Sandwich Tern

Happy Monday everyone!

Terns, Terns and more Terns. There are 15 various Terns listed in my field guide book for North America. But, on this post I am only sharing the Sandwich Tern. My first sighting of the Sandwich Tern was at Chincoteague. I was happy to see the Sandwich Tern again while In Florida near Daytona Beach. These photos were taken just south of Daytona Beach at the Ponce Inlet and Lighthouse Point Park.


You can't miss the Sandwich Tern with it's sharp black bill with a yellow tip. It is small to medium sized seabird and gull like in appearance. They have long pointed wings, grey above and white below. and legs are black.

They have a shaggy black crest. The Tern plunges and dives for their food.

Below two Sandwich Terns and bottom right I believe is the Royal Tern with the orange bill.

Just to show an assortment below is a gull, a few Royal Terns and one Sandwich Tern in the middle.

Closer look at the bill of the Royal Tern compared to the bill of the Sandwich Tern.

I hope you enjoyed my photos and post.
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 Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

South of Daytona Beach, Florida

Hello and happy Thursday!

Would you believe these images are from Jan 18th, that is where I left off sharing my Florida photos. On this weekend we went on an overnight to the Flagler Beach area and visited Daytona Beach the next day, we stopped at various beaches along the coast. Daytona is just a little further south down the road  and along the Atlantic coast. We like the uncrowded area of the Ponce De Leon lighthouse and the Lighthouse Point Park located at New Smyrna Beach Florida.

Terns and a gull. There is one Sandwich Tern in the group below. It has the black bill with a yellow tip.

Osprey with fish

Shadow shot of me and hubby!

An Egret was hanging near a fisherman on the jetty.

Surfers at Daytona Beach

A look back at the Pone De Leon Lighthouse from the jetty. I do not really like beaches that allow the cars to drive on them. I worry about the birds and their nests in the breeding season. Daytona allows  cars to drive on the beach.

For my list of thankful things this week:
I am thankful for pretty beaches. It was great to see so many Florida beaches are clean and do not have litter and trash thrown around.
I am thankful for the time we had sightseeing in Florida. I am also thankful my hubby and I share the love of nature and the outdoors.
As always, I am thankful for your visits and comments on my blog.





I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.  Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Honeymoon Island Beach State Park

Hello,

On Nov 21st hubby and I visited the Honeymoon Island Beach State Park, Dunedin Florida located on the Gulf of Mexico.  They had a beautiful white sandy beach, lots of pretty seashells and of course lots of birds.

A closeup of the Terns.

A pretty sky and white sandy beach.

A Great Blue Heron in the surf.

A large flock of Terns and some gulls.

The beautiful beach, sky and Gulf of Mexico.

Jellyfish and seashells.

Brown Pelican

An Osprey

A Gopher Tortoise

My list of things I am thankful for:

For all the blogs I read and follow.
I am thankful for small acts of kindness.
I am thankful for you here reading my blog.

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thank you for your visit and comments on my post. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Thanks to Michelle for the meme Thankful Thursday

I am also linking up to Skywatch Friday, I hope to see you there.
Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Saturday's Critters #87

Saturday's Critters #87

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.

These images and critters are from our overnight visit to the Jersey shores early in July. We visited the Edwin Forsythe NWR near Atlantic City after leaving Cape May.

Above I believe is a Clapper Rail chick and an adult Clapper Rail bottom right. Hubby and I have been lucky with Rail sightings off of the wildlife drive at Edwin Forsythe NWR.

Ospreys on nest with Atlantic City's casinos in the background.

These are the Diamondback Terrapin Turtles, they can be seen at the refuge on the road so watch out.

Above are the Black Skimmers and some Terns and maybe a Willet on the left. I hope you enjoyed my critter post and images. As always, thank you for visiting and for the comments.

An InLinkz Link-up

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.

Ocean City-Assateague Part 2

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 more from our May trip to Ocean City, Maryland and Assateague Island.

We started our morning with the sunrise from the beach in front of our hotel.

The full moon will be setting, seen from the beach. It was a pretty colored moon.

Beach fence is buried under the sand. As you can see we had the beach to ourselves.

Assateague boardwalk and trail. For Tex's Good Fences, I hope the shot above counts as my fence entry.

I am not positive but I think above are the Royal Terns. I was also thinking they could be the Caspian Terns, but my field guide shows a bit of black on the Caspian bill. One Tern on the left side has a thinner bill.

The trail with a view of the sky and way in the distance is one of the Assateague wild ponies.

A closer view of the pony. On this Anniversary trip we saw the Chincoteague wild ponies and the Assateague wild ponies.

A Green Heron seen at Assateague Island.

We walked on a few trails that included a boardwalk. I like this view of the trail, sky and tree.

Some of the Assateague Island birds we saw on the trail and in the forest. Large image is the egrets, top right is the Tricolored Heron, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Willet, and bottom left is a Eastern Towhee we saw in the woods.  I hope you enjoyed my post and images. And as always thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. Have a happy weekend!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for Fences from around the world check out 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.  

Bombay Hook NWR

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday .

August 4, 2013

I am sharing some of the birds and scenes from our Friday visit to Bombay Hook NWR . I had an extra day off work and hubby and I decided on a daytrip to the wildlife refuge. The weather was perfect, sunny and the humidity was gone.

Above the Great Blue Herons and also nearby the Least Bittern.Swallowtail butterflies and wild pink hibiscus.

More scenes from Bombay Hook wildlife refuge..the Egret trees, wild white hibiscus, juvenile Terns, American Avocets, Great Egret and a Glossy Ibis.

The Green Heron is one of my favorite herons, so I was really happy to watching this one catch his lunch. Visiting the national wildlife refuges and the national parks is something hubby and I love to do. And Bombay Hook NWR is what I call a half tank away and one of my favorite places to visit.

 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!

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!