Birding Poplar Island, Md

I am linking my post  up with  Scenic Sunday and   Mosaic Monday and That's My World

I read on Dina's blog about the loss of Klaus, he was a great bird and nature photographer and very much respected. Klaus will be dearly missed.. I was always amazed at his photos.

My prayers go out to Klaus's family and friends.

On Friday my bird club had an outing to Poplar Island, Maryland an island located in the Chesapeake Bay. Tours of Poplar Island are given by MES ( Maryland Environmenal Services) reservations have to be made in advance by our bird club or by any group that would like to tour the island. We were met at the Tilghman Island dock by the MES boat and staff. After a 20 minute boat ride a staff person also drove our tour bus around Poplar island, stopping at various places so we could see the birds. I want to say KUDOS to the MES gals and guys that run these trips and to all the organizations are are helping to rebuild Poplar Island.

In earlier days the island once supported a small town, post office, cattle, sawmill and a school. Two US Presidents Roosevelt and Truman used the island as a hunting and a vacation retreat. By 1990 erosion had cut Poplar Island into three sections each around 10 acres. Today, Poplar Island is growing from a group effort and combined efforts of the Port of Baltimore, Army Corps of Engineers and the MES. Their reconstruction and restoration project is using dredged material from Maryland and Baltimore shipping channels. Construction started in 1998 and is suppose to continue thru 2020. During our tour we could see the bulldozers hard at work at the various wetland cells and the upland cells. When the island is completed it will be divided between tidal marsh and upland and will provide habitat for migratory and the resident wildlife. There is an ongoing school Terrapin Connection project for the nesting Diamondback Terrapins. I was able to see the baby terrapins that will soon be going to various schools where school children will be collecting data and taking care of the hatchlings until their release back on the Poplar Island beaches in May or June.  

Wildlife is already claiming Poplar Island as their home, we saw numerous Osprey, Eagles, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Terns, GB Herons,  Avocets, Black Necked Stilts, Black Bellied Plover, various species of Sandpipers, Yellowlegs, Killdeer, various species of Seagulls, many DC Cormorants, Barn and Bank Swallows and lots of Mallard ducks, Redwing Blackbirds, Cowbirds and some Black Ducks. The Diamondback Terrapins are already successfully nesting on the island.

I was able to see two new lifers, one was a Virginia rail and its chicks and the other was the Hudsonian Godwit. The Godwit was too far away but I did get a couple of rail photos. The chicks were too fast but they were cute.

The finished island project is suppose to include boat docking facilities, information kiosks, self guided nature trails and boardwalks, avain observation areas, picnic area and other resting and viewing areas. It sounds great and I am already hoping to go on another one of my bird club's outings to Poplar Island. 

While we were on the island, it looked like a sailboat race was happening on the Chespaeake Bay.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos please visit The Holley's at Scenic Sunday and Mary's Mosaic Monday and That's My World.  Thanks to the Holleys of Scenic Sunday, Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and thanks to the hosting group of That's My World: Sylvia, Wren, Sandy.

 

Thank you for visiting my post this week, I hope you enjoyed my visit to Poplar Island. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Happy Birding!!!!

Backyard blooms and birds

I am linking up my post with Mosaic Monday  and  That's My World.  These are some of the flowers blooming in my yard right now and a couple of my yardbirds...the Mourning Dove and the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Most of our flowers were planted with the hopes of attracting more wildlife like the  birds and butterflies to our yard.

Below,  butterfly bushes, crepe myrtle, trumpet vine and a Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

The Mourning Dove is another year round bird and a regular visitor to my yard. They spook easily and sometimes it is hard to get a good photo of them.

Below, Purple coneflowers and Maryland's state flower the Black Eyed Susan and my sweet looking Mourning Dove.

Black  Eyed Susan's, Maryland State flower.

Over the years hubby has planted many flowers, he has the green thumb and I just help to choose plants and bushes with the wildlife in mind. The butterfly bushes attract the butterflies and the trumpet vine is a favorite of the hummingbirds.

I just love to see the hummingbirds in my yard, this male like to take control of all my feeders and the flowers.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and That's My World.. Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and to the gang at That's My World: Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Klaus.  Also, thanks for stopping by my post and blog. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and try to stay cool during these HOT days.

Birding & Hiking Catoctin National Park

With this post I am linking up with That's My World and World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

This past Sunday, hubby and I hiked the 3 mile roundtrip trail to Chimney and Wolf Rocks in Catoctin National Park here in Maryland. The first bird I sighted was the Wood Thrush ...right on the trail in front of us as we started up the trail to the Chimney Rock formations.

The Wood Thrush  is a breeder in the eastern US and is found in mature deciduous forest. It populations have undergone a decline in recent decades for unknown reasons. A guess on my part for their decline would be the loss of forest and clear cutting. After all the forest is their habitat and home. The Wood Thrush is reported to have one of the most beautiful songs of all the North American birds. It was wonderful to hear them while we were walking along the trail.

The Chimney Rock formations offer some great views of the mountains.

The Eastern Wood Pewee was another bird I heard along the trail to the Chimney and Wolf Rocks.  Along with the Wood Thrush, this Wood Pewee was another bird we enjoyed hearing as we hiked along the trail. They have a cute sound  "pee-ah-wee"   sounds almost like their name.

After stopping at Chimney Rocks we continued on the the Wolf Rock formations.

It was at the Wolf Rock that I noticed these five-lined skinks together. They had a  tail area was a pretty blue.

Here is a list of the birds I saw during my hike at Catoctin National Park: Wood Thrush, Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red Eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, Pileated Woodpeckers, Ovenbirds, Chickadees, Bluejays and Crows.

Thanks for stopping by to see my post and I hope you visit both That's My World and   World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.  Thanks to the hosting group: Sylvia, Wren, Sandy , Fishing Guy and Klaus of That's My World and thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle of Nature Notes.

I hope everyone has a great week :)

Birding and Hiking the Gunpowder River

A post for my Mosaic Monday and That's My World and a link to my you tube Mountain laurels along the trail

This week hubby and I hiked down the trail to the Gunpowder River to see the mountain laurels in bloom. The trail along the river has an amazing amount of white and pink  mountain laurels blooming. The weather was great for hiking and we sat and watched some kayakers playing around in the white water area of the river. It is also a river popular with the trout fishermen and people tubing.

I was also able to check out the birds along the river. I saw a beautiful Scarlet Tanager high in the tree tops. Acadian Flycatchers were all around and I am pretty sure I heard a Prothonotary Warbler.  One of the birds that popped up close to me was the Louisiana Waterthrush. This bird likes to nest in woodlands near rivers or fast moving streams. As you can see it has pinkish legs and a wide white supercilium. Which to me looks just like an eyebrow.

Goldie Girl got to play in the river and cool off.

The mountain laurel was blooming beautifully, I really loved the pink ones.

To see more great photos and mosaics please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday  and That's My World  thanks to Mary of Little Red House and to the group of hosts at That's My World : Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Klaus.

Also thanks for visiting my post and I wish everyone a great week.

Birding Chincoteague Part II

Hi, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday. I can not believe how fast the weekend goes, just flies by.


Birding Chincoteague for Mosaic Monday  and That's My World I created my mosaics with photos of the various birds and scenes from Chincoteague Island Virginia. The national seashore and refuge is one of my favorite places for birding. Hubby and I try to take an annual overnight trip to celebrate our 21st anniversary. This was an early celebration, our anniversary is May 4. The shorebirds, waders, and ducks were abundant and always a great sight for me to see.

Birds seen in this mosaic are Sanderlings, Merganser, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Egrets and on the bottom row are Dunlins.

In this mosaic birds seen are the Cattle Egret, Tree Swallows, Great Egrets, Northern Shovelers, and bottom corner is the American Oystercatcher.

I hope you enjoyed my birding at Chincoteague and to see more mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and for more photos from around the world visit That's My World

Thanks to Mary of Little Red House for hosting Mosaic Monday and to the gang of That's My World : Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Klaus.

I appreciate you stopping by to see my post, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Earth Week and Earth Day April 22, 2011

I am linking my Earth Day post up to various blogs.  Please try visit Scenic Sunday and Mosaic Monday  and  That's My World

What are you doing on April 22, 2011? It is EARTH DAY!  I visited various websites that have wonderful suggestions on what you can do on Earth Day. The Nature Conservancy suggest going on a picnic that includes 5 easy choices:  eat smart, eat local, eat sustainably, eat green and eat out. A picnic on Earth Day sounds like a great idea to me.


This is the reservoir just  a walk away from my house and a great place to have a picnic.




My mosiac photos are of a Purple Finch in my backyard habitat, visit a National Wildlife Refuge like Chincoteague NWR, the Bald Eagles have made a huge comeback after the banning of DDT, plant some trees, find a nice place to have a picnic, cleanup a stream or river.

The Nature Conservancy also helping Fernando Veiga to plant one billion trees in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.. One dollar plants one tree. Click on the link to donate a dollar.



                            I say plant a tree and stop the deforestation!!!!!!!

According to the WWF website the United Nations have declared 2011 the International year of the forest . WWF plans to work to increase and strengthen the protection of the worlds forest.



Here is a link to help protect your watersheds Adopt your watershed.  Stream cleanup sounds like a great idea, you get to be outside enjoying the sunshine and if you like to bird you might see some great bird sightings. 2011 marks the 20th  anniversary of National River Cleanup. My hubby will take a trash bag along on his walks to clean up the areas he likes to hike.

The Wilderness Society has some great suggestions too, volunteering on trail maintenance or leading wildlife tours in the refuges. Monitoring wildlife is one of my favorites and eBird makes it easy to record your bird count. Most of my ebird counts have been from my backyard and the reservoir's watershed around my house.


The National Wildlife Federation Certified Backyard habitat  is a website were you can learn how to make your backyard into a wildlife habitat. My yard was certified years ago, it is easy to provide food, water, shelter and a place for the birds to raise their families. My pond attracts frogs, birds dragonflies and other critters.

We planted various berry bushes and some nature provided like in my mosiac below. The birds just love these berries. I have a heated birdbath and a pond that provides water for the birds and wildlife. Trees, bushes, the wood pile and brush piles provide shelter for the birds and critters. I also provided houses for the birds, I see Bluebirds, Chickadees and wrens all using my housing.

                                 The Purple Finch is just one of the many yardbirds that visit my backyard  habitiat.




How about Pick 5 for the Environment here you are given many choices to pick from, simple easy ways to take action. Some actions that I like are protecting your water from pesticides, planting a trees or many trees, learning about the native species in your area and recycling is probably one of the easiest things my family does and last but not least please do not litter. Collecting rain water is another great idea.







I also would like to link Linda Lear's website  in memory of Rachel Carson a scientist and an ecologist with my Earth Day post.  Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring " spurred a reversal in the national pesticide policy. The book led to a ban on DDT. Thanks to the ban we are enjoying an increase in the population of Bald Eagles. Pesticides have a negative impact on our health and environment. Rachel Carson has some award winning books The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea and here is a a link to a few of her ebooks.  We live in an area with only well water so pesticides are a no-no. There are various types of organic fertilizers that can be used safely.







I feel Earth Day should be recognized by all and hopefully some of you will do one action or more I listed above. Even if it is just one action it could make a difference.

Thanks to all the hosts of the meme's I listed above and thanks for stopping by my post. Have a great Earth Week and Earth Day.

My yardbirds and a walk

I am linking up this post with  Mary's Mosaic Monday and  That's My World  it is of my recent yardbirds and a walk today along the fireroad to the lake.

It is Spring at least on the calendar, I am not sure if my yardbirds know it though. I am still seeing my winter birds and I am on the watch for any sign of my summer, migrants or my breeding birds. Some winter birds still here are the Juncos, White throated Sparrows and Pine Siskins and the Fox Sparrow.


Pictured in my yardbird mosaic are the male Pine Warlber, Junco, Bluejay, Chickadee, female Cardinal and a Fox Sparrow.

After watching my yardbirds in the early morning hubby and I drove around the lake for a walk on another fireroad. It was a pretty day with a beautiful blue sky but very cold temps were in the high 30's. Nice day for a brisk walk and I wanted to see a different part of the lake then the usual part we just walk to. Goldie Girl enjoys a car ride and the walking. I was happy to see my first of the year Eastern Phoebe.

I was hoping the fireroad would take us all the way to the lake but, the trail down to the lake was rocky and steep. I decided to let hubby and Goldie Girl take the small trail down to the lake edge. I stayed at the top and took a shot of the lake from the fireroad. Below is Goldie Girl huffing and puffing back up the steep hill.

Please join in and visit Mosaic Monday and That's My World.  Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the gang at That's My World.

Also, thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Walk to the lake

I am linking up  with That's My World  and Watery Wednesday . These are some photos from yesterday's walk with my hubby to the nearby lake and some from my backyard. The lake has a thin layer of ice and is starting to melt quickly now.

These are some shots of Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures flying around my yard and a pretty Pine Warbler and a gorgeous sunset to end the day.

I hope you enjoyed my photos please visit that's My World and Watery Wednesday.  Thanks for stopping by and thanks to the great host of the two memes.