Saturday's Critters # 520

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!

Oct 10th, we are on our little getaway to Chincoteague Island NWR in Virginia. It is one of my favorite places to visit. We love the beach, all the birds and the Chincoteague ponies. We started the day with the sunrise at the beach and ended the day with the sunset over Tom's Cove. 

Click on images for larger views.

1. A beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and Chincoteague Island NWR. 

2. Some photos taken from the car on the way to the beach, we saw a few Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorant and a Belted Kingfisher. 

3. Along the same road was a juvenile Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and White Ibis. 

4. The Chincoteague ponies are a highlight of this trip for me. 

5. The Great Egrets were looking beautiful. 

6. We saw large groups of Sanderlings on the beach. 

7. Below are Chincoteague Scenes, the Assateague Island Lighthouse, Tom's Cove visitor center and boardwalk trail, American Oystercatcher.

8. I found a few butterflies, while walking on the Tom's cove trail, we saw a few Monarchs and the Common Buckeye. 

9. Below are some of the birds seen along the wildlife drive, I was expecting to see more birds along this drive. Birds numbers are down, I could count all the birds I saw on the drive on my two hands. 

10. The sunset at Tom's Cove with lots of Gulls flying around.  

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 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 #358

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 always enjoy seeing the Chincoteague wild ponies, even a distant view is nice. We saw so many birds during our recent Chincoteague visit, in early October. I will share some of my favorites, photos were taken mostly from the car or our walks on the trails. 

 

 

Click on photos for larger viewing.

 

 1.  A view from the beach road, two Great Egret close by and the larger flock of White Ibis and Egrets seen further in the distance.

 

 

2. Below are some of Chincoteague's wild ponies.

3. We saw the Bald Eagle on the ground twice while driving the wildlife drive, both times it took off and flew somewhere. An empty nest is nearby. 

 

 

4. Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge has wooded trails, I was looking for the Brown-headed Nuthatch. I could hear them but every time I tried for a photo they moved. I did catch the Red-breasted Nuthatch and the White-breasted Nuthatch. 

 

 

 

5.  The American Oystercatchers were seen on the bayside of the island.  You can't miss seeing that red-orange bill.

 

 

 6. We saw the Belted Kingfishers numerous times in different parts of the refuge.

 7.  Some times the flock of White Ibis and Egrets would fly from one side of the road to the other side.  Not sure why, something upset them?

 

 

 

 

8. The White Ibis have red legs and bill. A juvenile below has brown back and wings, it will turn white gradually.

 

 

 

 

 

9.  A few Tricolored Herons, they so looked funny running around in circles. I think they were trying to catch food.

 

 

 

 

 

10. Below is the taller Great Egret with the smaller Snowy Egret.

 

11.  Another shot of a wild pony, can you find the Canada Goose in the photo?

 

 

 

 

 I hope you enjoyed my post. 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.

Sorry, I am flipping back and forth with my linky tools.  I hope this one is working, if it is not working please leave your link in your comment and I will fix or adjust accordingly.

 

Here is the linky:

 

 

 


 

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

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thankful Thursday!

On our second full day in Iceland we took a tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and National Park. The coast line is beautiful, we were able to hike a coastal trail with beautiful views of the ocean. 

The Snaefellsjokull Glacier is known as the crown of Snaefellsnes. Our guide told us, they may see a clear view 1 out of 10 times.. We were lucky this day, my traveling weather luck has held out so far. 

The coast line and rock formations are beautiful. Look at the pretty sky too. 

A lifer, the Eurasian Oystercatcher. 

Some shorebirds, like the Purple Sandpipers,  Dunlins and Turnstones were climbing around the rocky shore. 

Me and my shadow in Snaefellsnes. 

A seal being photobombed by a Common Eider. 

I had help with this bird below, another lifer the Redshank. 

More captures of the Common Eider.

More of the beautiful coast and sky. 

I hope you enjoyed my photos, I took over 400 photos on this day. I am sure I will be posting more on our Iceland trip! 


I am always thankful to see new birds and add to my life list.

** I am thankful for good weather on our trip.**** I am thankful for all your visits and comments. **


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday




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

Cape Flattery, Washington

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.

This past week blogland has lost a sweet blogger Pat @ Bailey Road she was a nature lover, dog lover and a great photographer. Pat will be missed.  Rest in peace, Pat. My prayers go out to Pat's husband and family.

On Oct 3rd of our Washington State trip we drove to Cape Flattery it is the north westernmost point of the United States and is also part of the Makah Reservation. It is where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Pacific Ocean. I think I have mentioned before it hardly rains during my vacations, hubby is amazed with my luck. We did have rain one day during our stay at the beach but 1 rainy day out of 9 days is not bad.

Cape Flattery Lighthouse is on Tatoosh Island, Makah Bay are on one side and Neah Bay is on the other side of the Cape.

There is a hike through the forest, some of the trail was on a boardwalk. To see Cape Flattery you must purchase a pass from the Makah Indian Reservation to visit this site. The trail is 1.5 miles round trip.

It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sunny sky.

The coastline scenery around the Cape Flattery is gorgeous, we could see some sea caves from above.

At times we watched 2 gray whales, we could see their spray, body and tails coming out of the water.

Above some of the wildlife we saw while we were at Cape Flattery. Top Row: various gulls, Surf Scoters, Cormorant. Middle Row we saw two Gray Whales. Bottom Row is the Black Oystercatcher. Cape Flattery is at the northern boundary of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. It was a couple hour drive from Port Angeles but the visit to Cape Flattery was well worth the drive. I hope you enjoyed my post and images. 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

Saturday's Critters #86

Saturday's Critters #86

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 is linking in on this week's critter party. And of course I always appreciate my blogging friends stopping by just for a visit and leaving a comment.

I am sharing some more critters from our visit to Cape May on July 6. Most of these images were taken while walking on the trail at the Cape May Point State Park.

I just fell in love with these cute Killdeer Chicks.

The Killdeer chicks were running in front of us as we walked on the trail in Cape May.

The American Oystercatcher is a cool bird and one of my favorites to see at the shore.  I hope you enjoyed my critters and post. As always thanks again for linking up, for the nice comments and for visiting my post. I wish everyone a happy weekend!

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.





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

Also 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.

Cape May NJ

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.

For this week's Good Fence and Skywatch Friday memes I am sharing an overnight visit to Cape May/Atlantic City, New Jersey earlier in July. It was a pretty day to visit Cape May and the beach, I think I even got a little sunburnt.

A mosaic of the Cape May wildlife: Top Row is the Purple Martin house, Halloween Pennant Dragonfly, Carolina Wren. Second Row : Black Crowned Night Heron, Muskrat, Bunny, Third Row: Least Tern, Oystercatcher, Black Skimmers. Bottom Row: Blue Grosbeak, Mute Swan, possibly Forster's Terns.

For my Skywatch shot, the Cape May lighthouse and the Purple Martin birdhouse.

You have to look closely for this fence, just a white string tied to the area closed sign. This is to protect the birds nesting on the beach and dunes.

Another sky shot,  hubby and I sat on our beach chairs watching the waves. A few dolphins swimming by and the planes with their advertisements.

The Least Terns recognizable with the white spot on their foreheads. LOL, do birds even have foreheads? My birds posts are just for fun and I hope the serious birders do not find my post on the birds, their birdie parts and or how I type their names unacceptable. I guess they are skipping the part, that I admit I am blogging just for fun, I am an amateur photographer and I must admit sometimes I might miss a spelling error or put a dash on a bird's name when it does not belong.

Which leads me to bird slang, are you a birder or a birdwatcher? Maybe you are a twitcher or a dude.  Definition of a Dude: a low-keyed birdwatching hobbyist with a lack of devotion or enthusiasm.  A dude, really? Why bother birdwatching if you are not enthused with the birds? I love all the birds and wildlife, my favorite thing to do is go out and look for any species of wildlife. Maybe I am not understanding the definition of a Dude, could I be a dude-woman? I found this link with bird slang check it out Bird slang

A fence scene and a happy couple walking down the trail to the beach. This shot works for both Tex's Good Fences and for my Skywatch Friday shot. I hope you enjoyed our Cape May visit.

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments.
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..

Ocean City, Maryland

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.

For this week's Good Fence and Skywatch Friday memes I am sharing some more photos from our Anniversary getaway in early May. A last minute decision we continued our getaway to Ocean City Maryland after we left Chincoteague Island Virginia. That is what is great about being retired we can make last minute trips and getaways. Early May the beaches were fairly empty and we had a choice of hotels to spend the night.

This is the sunrise before leaving Chincoteague Island NWR.

Early morning light with a flock of maybe Dunlin.  I had to do some more birding at Chincoteague Island NWR before we left.

I know this is stretching the fence scene, but if you look closely you can see the wire fence ( just above the Oystercatcher's eye)  at the dune nesting area for the Oystercatchers and the Piping Plovers.

With my great zoom I spotted a cute Piping Plover seen beyond the fence area at Chincoteague Island NWR

We left Chincoteague Island and went to the Ocean City inlet, a fence runs along side the rock jetty. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach.

How did this bird know I needed a fence shot? Is there too much fencing going on here?

According to the Maryland listserve the Sunset Park in Ocean City is always a happening spot to see some birds. Above is the Common Yellowthroated Warbler. For some reason it looks like there is a double or even a triple fence in this spot.

Also seen at the Sunset Park, one of my favorite bird species the Terns. I think these may be the Forster's Tern.

It was a full moon during our little getaway, it was nice seeing it rise over the ocean.   I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments.


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..