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..

Fort Island Gulf Beach

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   They are both fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

It is the last day of May, unbelievable how fast the days are going..I love summer so I am hoping for lots of warm sunny days ahead.. Are you ready for some more of Florida? These are shots from the Fort Island Gulf beach in Crystal River on Florida's gulf coast.

The Fort Island Gulf Beach was a pretty spot with a nice sandy beach.

I am not positive but I am guessing that the Terns above are the Royal Terns with some Laughing Gulls.

We saw a lot of  Terns, Gulls, Sanderlings and the Piping Plovers. Any help with bird id's are appreciated. I do not claim to be an expert, lol.

I saw that there were a lot of Black Skimmers at one end of the beach.

Black Skimmers, Terns and Gulls.

Above hubby in the orange vest tried snorkeling at a park called Hunter Spring in Crystal River. I sat near the car watching the White Ibis, Mallards and some Scaup ducks hanging around the parking and in the water. I hope you enjoyed this collection of images from our Florida trip. I still have more to share. 

Thank you for visiting and for all the nice comments.. Have a great day and week ahead!

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 with 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.  

More Jersey shore

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences

My skywatch and fence shots are from the Jersey shore.. along the Cape May beach they had fencing up near the dunes to protect the breeding and nesting Piping Plovers and Oystercatchers..

 Some fencing along the beach is sturdier protecting the dunes. The sky was kind of gloomy when we arrived. And it was not the best morning for taking photos..But LOL, that does not stop me!

Other fencing was temporary to protect the nesting birds like the Oystercatcher above. This fence does not stop the birds like this Piping Plover from walking along the beach but it does help to keep people out.

Some scenes from our walk along the Cape May trail..

The skies around Cape May did clear up and we enjoyed our time there.

The Mute Swans seem to like hanging out at the Cape May ponds.. I included this shot in a mosaic on my previous post. But, I wanted to share the whole photo. I like the reflection.

We left Cape May and drove up the Jersey coast to the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge it is located close to were we were staying in Atlantic City.  Above is a shot of the Osprey couple and nest with the Borgata Hotel & Casino in the background..

A view of the sunlight over the wildlife refuge.. I hope you enjoyed my post..


To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences


Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

Cape May NJ

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

May 4th....Happy 24th Anniversary to my hubby!

Hubby and I celebrated our 24th anniversary a little early, we headed to Cape May & Atlantic City NJ on Thursday for an overnight getaway.. We had a great time walking around the Cape May beach near the lighthouse and on the trails..

A foggy lighthouse scene and some scenic views from the park trails and a Yellow Warbler.

 A pretty male Yellow Warbler singing..

 

Above one of many Yellow Rump Warblers, Brown thrasher, Eastern Kingbird, Mute Swan, turtle, Cardinal, Chipping Sparrow and Mallard Ducks.

 

We saw a lot of the Yellow Rump Warblers in Cape May.

Above is a cute Piping Plover and an American Oystercatcher and some Sanderlings on the beach.

The fog and misty weather was clear before we left the Cape May Lighthouse Park. Hubby and I joke about how the weather always clears up whenever I go on a trip.. Cape May was just the start of our getaway, I will have more photos to share later in the week. Thanks for stopping by and for the 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!

Florida Skywatch

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

Taking you back once again to Florida, it was one of my favorite vacation spots. This week I am sharing a Florida sunrise from Key West.

This was the view from across our Key West hotel. On this morning we saw a colorful sunrise.

The three shots above are in order SOOC, the colors in sky was changing from a pink to orange.

The Magnificent Frigatebird was not a lifer for me but, I enjoyed watching this bird in flight along the Florida coastline.

The Piping Plovers are one of my favorite birds to see on the beach. The Plovers are adorable birds.

  I hope you enjoyed my birds and sky shots.
Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

Happy Skywatching  to everyone!
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Sharing the Beach

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

Happy Memorial Day Weekend....God Bless and special thanks to all the veterans and our military men and women.

The Memorial Day weekend is usually the start of summer vacations and trips to the beaches. I wanted to remind bird lovers and beach lovers to help protect and still enjoy the shorebirds and the cute beach nesters.

This week my post is on some of the birds that nest on beaches. Since it is time for the beach nesting birds and summer is almost here my post is about protecting the beach nesters. There are some great tips for all beach lovers that are easy to follow.

 The Black Skimmers, American Oystercatchers and the Terns are all birds that nest on the dunes. I have seen them at Cape May, Maryland Beaches like Assateague and at Chincoteague beach. I believe these birds nest on beaches up and down the eastern coast of the US.

 I saw this Florida Audubon poster which has some great tips on how to protect the beach nesting birds. These simple things should be done as long as the birds are nesting and the chicks are seen on the beaches ....not just for the holiday weekend. These suggestions should be followed by beach lovers not only from Florida but up and down the US coastlines. 

There are simple things listed that everyone can do to help protect these birds, their nest and the chicks. Above are some of my shots of the Piping Plovers.

Above is a photo of a Piping Plover seen at Curry Hammock State Park in the Florida Keys. I thought the Florida Audubon notice was perfect since I was sharing the Piping Plover I saw while in Florida. But, I would hope all the Audubon Chapters located on the East Coast of the US would have the same kind of notice protecting the beach nesting birds.

I hope you enjoyed my post and thanks for visiting my blog and post. I really appreciate your comment too.
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.  Thanks also for stopping by to see my post.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Florida Variety

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's in blogland..

For my post this week I have a  variety of birds and a few lizards we saw while in the Florida Keys.

 

Piping Plovers, Ruddy Turnstone, Willet and Sanderlings

Anole and Iguana

Magnificent Frigatebird, Orb Spider, flock of White Ibis

The Palm Warblers were being seen all over Florida and the bottom right shot is a female Prairie Warbler.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post. I hope everyone has a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments. To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.