Saturday's Critters # 486

 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!

Happy Easter!  🐇🐰🥚

March 8th, hubby and I went on a boat tour to the Marietas Islands.  We saw so many wonderful sights on this tour I am breaking up the trip into two posts. The photos were from two docks, we were first on the boat at the Nuevo Vallarta Marina, then we picked up more people at the Puerto Vallarta dock. We had a great sightings of the whales and birds in flight on our way to the Marietas Islands. 

1. In the mosaic below are photos of the dock, a Magnificent Frigatebird, Pirate Ship and Cruise ships both at the dock, lots of Terns, Gulls and Brown Pelicans. 

Click on images for better viewing.

2. Magnificent Frigatebird perched on top of a boat. 

3.   At the Puerto Vallarta docks, I saw the Terns. I saw on ebird that both the Royal Tern and the Elegant Terns are seen at the Puerto Vallarta cruise port.  For some reason they all look similar to me, I do see some that have a lighter color gray. 

4. Laughing Gull, Brown Pelican and Terns. 

5. I am a little obsessed with Terns. Are they Royal Terns or Elegant Terns, or a mix of both? I am pretty sure they are not Caspian Terns, which are larger in size with a thicker heavy bill. 

6.   Some views of the whales sighted on the way out to the Marietas Island in the Bay of Banderas. 

7. I went from looking at the whales to looking up in the sky at the Blue-footed Boobies. These birds seem to be attracted to the water around the boat, they would dive into the water right next to the boat.  

8. It was fun watching these birds flying low over our boat. 

9. Which way to look, up or down. Of course, I was looking up at the Blue-footed Boobies. 

"Inside us all patiently waiting, sits a tiny little adventurous bird."

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. 

Saturday's Critters # 404

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!

I am continuing our little getaway on Aug 2-3rd, after leaving Bombay Hook NWR we drove to Blackwater NWR in Cambridge Md. We arrived in Blackwater NWR a little later in the day so we drove the wildlife drive once and had a quick early dinner at a local BBQ joint and then headed to our hotel for the night in Easton Md.

1. Various scenes from Blackwater NWR. The Blackwater River wetlands, trail walk, Osprey, Great Egret, Terns and a Great Blue Heron.

2. A scenic view of Blackwater NWR.

3. Ospreys on nest, one adult and two juveniles.

4. 2 juvenile and one adult Osprey on nest. One of the young osprey looked like it was talking to it's sibling. Maybe a meal was not being shared. 

5. Below are a group of terns, a little far away for a good photo.  I am going back and forth, are they Common Terns or the Forster's Terns.

6. A Great Blue Heron adjusting it's feathers. 

This is one of my shorter post with less photos. I will do another post on Blackwater at another time.  

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!

Here is my linky:

YOU are all # 1.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.

"Be Nice, judge less and love more."

Our World, My World

Happy Monday,  

In early October hubby and I were able to getaway to Chincoteague Island  Virginia.  We were still wearing our mask and keeping our distance and trying to stay safe and healthy.  A great deal of time we were either in our car or enjoying the outdoors.   We enjoyed the change of scenery with walks on the beach, seeing the wild ponies, lots of shore birds, fresh air and the sounds of the ocean. 

 1. Photos below of our walk on the beach, near Tom's Cove, there was a huge flock of terns mixed with gulls, cormorants and the Sanderlings were seen on the beach. 

 

2. Me and my shadow, walking on the beach at Chincoteague.

 

3.  The Chincoteague ponies were a distance away, some were seen in the corral. The wild ponies were being rounded up for a fall health check up. 

 

4. Some ponies were already in the corral, waiting for their health check up. 

 

5. Snowy Egrets, DC Cormorants, Great Egrets and White Ibis were plentiful, seen all around the Chincoteague NWR.

 

 

6. Lots of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons and White Ibis.
 

 7.  Social distancing at the Chincoteague Island beach, also known as Assateaugue Island National Seashore. 

I'll have more to share on our visit to Chincoteague Island and the National Wildlife Refuge and National Seashore.

We are still 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!

 

 

 

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Hello, Happy Monday! 


Can you believe it is August already? The summer days are flying by. During our recent road trip to Maryland's Eastern shore we made a quick visit to the Blackwater Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. Cambridge Maryland is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from home and we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge almost at the half way point. 

On the road heading toward Blackwater NWR we passed this field of sunflowers. The farm has a stand selling veggies and fruits. They also had a field where you could pick your own blackberries.

The Blackwater NWR wildlife drive is 4 miles long, it has various spaces to pull over and watch the birds and wildlife. Blackwater NWR is designated as an Important Bird Area. 

One of the first birds I saw heading toward the wildlife and refuge was this Red-headed Woodpecker. 

The Osprey nest can be seen from our car. There are 2 juveniles along with the 2 adult ospreys on this nest. 

A view of the Blackwater wetlands, there are terns perched on this posts. See if you can find a turtle toward the middle center of the photo. 

This is a closer look at the turtle. It is big, we saw 5-6 turtles in this area. 

Great Blue Heron

We sat in our car and watched this family of Bald Eagles together. The juvenile looked like it was throwing a fit over missing the meal. 

Pretty view of the wetland and sky. 

"Kindness is choosing love over hate, light over darkness, compassion over judgement."

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!

Pompano Beach Florida

Hello and happy Monday! 

During our visit to Florida we made a quickie visit to Pompano Beach Florida. This is a busy city and is located just north of Ft. Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. My main reasons or goal for visiting Pompano beach was to see the parakeets that were being seen near the beach and Pompano Pier and to see the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse. 

I was lucky to get a metered spot right in front of the beach and so lucky my parking spot was right in front of the tree were the Blue-crowned Parakeets were being seen. As soon as I got out of our car I could hear the noisy parakeets. There may have been 15-20 of the pretty parakeets in the one tree. These Blue-crowned parakeets are my newest lifer. 

Photos in the mosaic, I was able to zoom in on the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse. Black Skimmer were on the Pompano Beach along with some pretty Terns. The beach and water had this ugly red seaweed, it did not look like the usual sea weed I am used to seeing. 

Below is my parakeet tree, the parakeets almost blended in with the green leaves. 

I didn't count them but there were maybe 30 or more Black Skimmers on the beach and with some Terns and Gulls. 

A closer look at the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, there was a helicopter flying by when I took the photo from the Pompano beach. Lighthouse tours are offered only once a month and it includes a boat ride to the island where the lighthouse is located. 

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.


Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

I hope to see you there. Thanks to the hosts today. Enjoy your day and new week.


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

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,

I am linking up with Lydia of Where the Wild Things Were and the Favorite Fotos linky.

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.