Lovers Key State Park

Hello, Happy Thursday!

On this day hubby and I visited the Lovers Key State Park near Fort Myers beach. We had a beautiful day for a walk on the beach and on the trail. It is a lovely park.

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin

The trail to the beach, pretty sky and a lovely day for the beach.

Our shadow shot on the Lovers Key beach.

A gull and possible Willets.

A Magnificent Frigatebird. Sorry, it is not the best photo but so far it was the only Frigatebird I have seen. 

A Gopher Tortoise

We enjoyed the trail at Lovers Key State Park, the mangroves and birds, fish jumping out of the water and even a Manatee sighting.

An Osprey on it's nest seen from the trail.

"If people were superior to animals, they'd take better care of the world." Benjamin Hoff



My list of thankful things:
I am thankful for all the great park land and beaches in Florida.
I am thankful for all the wildlife and their natural habitats.
I am thankful for the kind people who protect what they love.


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.

Chincoteague Again

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

I am looking forward to seeing your skies from around the world, I hope you are all joining the Skywatch and join in with NF Winged and share your winged creatures.


I wanted to share more from my Chincoteague Island and wildlife refuge visit. After spending the night we drove up to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was another beautiful morning! A little fog around but it was quickly burnt off once the sun had risen.

A group of Willets along with some Egrets in the early morning fog

We saw some beautiful skies and birds at Chincoteague NWR, perfect for my Skywatch and NF Winged post.

I like the Egret reflections on this shot.

A flock of Black Skimmers in flight.

Above Snowy Egrets with their dark bills and legs with a couple of juvenile Glossy Ibis.

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

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

More from Chincoteague NWR

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

 Wow, the week is flying by and it is time to look for birds, watch the sunset and see the moon rise. I am looking forward to seeing your skies from around the world, I hope you are all joining the Skywatch.

 These are more photos from our weekend away to Chincoteague Island, Virginia. We spent time birdwatching, hanging out on the beach watching the dolphins, we saw a gorgeous sunset and a lovely moon rising over the ocean.

 We ate our lunch on the beach and it seem like we were going to be surrounded by the gulls.

I loved catching these Black Skimmers flying by, the Willets stayed in place.

 The sun was beginning to set during this shot which made the grasses look especially pretty glowing from the sunlight.

 The sunset at Tom's Cove

 I like to try to include a bird in flight when I zoom into the setting sun. This photo is not perfect, but I like the wavy clouds in front of the sun, the bird in flight and the colors. After watching the sunset at Tom's Cove, we headed over to the beach to watch the moon rise over the ocean.

This shot actually looks lighter on the beach than it actually was, I used my flash, it is not the best of photos. But, I wanted to show this big and colorful moon.

 What a pretty sight and we were so happy we decided to stay for the moon rise. This full moon on Sept 19 was the Harvest moon, this moon shot is actually two days later .

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

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

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Chincoteague Island

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

September 22, 2013

I took off work on Friday so hubby and I could enjoy an overnight trip to Chincoteague Island, Virginia. Chincoteague is one of my favorite places to visit. My excitement started as I was seeing some cool birds along our drive on the eastern shore of Maryland. There were a few hawks along the highway, gulls flying along side the car while driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, awesome sighting of a Great Horned Owl on an electric pole, a kingfisher perched on a wire, cattle egrets seen on a cattle farm near Pocomoke City.

During our stay at Chincoteague Island we enjoyed the gorgeous weather, beach, birds, ponies and pretty scenery.

Above are the Black Skimmers, a Little Blue Heron, Egrets and the Chincoteague Lighthouse.

The boardwalk at Tom's Cove, surfer, Chincoteague ponies and the pretty beach.  We had cool sightings of dolphins swimming by and playing around in and jumping out the waves.

More Skimmers, Godwit, Terns and some Willets and along the side in the photo is a Little Blue, Snowy Egret and a Tricolored heron and the bottom is a Green Heron.

On a later post I will share my two lifers...the rare sighting of a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Sandwich Tern. The birding was awesome. I enjoyed seeing all the shorebirds.

Spending the one night we were able to watch the sunset, the moon rise above the ocean and see a beautiful sunrise.  After watching the sunrise we checked out some more of the shorebirds as we headed back to our hotel for breakfast. Not ready to go home we hung around the Chincoteague NWR. We took a walk on the woodland trail and did one last stop to check out the Tom's Cove area which was were I spotted my lifers. I will post about my Chincoteague lifers on another post. Even on the drive home, I was able to watch an eagle lift off the Nanticoke River and fly next to our car for awhile as I drove over the bridge. I had a great weekend, how was your weekend?

As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your 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!

SWF>>>>Playa Blanca, Panama

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday.  It is amazing how fast these Fridays roll around. I am not complaining I love the weekends. It is a special Friday for me, my 55th birthday. WOW 55, where did all those years go?  Next week on the 7th my son will be 19 years old and my dear hubby will be 55 on the 10th. Happy Birthday to my son and hubby!

I have some shots of the sunrise at the beach at the Playa Blanca resort in Panama.

It was cool to see the sunrise on the Pacific, usually you would see a sunset on the Pacific.

Just like the beach at home, we saw Willets and Sanderlings, Pelicans and some Magnificent Frigatebirds. The sun is starting to reflect on the water and beach.

And in the distance there was an Egret.

A threatening sky did not keep the fishing boats from going out early in the morning.

You can not see them in my photos but while we were on the beach there was a steady stream of swallows flying by. I believe they were different kinds, tree, barn and others. Most likely they were migrating south.

Not sure what these birds were, maybe vultures?

To see more beautiful skies please visit  Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the hosting group: Sylvia, Sandy, Wren and Fishing Guy. Thank you for stopping by to see my skies. Happy Skywatching and have a great weekend.

Birding>>>Panama's Pacific Playa Blanca

I am linking up with Camera Critters

Two nights of our Panama trip we stayed at the Playa Blanca Resort on the Pacific Ocean. Our Caravan tour group was able to enjoy the all inclusive resort for two nights. When we were not touring with the group we were able to enjoy the beach, pools, drinks and way too much food on the buffets. Hubby and I enjoyed our walks on the beach. The scenery was pretty and I loved watching the birds. I was surprised to see a lot of the birds I was seeing were the same birds I saw at home during the summer.

My bird list from the resort: Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Willets, Whimbrels, Sanderlings, Swallows, Yellow warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Tropical Mockingbird, Little Blue Heron, Black Vultures, Great Egret, Snowy Egret and lots of Boat Tailed Grackles.

Willet

Tropical Mockingbird

Yellow Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

One of my favorite herons the Little Blue Heron

Pelicans and Magnificent Frigatebirds flying around this sailboat.

I hope your enjoyed my critter post and to see more wonderful critters please visit Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting Camera Critters. Thank You for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Happy Birding!

Camera Critters the Chincoteague Variety

With my Chincoteague birds and critters, I am linking up with the Friday Ark  and Camera Critters. Chincoteague is my favorite places to go birding, the shorebirds and variety of birds seen there is just awesome. And of course we saw lots of ponies.. last week critters post is here Chincoteague-ponies . Deer are often seen on the refuge and during the three days we were there we saw lots.


You can click on the photos for a larger image.

I believe these are juvenile Dowitchers but I am not so sure.

Any help with their id is appreciated.

EDIT: I have been corrected on my shorebirds above they are really Willets.

Yellowlegs, whether it is the Lesser or Greater Yellowlegs I am not sure.

                        My favorite Chincoteague pony "The Chief". A real rebel.

I thought the lighting on the Great Blue heron was beautiful. It was a little windy that day and the heron's feather are blowing with the wind.

A sunset shot of the Bald Eagle posing nicely on this tree limb. A cool sighting! We had different Eagle sightings during the three days we were there.

A herd of deer seen on the wildlife drive.

Have a great weekend! The Weathermen are calling for a unusual snowstorm here in Maryland. My part of Maryland is expected to have one-three of inches of the white stuff. As I write this post it is raining and is mixed with snow. Gee, we did not even have a frost yet and some of my flowers were still looking good. The weather has been very weird lately.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post, thanks for stopping by. To see more
wonderful birds and critters please visit Friday Ark and Camera Critters
Thanks to the host of Friday Ark and to Misty Dawn of Camera Critters. I just love the critter memes.

SWF>>>Chincoteague sunrise & Pelicans

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday

In the distance we watched a couple being married on the beach during the sunrise. What a great place for a wedding. On my previous post my video shows some of the bride at the very end of the video.

The clouds were turning pretty colors.

We watched groups of Pelicans flying by. I assume they were all migrating south.

 I really liked the colors in the sky and on the sand in this photo below.

We watched the Willets take off from the shore. It seemed odd that on two mornings the Willets left the beach as soon as the sun had risen.

A large flock of Willets.

A flock of Pelicans

To see more beautiful skies from around the world please visit Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the hosting group of Skywatch: Sylvia, Sandy and Wren.  Also, thanks for stopping by to see my skies. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend.