time for birding. The Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland Florida is one of my favorite spots. I love the gorgeous trees with the spanish moss and the birds are just awesome. I am sharing some of the scenes and birds we saw there during our short morning walk.

I love the moss covered trees and bottom right corner is a Great Blue Heron.

As I walked on the trail in the photo above this snake crossed in front of me. Thanks to Sandra the Mad Snapper for the id. She told me it is the poisonous Coral Snake. It is a colorful snake, I am glad I used the zoom on my camera.

Coral Snake rhyme: Red touches yellow, dangerous fellow. Red touches black, friend to Jack

One of my favorite herons, the Green Heron seen right off the trail.

The Common Moorhen was seen often, their population must be booming.

Common Moorhen family.

Swallowtail butterfly.  It was a hot day so we only spent a short time at the Circle B Bar reserve but during the short time we enjoyed all these nature scenes.

Here is my list of memes for the week, I hope you can check one or some of these fun memes and the participants post. Have a great new week ahead!

Thanks to Maggie of Normandy Life  the new host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

York PA rookery

 Hello,

This year we only visited the York PA rookery a couple of times. We did manage a visit on June 11th. The Black Crowned Night Herons and the Great Egrets had some competition with a nearby Great Horned Owl nest. We were told that this year there were not as many nest because of the nearby owl.

The Great Egrets seem to be doing well at this York, Pennsylvania rookery.

 Two Great Egrets chicks on the nest.

Two Black Crowned Night Herons at or near their nest.

A Black Crowned Night Heron playing peek-a-boo.

The Great Egrets chicks almost look like adults at this time. You can still see a little fuzz on their heads.

Two Black Crowned Night Heron Chicks, one chick only has it's head showing on the right.

A view of park and lake, the trees around this lake hold the rookery. We also saw lots of Mallard, hybrid ducks and Canada Geese.

For Tom's Barn Collective, I have another local barn/farm in our neighborhood. I hope you enjoyed our visit to the rookery.

Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Bird and Blooms

Hello,




I am sharing some more of our backyard blooms and birds. I am sad to say we lost our Weeping Cherry tree in our backyard. We have not removed it just yet, the birds love to sit in the tree waiting to take their turns at the feeders.

Above the Scarlet Tanagers were seen with a group of Waxwings by our mailbox. They were eating berries in one of the trees, a House Wren in the Weeping Cherry tree, A Catbird on the suet feeder and the Great-crested Flycatcher in the Weeping Cherry tree.

The Daylilies are starting to bloom next to our driveway and in the yard. These look like the same daylilies we see growing wild along the roads.

 The Jackmanii Clematis has taken off, growing well also near the Blueberry bushes.

This Clematis has been blooming for awhile, one of my favorites.

This Spirea bush has grown large over the years, it is starting to mix with our blueberry bushes.

The Stella D'oro lilies are also blooming nicely.

For Tom's Barn Collective this is a local barn we pass by often. It seems like the owners have done a lot of work on it lately.


Happy 4th of July! Wishing everyone a safe and happy 4th of July.

Have you enjoyed the birds and blooms? I hope so!  Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Tom the host of the Barn Collective
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Shenandoah National Park

Hello,


On June 6th hubby and I went on a daytrip to Shenandoah National Park. We walked on my favorite Limberlost Trail and drove on the Skyline Drive as far south as the Big Meadows. We had a late lunch at their camp store and restaurant before heading back north on the Skyline Drive and homeward bound.

On the Limberlost Trail we saw and heard a lot of American Redstarts. This is the male above.

In my mosaic above are some wildflowers and birds we saw during our visit to the park. The birds are the American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Towhee and the Cedar Waxwing.

A pretty blue sky and the Scarlet Tananger.

I believe these were wild Columbine flowers growing along the Limberlost trail.

A view of the Appalachian mountains from the range view overlook. I hope you enjoyed my post and my views of Shenandoah Nat'l Park.

For Tom's Barn Collective, on the way home I have a drive by shot from our daytrip to Shenandoah.

Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Tom the host of the The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday  this will be the last Mosaic Monday for Judith and possibly the end of Mosaic Monday.

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Monocacy River Trail

Hello, officially our summer starts Monday June 20 at 5:24PM. Our weather has been a mixture of cool and hot days. More cool than hot. When the weather cooperates and all is well,  hubby and I enjoy our walks. The Monocacy River Trail near Frederick Maryland is one of our favorite spots for a walk. Here are some scenes and birds from our walk.

Hubby is surprised I can find a hummingbird on the tree tops as we walk, we also saw the Red-shouldered Hawk, A few Indigo Buntings, House Wrens and the American Robins.

The Red-shouldered Hawk posed nicely on a tree branch for me.

I am not sure what kind of tree this is, but the tree has these thorn like thingys growing out of the trunk.  I did a google search and came up with a similar thorn tree called the Honey Locust.

Hubby and I always enjoy seeing the wildlife on our walks. Can you find the three deer in this photo above? With all the bushes and trees I was not able to get a clear shot of the deers.  They all seem to be missing their heads.

Above is a shot of the trail, ferns, wildflowers or weeds, black rat snake on the trail,  a toad and a Downy Woodpecker. I hope you enjoyed our walk.

For Tom's Barn Collective, I found some barns during our drive to Frederick, Md. Thanks for coming along.  Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday   last Monday of the month
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Hashawha Nature Center

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. We are finally enjoying some warm weather, the past month was kind of chilly.  The rainy weather pattern has stopped. Knock on wood!  On this day we visited one of our favorite parks in Carroll County, Maryland called Hashawha Nature Center. 

Above some of the birds we saw top line the Barn Swallow and an Eastern Kingbird. The bottom row the Green Heron and an Eastern Bluebird. They all posed nicely on the wire that runs across the lake.

It is not often I see a Green Heron perched on a wire high off the ground. It has some feathers stuck to it's beak from preening.

The lake at Hashawha!

Some irises growing close to the lake. The wildflowers this time of the year are beautiful.

Birds we saw during our walk at the park: top row Indigo Bunting, Eastern Kingbird, Tree Swallow, Eastern Bluebird, Song Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Blue Jay, Green Heron

Some barns scenes from the ride home, these are drive-bys and not the best shots with electric poles and wires in the way. But, there are lots of trees in the distance. I hope you enjoyed our walk, I appreciated your company.

I do appreciate your visits and the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday   last Monday of the month
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Birds & Blooms

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.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! God Bless our Veterans and  our country.

I am sharing some of our blooms and birds seen in our yard or in the woods next to our house.  The Pink Lady Slipper a wild orchid is found growing in the same spot every year.

We found a few Pink Lady Slippers along the fireroad near home.

A pretty Scarlet Tanager can be seen in the woods next to our home.

Our Clematis is starting to bloom.

Wild pink azaleas in the forest next to our home.

A pretty Rose-breasted Grosbeak seen on 5/15/16

The Red-bellied woodpecker seen right outside my dining room window. The male is on the feeder dropping crumbs for the female on my deck. Bird watching from the windows has been happening a lot lately. We have had many rainy days this spring.

For Tom's Barn Collective I have a local barn, over the years it has sat empty. It is somewhat a famous barn for us it was used in the movie Runaway Bride which was filmed in our area. This barn is just across from my son's old elementary school.

Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Here is a list of linky parties for part of the week, Sunday thru Wednesday. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective
Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday   last Monday of the month
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday