Saturday's Critters #232

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

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!

Back at home, we took a walk in a local park with my hubby and brother. We saw some awesome birds!
The American Bittern was one of the first birds we saw on the trail at North Point State Park in Baltimore County, Maryland.

One of the many Tree Swallows.

Great Blue Heron

Double-crested Cormorants on the Chesapeake Bay.

Bullfrog in the marshes

Osprey with a fish

How many snakes do you see? It is a warm sunny day so all the snakes, frogs and turtles were out enjoying the sunshine.

Slider turtle line-up

Below we saw the various stages of the Little Blue Heron, the all white juvenile, the mottled juvenile and the adult Little Blue.

The Little Blue Heron

We saw a couple of Bald Eagles too.

We enjoyed a walk on the Black Marsh Trail at the park, my brother joined us and probably took a thousand photos. I enjoy you all enjoy my birds and critter photos. 

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

Here is a list of my linky parties;

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

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Various Swallows

Hello,


I am sharing various swallows we saw while visiting Washington State and some other Swallows seen while on other trips. I have a mix of Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, an awful photo of the Violet-green Swallow, a distant look at Cave Swallows.  I am always working on getting what I think is a great shot of any bird I see. When it comes to a new bird, I will keep what I think is an awful photo just to record the time I actually saw my life bird.


Barn Swallows on their nest under the pier. The Barn Swallows have a steel blue upperpart and a rufous forehead, chin and throat.

Barn Swallow collecting mud for their nest. The building a cup nest from mud pellets.

Two Northern Rough-winged Swallows. These swallows are brown above and white underparts. Their throat is white with a brownish gray wash.

They usually nest near streams, we saw these birds next to the Hoh River in the Olympic National Park.

This swallow photo below  is not my best, I will still have to work on getting a better shot of the Violet-green Swallow. I was able to get an id confirmation with this photo and that is why I am keeping it for now.  This swallow has long pointed wings, has a glossy green color on top of it's head and white cheeks.

Below, a Tree Swallow sky. Swallows are fast flyers and it is very hard for me to get a clear shot and closeup of a moving swallow.

Tree swallow talk. These swallows have a iridescent blueish-green upper part and white underparts.

Below are the Cave Swallows seen as they excited the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. They nest in natural caves. They have grey-blue upperparts and brown-tangerine forefront. It is hard to see their colors in my photo.

Other swallows seen in my area are the Bank Swallow and the Cliff Swallows.

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

Saturday's Critters #178

Saturday's Critters #178

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

I may be away from my computer and internet for a bit. I will visit your blogs and comment as soon as possible.  

I am taking you back to the Circle B for some more bird sightings. The Wilson's Snipe could usually be found in a couple places off the trails. 

Two Wilson's Snipes in the morning light.

I could always get my fill of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks at the Circle B.

The Black Crowned Night Heron could be found in various spots along the trail too.

Looking up at the sky, it was filled with Tree Swallows. 

A Limpkin was sharing the trail with us. 

My You tube video of the Limpkin, their sounds are very loud and weird.

As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

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.

Eagle Sky

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  

I am sharing some scenes from a local birding outing..Lately hubby and I will visit the local spots during the week when it is less crowded.. These shots were taken on April 6th at the Swan Harbor Farms Park and at the Susquehanna River State Park. The main reason behind this visit was to see the Wilson's Snipe which is on my previous post..

Eagle sky....A look at Momma on the Eagle's Nest near the Susquehanna River..

An overview look at the Swan Harbor Farms.. a park the birders love to visit lately..It was a pretty sky and a lovely day to be out birding...we sat in the blind waiting for the King Rail to make an appearance.. We heard it calling a few times but it never came out in the open...  :(

The Wood Ducks were enjoying some large rain puddles..near the blind.

A barn/fence scene at the Swan Harbor Farms near Havre de Grace, Maryland..a local park..popular with the birders, fisherman and very popular for weddings..

The Tree Swallow sky.. the swallows have returned a nice sign of spring..

My Canon SX40 has great zoom...Momma eagle on nest.. Poppa was perched down below..and a beautiful blue sky.

See the brown clump in the treetop...A view of the distant eagle's nest from the road. BTW, we did not illegally park or tresspass on property..This is a great fence scene for Tex's Good Fences meme. The sky looks pretty too..for my Skywatch Friday shot..

For Skywatch..my moon shot taken on April 11th..BTW, this was taken with my Canon SX40..handheld and no extra lenses were needed..

John Lennon quote " Yeah we all shine on, like the moon and the stars, and the sun".

I hope you enjoyed this post of birds, fences and the sky.. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments..

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at 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..

Saturday Walk Part II

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences

This is part two of our Saturday walk, the first being our stop at the Yellow Crowned Night Heron rookery. We then drove to Cromwell Valley/Sherwood Farm park in Baltimore County. They have a nice loop trail that follows along a stream, fields and farm. A great habitat for the spring migrants and breeders!

I love this big old tree and the sky and clouds were beautiful, a perfect day for our walk.

Part of the loop trail was walking along the driveway for Sherwood Farms. The farm was acquired by Baltimore County with Program Open Space funds..A portion of the park is a demonstration farm. the park is 426 acres

We saw a lot of  Tree Swallows along the trail, mostly near the Bluebird houses. I hope the Bluebirds are not being pushed out of their homes.

My first of the season Palm Warbler, it posed nicely for a second..

We also saw the House Finches walking along the trail.

A shot of the farm and house way in the distance and a beautiful sky. This park is also a located for the hawk watch. I saw two hawks in flight during our walk, but my photos were blurry :(

More of the farm and I got some awesome shots of fences for Tex's Good Fences meme and a beautiful sky for my  Skywatch Friday post.

A beautiful Eastern Bluebird..

And just because I love taking photos of the moon, this shot was from the morning of April 16th 99% full.  Our skies were cloudy, rainy and snowy for the Lunar Eclipse. :(



I hope you enjoyed my post and I hope to see you on Saturday sharing your critters..

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check out Tex's Good Fences


Thanks to Tex @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday!   I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend.

Sunset over the lake

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Green Day

I have some various shots of the sunset from my backyard and some from our lake.

These are some of my hubby's favorites the reflection of the sunset on our lake.

Dear hubby also found this lovely wild lily? At least I believe it is a lily growing near the edge of the lake.

 I love this shot of the tree and the forest floor covered in pretty ferns.

 Some pretty ferns and colorful fungi growing off the fireroad.

We stopped along the fireroad to watch this group of tree swallows.

More pretty pink reflections on the lake.

Above is a shot of the sunset from my deck, the sky was colorful behind the trees.


To see more wonderful skies from around the world  Skywatch Friday and lovely greens please visit Green Day.
Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy the host of Skywatch Friday and to Fiona the host of Green Day.  Also, thank you for visiting my blog and post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.