Sunset Beach, Part II

Happy Monday, wishing everyone a great day and week ahead!

November is flying by, this Thursday is Thanksgiving. Soon it will be Christmas, are you ready? When do you put up your Christmas tree, do decorate the whole house? Lately I have been feeling less is more, I might just put up a small tree and be done.

I have some more photos from our visit to my sister's in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. I love walks on the beach, watching the birds and hearing the sound of the waves. I hope you enjoy.

Snooze time!

Black Skimmers and Gull friends.

Gulls, Terns and Brown Pelicans on Sunset Beach.

Me and my shadow!

The waves were not big, but it is always nice to listen to the sound of the waves.

All the little brown dots are the shorebirds, like Dunlins, Willets, Semipalmated Plovers and more. We saw large flocks of shorebirds at the end of Sunset beach, I think this was a resting spot for the migrating birds.

As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.


Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Bombay Hook NWR, Part two

I am linking up my Woodpecker with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

For my post this week I am showing more birds from our last visit to the wildlife refuge.

 We watched the American Avocets stay on the ground while the larger flock of shorebirds would take off and fly once in a while. I think it is just amazing to see these large flocks a birds together.

Again the large group of American Avocets and I am not sure if the others are Dunlins or another small shorebird.

Northern Harrier in flight

A good look at the Harrier's tail feathers.

We had fun watching the Northern Harrier on his hunt. I hope you enjoyed more birds from our visit the Bombay Hook wildlife refuge.

To see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Bombay Hook NWR, 75th Anniversary

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

On Saturday, hubby and I drove to Delaware to visit Bombay Hook NWR. I included a link for Bombay Hook NWR which lists the many activities they will be having during their anniversary celebration. If you want to visit during this time you can check out the calendar of events. We did not know until we arrived at Bombay Hook, they are celebrating their 75th anniversary. The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937.

 In my mosiac above I have a cute Pied Billed Grebe, tree blossoms, Great Egret, raft of Coots, Yellowlegs, three Black Crowned Night Herons in the tree, Blue-winged Teals, and Purple Martins at their house.

I believe the bird with the highest count seen at Bombay Hook were the Coots. Hubby and I were in disagreement over the count. I said there was close to a thousand Coots throughout the refuge and hubby had a lower count of 700-800. The other highest count birds were Dunlins and Sanderlings?  The Coots were in such large groups, I was never able to fit a group on one photo. We also saw some Yellowlegs and maybe Dowitchers. I am happy the shorebirds are arriving.

The Blue-winged teals were also plentiful at the refuge.

We saw lots of cute frogs too.

A few of the Black-Crowned Night herons look like they were napping. Their beaks are tucked into their chest. Do you see three of the Night herons? Their Black Crowns and white chest are pretty easy to see.

One of the activities they had on Saturday was a display of the wild birds of prey which are native or known to migrate thru this area.  Included were the Red-tailed hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Broad-winged hawk and a Red-Shoulder hawk.


The Wild birds of Prey program is a cool experience to see these beautiful bird up close and learn more about them. It is sad to learn each one had some kind of disability. The Red Shouldered Hawk was blind in one eye and the Merlin had a broken wing. The Red-tailed hawk was actually the western species and had a beautiful white chest which is different than the east species which has the dark belly band.

I thought the hawk in the back was beautiful and is the western version of the Red-tailed Hawk.

I hope you enjoyed my post and I appreciate the visits and the comments.

To see more wonderful mosaics, post  and photos click here Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday. 
Thank You to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy.

Birding Chincoteague

My post for Scenic Sunday


MY post on the Chincoteague ponies is here http://travelwitheileen.blogspot.com/2011/04/chincoteague-ponies.html
On both days during our visit to Chincoteague we hiked on the marsh trail. The 1/2 mile marsh trail is restricted to foot traffic only and offers excellant views of the freshwater ponds and habitat and has an elevated observation deck.

Cattle Egret

Green winged teal

I believe these are Dunlins but, I could be wrong. A lot of shorebirds look alike to me. I am still learning by looking at the beaks and leg colors to help iding these birds.

I liked watching the large group of Dunlins take off in flight only to land a short distance away.

By the elevated observation platfrom we saw large groups of Green Winged Teals and Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Black Ducks and Canada Geese.

There were also large groups of Northern Shovelers

There were many Tree Swallows flying about and around this birdhouse.

I hope you enjoyed my scenic view of Chincoteague, it is one of my favorite parks to visit. Please check out Scenic Sunday for more great photos.  Thanks to the host of Scenic Sunday and thanks for stopping by my post.

Chincoteague Sunrise

These are a couple of sunrise photos from Chincoteague Island. Hubby and I were two of just a few people on the beach watching the sunrise. I thought this sunrise was definitely worth us getting up early. I always enjoy watching the birds on the beach and was able to catch a few here there flying over the ocean while the sun was rising.

I saw a few shorebirds and a beautiful reflection on the pool next to the road.

To see more skies click here Skywatch Friday and thanks to the hosting team of Skywatch Friday.

And thank you for stopping by to see my skies and birds.

Delaware birding

Yesterday, hubby and I visited Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware. The shorebirds and warblers are all migrating and it is a great time to do some Delaware birding.


My mosaics are my entry for this weeks Mosaic Monday.  Thanks to Mary of Little Red house for hosting Mosaic Monday

In my mosaic are some photos and I included a list of some of the birds I was able to id.  The list for the day: Bald Eagles, Osprey, Mallard Ducks, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Black Crowned Night Herons, Short Billed Dowitchers, Redknots, Yellowlegs, Dunlins, Willets, Black necked Stilts, Glossy Ibis, Tree Swallows, Purple Martins,  Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Marsh Wren, Northern Flicker, Cormorants, Eastern Kingbirds, Redwing Blackbirds, TV Vultures and Crows.

Just of the couple of the Warblers I saw were the Common Yellowthroat and the Yellow Warbler.


Also my entry for this weeks  Mellow Yellow Monday  also thanks to Drowsey Monkey for hosting this fun yellow meme.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you enjoyed my post.