Saturday's Critters #201

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters 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!

These are some birds and critters I have not shown,  seen during our Washington Trip in May. We stayed overnight in Ocean Shores and walked on a few of the local beaches. We saw some shorebirds like the Semipalmated Plover, Dunlins, lots of gulls and a hummer and possibly other shorebirds mixed in.

I believe these are the Semipalmated Plovers

A flock of Dunlin, see their black bellies.

Is this a Crow or Raven? My field guide says Raven's have thick bills. Do you think this bird's bill is thick?

Semipalmated Plover.

American Pipit seen on the coast, walking along side the sandy road to the beach.

Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird.  I am not an expert on any hummer except for my local Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This bird was seen flying around the nearby flowers and like to perch on this pine tree.

Sorry, for the picture quality, the bird was a distance away and it was a cloudy day.

Neighborhood deer, near the beach. I think this is a Black-tailed Deer.

There are way too many gull species for me to id, my guess a  Western Gull.

I am not sure if this is a big flock of Dunlins or mixed group of shorebirds. What is upsetting is seeing the cars driving on the beach where these birds were resting.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!

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!

Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

Hello and happy Thursday, 

Ruby Beach located on the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Olympic National Park. Hubby and I love the Pacific Northwest, the coastline in Washington state was one of our favorite places to visit. 

The view of Ruby Beach from the trail. 

A Chestnut-backed Chickadee seen off the trail.

A view of the beach, a lovely place for a walk during the low tides.

An arch in the sea stack.

A Wilson's Warbler was one of the common Warblers seen during our walks.

Not sure if this is a female Wilson's warbler or a Yellow Warbler, my field guide says the female Wilson's has the black cap but not as noticeable?

The Bald Eagle was another common bird seen along the Washington coast.

More coastline and sea stacks.

A look back at the ocean while walking back up the trail.

My thankful list for today:
How could I not be thankful for these beautiful blue skies and lovely views of the ocean. 

I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.

"I am awake, it is a beautiful day and I am thankful."

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Coupeville Washington

Hello, happy Thursday everyone!


I am sharing some more of my Washington State photos. On this day we stopped at the Fort Casey State Park to see the Admiralty Lighthouse. The lighthouse was cute, it seemed almost like a miniature home to me. It is also where I saw my lifer the California Quail. We also saw a few Golden-crowned Sparrows and a Spotted Towhee, lots of bunnies and a few deer.

The California Quail were camera shy so I had to stay a good distance so I would not spook them. Sorry for the photo quality.

You can just make out the Golden Crown on this Sparrows head.

The Spotted Towhee  looks like a colorful bird.

A pair of Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Some deer were walking around the park.

The bunnies were everywhere we walked in the park.

A view of the coastline from the top of the cliff.

After this park visit we headed to the Coupeville-Port Angeles ferry. I will post more on that part of the trip another time. The weather was not the greatest for our ferry ride on this day but the rain held off.

My thankful list for today:
I am thankful for the rain it is necessary, but I am also thankful for clear sunny days.
I am thankful for all the beautiful places to visit in the great USA.
I thank you for visiting and your comments.


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

Deception Pass State Park

Hello and happy Thursday!

I am sharing our visit to the Deception Pass State Park, The park is located on two islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey Island.  The Deception Pass Bridge connects the two islands. We bought the Discover Pass to cover all our visits to Washington State Parks. We visited the park twice during our stay in Anacortes Washington.

I am sharing various scenes from our hikes at the park, some fabulous views of the bridge from the beach below. Of course I have some birds seen along the way.

This pair of Bald of Eagles was seen from the parking lot at the trailhead.

A view of the bridge and sky from the beach.

A couple of Common Loons.

A couple of Pigeon Guillemots.

A juvenile Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey.

Pretty shiny colors on this Cormorant.

Hubby and I celebrated our 27th anniversary while we were in Washington State

Some driftwood and another look at the Deception Pass bridge.

A few Western Grebes.

This pretty Anna's Hummingbird was seen in Anacortes.

"Be thankful for every new day."

For my list of thankful things this week:
I am thankful for my hubby and all the wonderful and fun times we have had together.
I am thankful for all my experiences while traveling.
I am always thankful for my blog visitors and the wonderful comments.

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

Saturday's Critters # 183

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!

If you love critters 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!

Another common bird we saw in Washington State is the Stellar's Jay. I think they are beautiful. These images were on a day we transferred from the Mt Rainier Park area to Anacortes, Washington.

This shop called Recycled Spirits of Iron off on Rt 706 in Ashford Washington. The iron sculptures are huge, there were  horses, a giraffe, rooster and eagle. The sculptures were all very cool. I took these photos from the road and our car. 

A larger image of the iron sculpted giraffe.

On our drive to Anacortes we stopped at the park below called Bay View State Park on the Padilla Bay. I was amazed at how many Great Blue Herons were seen hanging out in the bay. The tide must have been low at this time.  The photo below looks better after you click for a larger image. 

I believe these are Western Grebe's below, if I am wrong please let me know.

For Tom's party ...a barn across the bay.
Tom's The Barn Collective  Thanks to Tom for hosting.

My Linky
I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!

Here is a list of my linky parties;
Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Tom's The Barn Collective  Thanks to Tom for hosting.


Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Olympic Nat'l Park

 From now on to save time I am doing one post for all. I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week. 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. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.


On the first morning of our Washington trip I stepped out of our hotel room and looked up to a clear sky and a pretty view of the moon. My previous post on the Dungeness Spit was on the afternoon of this same day. With this post, I am going backwards on this day. After hearing so much about dreary weather conditions in this area I was ecstatic to have a first full day of clear skies and pretty weather. On this morning we drove back to the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic Nat'l Park and one of hubby's favorite places in park. His favorite spot as of this day!

A lovely shot of the moon on the first morning of our trip. It was awesome to see the clear skies.

A view of the visitor center and the glacier or snow topped mountains in the distance.

Above some of the scenes from the Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Nat'l Park.

I think I see some tracks in the snow/glacier at the top of the mountains. The tracks could be from humans or the mountain goats?

For NF Trees I am sharing the birds were decorating the pines and fir trees at the ridge. Above top row, a Raven or is it the Crow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, American Robins. Bottom Row is the Golden Crowned Kinglet, and the Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

The Golden-crowned Sparrow was seen outside the visitor center at Hurricane Ridge.

We saw 5 or maybe 6 Blue Grouse, they may also be known as the Sooty Grouse crossing the road on the way to the Hurricane Ridge.

I had to stop the car to let the Grouse finish crossing the road. There were 3 in the middle of the road and two or three already in the grasses on the side of the road. A cool sighting, but it was not my first time seeing these birds. Since we were the only people and car around we enjoyed the sighting and let the birds calmly walk across the road. They did not seem to be in a hurry.

Hubby and I hiked on the trail to Sunrise Point.

Another shadow shot of hubby and I.  Hubby is waving hello to you all.
The views were fabulous! I hope you enjoyed our visit to Hurricane Ridge and the park. I will have more photos and post to share on other parts of the Olympic National Park.  Always I appreciate you visits and nice comments. Thank you! Have  a happy day and new week ahead!

And special thanks to Donna for sending me the Obedient Plants and for sweet hubby doing the planting.


Thanks for visiting my post and as always I appreciate your comments.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday

Thanks to Mersad for hosting Through My Lens.

Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to Sue for hosting Wordless Wednesday

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday