A walk along the Potomac River

I am linking  up with   Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday

Please ignore all the capital letters in my post. It does not show up this way in my draft and I can not figure out how to correct the problem.

 Hubby and I have our favorite spots along the Potomac River and the C&O Canal trail to walk. On this day we stopped in a couple different areas along the Potomac. One of our favorite trails is the river trail at the Great Falls National Park. The trail follows along the river and then cuts back up to the C&O canal trail to make a loop. My header shows a small section of the Potomac River from the river loop trail.

For birding the river trail is great, we can see all kinds of birds, there is a Great Blue Heron rookery and there is also a nesting colony of Double-crested Cormorants. Above I have the nest of some DC Cormorants,  a Prothonotary Warbler, some pretty irises, a  Great Egret and a Black Crowned Night Heron.

 

 The river loop trail and the edges of the canal were great places to see some wildflowers.

The Prothonotary Warbler is one of the breeding birds that can be seen along the C&O Canal. These birds nest in cavities or use boxes that are along the water edge. The males have a bright yellow head, green back ,a gray rump and a yellow breast and belly. Not the greatest picture but I was happy to see the Prothonotary Warbler.

 

 Besides the lovely wild irises and roses we saw different species of birds, turtles, cool looking lizards, I am guessing a black rat snake and a family of geese. 

In the 19th and 20th century the C&O canal provided jobs and oportunities for people throughout the Potomac River Valley, from the tidal basin in Washington DC to Western Maryland. The canal trail is 184.5 miles long. Hubby and I have hiked various parts of this trail. The C&O Historical Park consists of 19,236 acres from Washington Dc to Cumberland, Maryland. It 22years to build the canal using 35,000 workers. Most of the workforce were immigrants from Ireland and Western Europe.

 This Geese family is enjoying the walk along the C&O canal with hubby and I.

I hope you enjoyed my post, I always appreciate your visit and comments. To see more wonderful mosaics and photos check out Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday!

 

Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy.  

I hope everyone has a lovely week ahead. 

Piscataway Park

My Pink Saturday post is here:   Pink Saturday

After leaving the Mattawomen creek( in my post below) hubby and I stopped for a walk at the Piscataway Park. The trail leads you down to a boardwalk along the Potomac River. Even though it was later in the day we saw a couple of Prothonotary Warblers, a flock of  swallows, a few Osprey, a cormorant, lots of butterflies and dragonflies.

Common Buckeye

 Swallows

Cormorant and Osprey

Swallowtail Butterflies

Not sure

I am linking up with 2sweetnsaxy's Watery Wednesday

and

                                          Susan's Outdoor Wednesday  thanks to both of these wonderful host.

                     Also, a big thanks to you for stopping by my post and blog. Have a great day :)

Birding the Potomac

With this post I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and That's My World Click on these to visit some wonderful blogs.

Yesterday, hubby and I enjoyed a day birding at the Potomac River and C& O canal. We stopped at a few places to check out the birds. First stop was at Hughes Hollow a wildlife management area. We saw a lot of Egrets, GB Herons, Green Herons, and some Little Blue Herons. There were also some Canada Geese and Mallard ducks.

At the next stop called Violettes Lock we walked along the C&O canal. Here along the Potomac River we saw some Cormorants and it was the first time I have ever seen two Kingfishers sitting close to each other. Turtles were sunning themselves on downed trees in the canal.

I am always checking out the wildflowers along my walks and the trails. There were purple flowers that I have not seen before and do not know its name. So if anyone could me id this flower, I would appreciate the help.

Some wild Hibiscus

Thanks for stopping by my blog and thanks to Mary host of Mosaic Monday and

 the hosting team of That's My World

River Rider

Yesterday I spent the day with my DH and a group of friends tubing on the Shenandoah River near Harpers Ferry. We opted for the lazy flat river over the more exciting white water trip. The weather was wonderful and after getting our tubes on the river we could tell we were not the only ones who waned to go tubing. The river in front of us was filled with a rainbow of colors, the colors of a hundred or more tubes.

I do have to say the flat river option was very slow...it was slower than the lazy rivers at the themed water parks. The white water option also looked slow. The water levels in July are just not high enough to make for an exciting white water trip. Needless to say as were floating down the river I was enjoying the company of friends,the scenery and of course the birds. I was also amazed at how many dragonflies were on the water and on us as we floated down the river. I thought it was kind of cool to have the dragonflies land on our legs and arms while we were tubing. I guess they wanted to hitch a ride down river.

Being a birder I couldn't help but notice the birds flying around the river and in the sky above me. Some of the birds were various species of Hawks, Swallows, Great Blue Heron and the Baltimore Orioles seemed numerous. A highlight was seeing a Green Heron low over the river in front of our tubes.





We decided our next tubing trip will have to be a more exciting trip. Something that will make our heart beat just a little faster.