Saturday's Critters # 495

 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!

A break from my Ireland trip and photos. More of Ireland will be shared again soon. Today I am sharing some photos from our walk on the C&O Canal trail in Potomac Md and at the Great Falls Nat'l Park.  

1. In the mosaic below are the Prothonotary Warbler, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Eastern Bluebird, wildflowers, turtles, Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorants, Mallards and Blue-winged Teal.

2. The Prothonotary Warbler, is about 5 1.2 inches, he was singing loudly and heard way before I was able to find him in the tree top. This bird nest in trees and there are nest boxes set up along the canal trail.  

3. The male Prothonotary Warbler is a bright yellow with dark wings. 

4. The Green Heron is seen every year in about the same spot close to the Riley's Lock parking area. 

5. The Green Heron, one of my favorites. The breeding adult has a rust colored neck, a dark cap and a green back. 

6. The Slider Turtles are enjoying the sunshine, resting on the rocks. 

7. The Black-crowned Night Heron was seen on the canal side of the C&O canal trail.  

8. The Great-Blue Herons have a rookery in the trees that line the Potomac River.  

9. The Double-crested Cormorants nest along the river, a group of Cormorants is called a "gulp".  

10. We saw at least 4-5 Blue-winged teal on the river. 

11. A view from the Great Falls overlook. 

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. 

Our World, My World

Happy Monday!

 Can you believe it is October already?  The days are flying by, much too quickly. Hubby and I continue to stay active, as much as we can. Walking and birding on the good weather days.  On this day we drove to Potomac Maryland to walk on the C & O Canal Trail. 

 

 We parked at Violette's Lock and walked just past Rileys' Lock on the canal trail.  First birds I saw after getting out of the car was the Great Blue Heron near the canal and there were lots of Double-crested Cormorants hanging around the Potomac River.

 

Cormorants at in the Potomac River.

 

 

 

It was a slider turtle day, the sun was shining and all the turtles were hanging out on rocks and tree stumps in the canal.

 

 

 

I can usually always find the Green Heron at the C & O Canal, this Green Heron was fishing/hunting for food while standing on a tree stump sticking out of the water.

 I thought I was going to go the whole summer/fall season without seeing a Green Heron.  I am glad these herons are seen along this trail.

 

 

 

More images of the Potomac River and the canal side of the trail. There is a Great Blue Heron rookery along the river, so quite a few  Herons can be seen all along the river's edge and at the canal.  I was not able to get a photo of the Bald Eagle flying over our heads. 

Just across the Potomac River is the state of Virginia, I believe the huge white building is part of a golf course country club?

 

 

 

Views of the C&O Canal trail, various wildflowers, turtles, Seneca Creek, lock keeper's house

 

 

We wanted to leave time to drive down River Road to the Great Falls NP and walk some more there.  I will share photos from the national park on my next post. 

 

We are hanging in there, happy and healthy.   I hope everyone is safe, happy and healthy. 


What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

 

 

Saturday's Critters #292

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


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 are some images from our walk on the C&O Canal trail located at Riley's Lock in Potomac Maryland. 

I can always find the Green Herons at this location. They are one of my favorite herons. 

We saw a lot of these Slider Turtles in the canal. They were sitting on piles of mud or trunks trunks sticking out the water.  

There were a lot of dragonflies flying around. 

A couple of Bald Eagles were seen and heard.  There must be a nest nearby. 

A second Green Heron seen along the trail.  I think their rusty neck and colors are beautiful. 

The Green Heron, one of the smallest herons. They can be hard to spot. They blend in well with their surroundings. 

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments !







Here is a list of my linky parties;

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

Birding the Riley's Lock

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

For this week's post I am sharing Saturday's walk at Riley's Lock on the C&O canal trail.  It is a pretty trail for walking, biking or jogging with beautiful views of the Potomac River. The 184 mile C&O canal trail goes from Georgetown, Md to Cumberland Md. I have birded parts of this trail at various times of the year.

Above the Potomac River, a Great Egret and Double-Crested Cormorants.

These are the Eastern Painted Turtles..part of the pond turtle family. The have bright yellow spots on either side of the head. It's skin can be olive to black with red, yellow or orange stripes.

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Above is the Green heron, Wood Ducks and a few turtles.

The Red-eared Slider turtle gets its name from the red stripe behind its eye. The sliders leave the water to bask in the sun.

The Green Heron is my favorite heron and I can almost be guaranteed to see a Green Heron at this spot during this time of the year. I was not disappointed hubby and I quickly found 6 Green Herons hunting out in the open. After leaving Riley's Lock we drove further down River Rd to one of our other favorite places the Vie de France bakery and cafe. We picked up a Turkey&Brie on a french roll along with some drinks and I can not forget their yummy chocolate chip cookies. We took our lunch down to the Great Falls Nat'l Park for our picnic and another walk on the trail.

Above scenes from the Great Falls National Park, C&O Canal, towpath horses, canal boat, deer.

There are seven locks along the Potomac River including Riley's Lock and the Great Falls National Park which is located on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.


As always, I hope you enjoy my post and 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!

Barred Owl

For this weeks World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes I am posting on the Barred owl hubby and I saw on a walk at Riley's Lock. The Potomac River and the C&O canal trail has been a great place for me to see birds. During this walk we saw two Barred owls together. One flew away but one stayed in a tree near the trail and watched us. We saw many other species of birds on our walk but the owl was my favorite sighting.


The Barred Owl is seen in  mixed woodlands and swamp forest. They prey on insects, vertebrates and amphibians.  Their call sounds a lot like "who cooks for you" .

The photo above shows the owl looking down, we watched as smaller birds were determined to make the owl leave and were trying to dive bomb him or her.

To see more great birds please visit Springman's World Bird Wednesday  and Michelle's  Nature Notes thanks to Springman  and Michelle for hosting and thanks for stopping by to see my post.