Saturday's Critters # 602

  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!

A mish-mash on daily walks and outings with our dog Miney, birdwatching from my backyard or on the Prettyboy Fire Roads.

Click on images for better viewing.

1. May 9th, seeing the bluebirds in my yard this season just makes me happy. I hope to see their babies!  

"The bluebird carries the sky on his back."

The bluebird is a symbol of hope, happiness and joy.

2. May 10th, in the backyard a Bluebird and a Mourning Dove are having a conversation.  

3. May 10, we took our walk on another local fire road, wildflowers Fleabane and I am not sure what the tiny yellow wildflowers are called. 

My May 10th Merlin app birds heard on our walk on the Prettyboy fire road. 

I am hearing the Great-crested Flycatcher calling while on our walks and from my bird yard.  They are brownish upper parts and yellowish underparts and a bushy crest.

4. May 11th, Some blooms from our yard, the Columbine, Siberian Iris, Bluebird sitting in Pine tree and I am not sure if the plant bottom right is called Spiderwort?

Images from our fire road walk are of Miney, Bigleaf Magnolia bloom, and one of the Pink Lady Slippers.

May 11th backyard birds captured by my Merlin app.

The House Wren is one of my loudest yard birds, a small bird only a little over 4 inches. This wren is brown with pale to white underparts.

5. May 12th, my backyard we have the Siberian Irises blooming, I saw a cute bunny, our Rhododendrons are looking beautiful. 

6. May 12th, the Worm-eating Warbler is a drab looking warbler with black and buffy stripes on its head. I have been hearing this bird calling from off the local fire road when I am walking Miney.

My May12th Merlin App birds heard on our walk at Prettyboy.

7. May 12th, I see and hear the Blue Jays in my yard and often on the fire road while we are out walking Miney.  

8. Flashback from last year May 2024, the Scarlet Tanagers have returned to Prettyboy Watershed and my back yard. The male Scarlet Tanager is a lovely color red with dark wings. During mating/breeding season I hear these birds singing while I am out walking Miney on our local fire roads. 

Another Flashback to Aug 2023, a beautiful closeup of the Scarlet Tanager on the trail at Shenandoah Nat'l Park. 

Bonus, July 3rd  is my granddaughter Sophie's 1st birthday.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet Sophie. 

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.

Check out  Catblogosphere.com

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

Saturday's Critters # 390

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!

Can you believe, it is the first Saturday of June. Time is flying by, I am hoping to see some birds flying into or around my yard.  These are some birds I have seen recently during our local walks. 

Click on photos for best viewing!

1.  The end of April, I watched the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming and going to the feeder.

2. May 3rd, may have been my last sighting of the Red-breasted Nuthatch for the year.  

3. May 10th , I watched a female Black-throated Blue Warbler out my front window.  This view is from my exercise bike, I can watch various birds hopping around the rhododendrons and front yard. 

It is not the best photo taken out the window, these warblers move quickly. The female has a white arc under the eye and a little white wing patch.

4. May 16th, we took a walk on the local NCR bike trail. We saw a couple of Worm-eating Warblers chasing each other along the trail.

This warbler has a head stripe with black eye line and stripes on the buffy head.

5. I have been seeing bunnies in the back and front yard. I think the baby bunnies have grown quickly, but these two maybe the parents. 

6. The Tufted Titmouse is a year round visitor to my yard.  

7.  At our local Prettyboy Dam, the Cliff Swallows can be seen nesting under the dam bridge and flying over the reservoir.  

8. On another day we took a local walk on our fire road and to the lake. near the lake shore I saw a first year Baltimore Oriole, a first time seeing a Blackburnian Warbler in my neighborhood, a Red-eyed Vireo is bottom left, Canada Geese and some large Slider Turtles. 

9.  Not the best lighting looking up in the tree at this Blackburnian Warbler. 

I hope you enjoyed my yard and neighborhood birds.  Other birds I heard nearby but I was not able to take photos yet are: Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, unknown Thrush, Gray Catbird and the male Black-throated Blue Warbler, Indigo Bunting and the Scarlet Tanager. 

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!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post. 

Here is my linky:

YOU are all # 1.

Saturday's Critters #345

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


Happy Saturday! Have a great 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!

Most days I am found watching my yard birds. I usually see a nice variety of birds in my yard.  On this day I watched a Carolina Wren, a House Wren and a Woodpecker spread out on the deck railing. 

 A Downy Woodpecker looks like a young one begging for food. It was spread out on the railing like it was airing out it's wings. 

 The House Wren seems to have taken over a few of my birdhouses, they chase away any bird that comes close. to "their" home. 

 The Carolina Wren stops by the feeders and deck for a snack. 

A Brown Thrasher made an appearance on this day, sat on the deck railing looking around..

We try to take early morning walks on the local fire road. We've had a streak of hot humid days, it is best to get out early. On this day I watched 3-4 Worm-eating Warblers. I managed to catch 2 of the Worm-eating Warblers in the same tree. The other 2 warblers kept moving around the same area. Their sound or song is one I have become familiar with over the years. They have black and buffy head stripes and they are a small bird 4 1/2 - 5 inches long.

Thanks to all my visitors and for all the wonderful comments. If you like, stop back for any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.


Here is  my linky:











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

Our World, My World

Happy Monday everyone,

 Happy Memorial Day!

 Remember and Honor! 

I wanted to thank all our military, veterans and heroes who serve and or died protecting our country.  I also want to thank all the front line workers who are serving us during this pandemic, they are heroes too. This Memorial Day weekend is unlike any other I have experienced.

 I am always happy to take a walk in our nearby forest on the fire roads. These are some photos and the birds I saw on a recent walk.

Below in the mosaic top row on left is the Worm-eating Warbler, top right is an Ovenbird. Lower left the Ovenbird again and a Pink Lady Slipper is the wild orchid growing near the fire road.

 Below the Worm-eating Warbler is seen on some hilly section along side the fire road, they have a strange sound. They have a striped "buffy" head. This Warbler is a breeder in my area, I am thankful to see them in the nearby forest. You can hear them at this link Bird-sounds.net_Worm-eating-warbler

 The Ovenbird below is one of the loudest birds in the forest. I can hear them from my yard.

It is hard taking photos of the birds sitting in high in the trees, my neck hurts just looking up at them.

A view of our local fire road trail, a small creek runs into the lake in this spot.

 I am thankful to still see some of the Great Blue Herons in our local heron rookery.  I was starting to think they all were gone.  These photos were taken from the nearby fire road. I can hear them making their clacking noises from my deck. They can be loud but it is such a happy sound!

One more time sharing the Pink Lady Slipper orchid are beautiful to see and find along our fire roads. Hopefully no one pick this pretty and somewhat rare and wild orchid.

Maryland road to recovery from Covid-19. Maryland has had close to 47,000 positive Covid 19 cases and 2,277 deaths.  We are currently at Phase one, some counties and cites are opening and some are still closed. It depends on if there are more new cases each day.  My county is open, small businesses, retail and salons are open using the safety precautions and no large gatherings are allowed..


What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Our World, My World

Hello and happy Monday!

Hubby and I often take our walks on the local NCR bike trail.  It is mostly a flat trail and is easy to get in 3 miles round trip. Along the trail we have views of the river, the forest, birds and sometimes critters.  These images are from various walks early in June. 

June 4th, we walked 3 miles round on the NCR trail in Parkton, Md. In the mosaic are images of Mountain Laurel in bloom, the Gunpowder River, the bike trail and Gnome land on private property. 

I noticed these pretty blooms on a Catalpa tree along the trail. 

Most of my bird photos from our walks were not the best, the birds were either high up in the trees or behind branches and leaves. I think this is a flycatcher, just not sure which one.

I heard this bird before finding it, it is a Worm-eating Warbler. 

This bloom reminded me of the Queen Anne's Lace but it was different.

June 11th, we walked another 3 miles round trip on another section of the NCR bike trail..

This stream is called the Bee Tree Run.

A White-tailed deer crossed the trail in front and quickly disappeared in the forest. You can see it's backside on the photo below.

Another Catalpa Tree seen from the trail.

Some more birds and butterflies seen off the NCR trail" Gray Catbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a Red Admiral butterfly. 

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.


Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Check out the links above, I hope to see you there. Thanks to the hosts today. Enjoy your day and new week.



As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.