Saturday's Critters # 556

 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!

1. June 11-12th, hubby and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Shenandoah National Park, we like the Skyline Drive, hiking on the Limberlost trail and stopping at all the overlooks and of course the trails at Big Meadows. Below are photos from Shenandoah, birds that were seen and wildflowers and scenic views. 

2. Below are the Eastern Towhee, a Veery and I am guessing the Eastern Wood-Pewee.

I've been using the Merlin Bird Id app on my phone while I am out hiking, below are two screen shots of the birds I could hear while hiking on the Limberlost Trail. 

The Eastern Towhees were heard and seen all along the trail. 

3. The Mountain Laurels were blooming beautifully along the Limberlost Trail.

4. The Mountain Laurel blooms were either white or a pretty pink color. 

5. Our walk on the trail at Big Meadows , we saw some butterflies and lots of wildflowers. 

My first of the year Monarch Butterfly sighting. 

The speed limit on the Skyline Drive is 35MPH  for a reason, the deer and any wildlife can be crossing the road just around one of my many curves. 

One of the many deer we saw during the two days we visited the park. 

6. Birds seen at the Big Meadows were the Song Sparrows and the Field Sparrows and near the parking lot were the Cedar Waxwings. 

7. Stopping at various overlooks at the scenic views of the Appalachian Mountains, the White-tailed Deer , wild Columbine and an Indigo Bunting. 

8. The Limberlost Trail has always been a favorite of mine, below it looks like I captured a young Brown Thrasher, we saw  family of Wild Turkeys close to the parking lot. 

Shenandoah National Park is one of my favorite parks to visit, it is nice to stay overnight and be able to visit later in the day and early in the morning.  I hope you enjoyed the photos. 

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday 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:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Saturday's Critters # 442

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!

1.  May 2nd,  hubby and I went birding and looking for wildflowers at the Susquehanna State Park. These images are from the picnic area and the pond. The Eastern Bluebirds were catching bugs in the grass, guessing at Rough-winged Swallows, Slider Turtles at the pond, Robins, Cardinal couple, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler and a Canada Geese family. 

2. May 2,  our timing was a little off for seeing more of the wildflowers along the Susquehanna River trail. We did see some of the Bluebells and the Trillium. Also seen at the Conowingo Dam area were the Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue heron with Eagle, Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Spotted Sandpiper. 

3. May 2nd  at the Susquehanna River below the dam, we could see lots of the Bald Eagles and the Great Blue Herons have a rookery in this spot too.

4. May 2nd , Susquehanna River below the dam is a little island in the middle of the river. That is where the Great Blue Heron rookery is located. 

5. May 3rd, our local walk to the lake with the dogs, hubby is ahead with me following along with Winnie the Corgi, unknown plant with flower, Canada Geese, Gray Catbird, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Solitary Sandpiper and Double-crested Cormorants on the lake.

Edit: thanks to both Sondra and Rose for the Mayapple plant id.

6. May 3rd, I saw a Black-throated Blue Warbler a few times near the lake. 

7. May 3rd, I am guessing this is a Solitary Sandpiper, seen along the George's Creek. 

8.  May 4th, a walk with the dogs on the local fire road, we saw a few Pink Lady Slippers starting to bloom. 

9. May 5th, George's Creek at Prettyboy Reservoir. We saw the White-eyed Vireo, Red-winged Blackbirds, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, various wildflowers, Slider Turtles, Yellow-rumped Warbler, view of the reservoir.

10.  May 6th, a rainy day and I was able to catch some birds just outside my windows.  The top two photos are the Veery , seen on the driveway. The Veery has returned to our forest, I love the sound they make. The bottom images are the Scarlet Tanager, it was seen in a pine tree in my back yard. 

A bonus this weekend, a photo of my grandchildren celebrating Memorial Day. 

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!

9th Blog Anniversary

Happy Thankful Thursday!

It is not only Thankful Thursday, but my 9th blog anniversary.  I started blogging July 13th 2009.
It has been great meeting bloggers both in person and virtually from around the world. A couple of bloggers  I have been able to meet in person,  Linda in Pennsylvania , her blog is  The Beauty Around Us and Mary in Kentucky and her blog is  Red Shouldered Hawks of Tingsgrove.  I may slow down occasionally but I could never stop blogging. I love  reading other blogs and  seeing photos from around the world. .

I am sharing some of my favorite images, hikes and birds from the past year.

July 2017, I am sharing a Veery off the local fire road near our home. 

Aug 9th 2017, we went on a hike to Maryland Heights overlooking Harper's Ferry. A hard hike but worth the view.

Sept 28th, a trip to Western Pennsylvania and  Erie Pa. We met blogger Linda at the  Kinzua Bridge State Park.

Oct 14th was my 200th  Saturday Critter party and post. A cute Field Sparrow seen at the Big Meadows Shenandoah Nat'l Park. I do not see the Field Sparrows often so this one was a treat.

From Nov 13 2017 a look at the moon from my sister's place in Ocean Isle Beach, NC

On Dec 4th 2017, I posted this cute Carolina Chickadee mid air. 

On Jan 4th I posted one of my favorite winter visitors the Pine Warbler.

Feb 18th, during my Great Backyard Bird Count I had a pair of Bluebirds checking out one of my birdhouses. 

March 2018, we visited Assateague Island National Seashore. Always wonderful to see the wild ponies. 

April 2018, Hubby and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Shenandoah NP. We stayed at the Skyland Resort. It was nice to be the later in the day to see the sunset.

May 2018,  We went on a road trip to Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. I met blogger Mary in Kentucky.

June 2018, I saw a Summer Tanager off the local fire road. 

I am thankful to meet some bloggers in person and all the bloggers from around the world I have met virtually thru the internet. 

I am thankful to go on our getaways and road trips.

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 

Thank you Michelle for hostingHappy Monday, enjoy your day and new week! Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Veery

Hello and happy Monday,

I am sharing the Veery, it is a breeder in the woods near our home in Maryland. They have a weird sound and call, I usually hear them more then see them. But on this day hubby and I were walking on the fire road and there were two calling and we had some great views.

The Veery is a small Thrush species. The adults have a light brown upperpart, underparts are white and the breast has faint brown spots.

It is one of my favorite local breeding birds and is always a treat to see.




My Youtube video




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

Shenandoah National Park

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   and NF Trees  They are all fun memes to participate in. I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

I am sharing some scenes from a daytrip to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Our outing included some hiking, birding and driving on the Skyline Drive.  We enjoy going in the spring time to see the young bears and the wildflowers and lots of birds of course.

My mosaic top row: all three are of the Chestnut-sided Warbler. The second row from the left is a Veery, deer and another Chestnut-sided Warbler. Bottom row is the Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting and another Scarlet Tanager.

The Scarlet Tanager was a common bird seen and heard on various trails.

Some more of the wildflowers seen on the Limberlost Trail.

The Chestnut-sided Warbler was see often along the Limberlost Trail.

Seeing a Black Bear along the Skyline Drive is always a treat to me. They have made a come back over the years even though the surrounding states all have bear hunts.

The Black Bears seem to be timid around people, I just hope they stay safe crossing the road.

For NF Trees I am sharing a view from the Appalachian trail. Hardwood forest dominate Shenandoah National Park. The haze in the sky is introduced by humans  and has taken over a lot of the views from the park's overlooks. The polluted air can mean the death of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I hope you enjoyed our daytrip to Shenandoah National Park.  Thanks for visiting and for 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 and NF Trees and Bushes.

 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 and to Monica for hosting NF Trees.

Shenandoah National Park

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

Happy Father's Day to all the father out there!

Last weekend, hubby and I went on a daytrip to Shenandoah Nat'l Park. We hiked on my favorite trail  called the Limberlost  trail.  We had awesome weather and saw great birds.. We also saw some deer, turkey and one black bear.. We took a picnic lunch and ate our lunch at the Big Meadows, always a pretty sight..

A view of the Shenandoah valley from the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

 

Birds above are the Veery, Chestnut- Sided Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Hooded Warbler, Eastern Towhee and a Cedar Waxwing

Some scenes from our hike on the Limberlost trail, the boardwalk, wildflowers, mushrooms and clovers.

The ferns were gorgeous next to this down tree, it is a pretty scene to me


Scenes from my favorite Limberlost trail in Shenandoah..an easy 1.3 loop trail with gorgeous flowers and greenery..

More from the trail, these low growing bushes seem to attract the warblers, pretty ferns and some wildflowers..

These clovers? grabbed my attention,  the shadows and lighting looked pretty to me.

The only sighting of a Black bear, it had just crossed the Skyline Drive and walked into the woods as we drove by.

Hubby and I had a great day, Shenandoah National Park is a wonderful place to visit..
Thanks for stopping by and for the 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 ahead!