Loggerhead Shrike and more

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

I know you all find it hard to believe but I still have more Florida birds and even a lifer I have not posted. So with out further delay, here is one of my cool Florida lifers.... the Loggerhead Shrike.

My Loggerhead Shrike lifer happened on the same street as my Burrowing Owl lifer.  Cool, two lifers within blocks of each other. The Shrike was sitting on a wire across the road I was driving on, I had to turn around and do a double take to make sure of the birds id. The Loggerhead Shrike is also known as the Butcher Bird. It eats insects, lizards and small birds. I will not go into the gory details on what the Shrike does to its food before its eat them.

Not the best photos of my Loggerhead Shrike but you can definitely see the bird's features.  The Shrike has a large hook bill, the head and back are grey and the underparts are white. The wings and tail are black,  with white patches on the wings and white on the outer tail feather. The black face mask extends over its bill unlike that of the similar but larger Northern Shrike. I have seen the Northern Shrike here in Maryland.

So, in the same Florida neighborhood I saw my lifer the Burrowing Owl and the cool Loggerhead Shrike. I would not mind living on this street with the cool birds.

Seeing the Burrowing owls was one of the trip's highlights for me. So seeing them a couple of times in different places made my day and trip.

 Seeing a new bird for the first time is exciting, I hope you enjoyed my Loggerhead Shrike and Burrowing Owls.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Shenandoah Nat'l Park

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday .

July 14, 2013

Yesterday I posted that it was my 4th blog anniversary so today starts the beginning of my 5th year of blogging. And this post I am sharing last weekend's daytrip to Shenandoah Nat'l Park.  Shenandoah is one of my favorite places to visit, we hiked my favorite Limberlost trail, we saw lots of birds, we saw a baby bear along the Skyline Drive and some pretty views of the mountain ranges and Shenandoah Valley.

The mosaic above includes the view of the mountain ranges, a baby bear, Brown Thrasher, fungi, bunny, and an Eastern Towhee.

A baby bear we saw along the side of the Skyline Drive. I did not see it's Momma, I hope she was nearby.

Above, I included some of the wildflowers I found in the park.

This Brown Thrasher was taking a dirt bath along the Limberlost trail.

Not sure what these are called but I thought they looked pretty.

The Eastern Towhee was seen along the Limberlost Trail. Other birds seen and heard were the Hooded Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Vireo's, Tufted Titmouse, Veery, Ovenbirds, Dark-eyed Juncos, Indigo Bunting, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Scarlet Tanager, Turkey Vultures and Cardinals.

In this mosaic, there is a view of the valley from the Appalachian Trail, a Scarlet Tanager and going home stuck in traffic I shot a photo of the Shenandoah River at Harpers Ferry.

A view of the Shenandoah Valley seen from the Appalachian Trail.

A Scarlet Tanager was one of the birds we saw along the Appalachian Trail. We also saw a couple of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. We had a fun day at the park, seeing the wildlife and the pretty views of the mountains. I was wishing we had arranged an overnight trip I was not ready to go home.

Our ride home on Rt 340 takes us close to Charlestown WVA and thru Harpers Ferry. Above the traffic came to a stop on the bridge over the Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry. The view is pretty where the Shenandoah River meets up with the Potomac River in Maryland. My second blog post back in 2009  Tubing the Shenandoah River was about our fun trip tubing down this river.

I hope enjoyed my post on Shenandoah Nat'l Park. 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!

Hashawha Nature Center

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday .

July 7, 2013

On the morning of July 4, hubby and I went on a hike at a local park called Hashawha Nature Center. We try to take our walks early in the morning to avoid the hot & humid afternoon. We took the longer loop trail which goes by several ponds, an old homestead, pine forest, trail lined with daylilies and the Raptor Center.

Some of my other posts on Hashawha Nature Center

This trail leads to the Raptor Center. I loved passing along all these pretty daylilies.

I usually do not like taking photos of the caged birds but, they do have a nice raptor center with a Bald Eagle, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owls, Screech Owl and a vulture. Of course they are injured in some way and can not be released into the wild. 

I loved seeing all the different dragonflies around the lake. 

I believe this is an Amberwing dragonfly. The amber color on this one is beautiful.

Another pond we passed, we saw lots of mushrooms and these pretty bee balm flowers.

The Robin was enjoying these berries!

The Gray Catbird and Robins seemed to be the birds of the day. It was nice to have a day off work, for us it was an extra day to be out walking and enjoying nature.


I hope you enjoyed my walk, post and photos. 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!

New Old birds

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

July 2, 2013

Can you believe it is July already?  I wish all the Canadian bloggers a HAPPY CANADA day. And on Thursday is our 4th of July celebration in the USA.

These are a few birds from my archives that I noticed I have not posted. I would like to do a post on each of my lifers, that way all my lifers appear on my blog. Another way I can keep track of my life birds. These birds were seen during a trip to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Magpie

Mountain Bluebirds

Clark's Nutcracker

Black-throated Sparrows. I am sure I have more lifers that I have not done a blog post about, it will take a little while to find the photos. How do you keep you life list? Is it on an Excel document? Do you keep a written journal?  I am looking for an easy way to keep a list list and have it numbered, any ideas?



I hope you enjoyed my variety of Wild Birds on this post.
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Birding the Gunpowder River

  I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

These photos are from last weekend's walk at the Gunpowder River. The trail is around the other side of our lake and below the dam. It is a favorite spot for trout fishing, tubing and kayaking. And of course the trail along the river is great for my favorite hobby... birding. That should not be a surprise, right?

We tried to pick a spot to sit, away from the fishermen, so our Goldie Girl could do some swimming in the river.

We chose last weekend to go to this spot at the river because we knew the mountain laurels were in full bloom. They look so pretty, pink and white mountain laurels all along the river, made for a beautiful scene.

The white mountain laurels are pretty but my favorite are the pink blooms.

It was a pretty day to sit on one of the large rocks, listen to the water and watch for the birds. I saw the Louisiana Waterthrush and the Carolina Chickadees. I could here some Vireo's and the Scarlet Tanagers in the treetops.

Goldie Girl enjoyed cooling off in the river.

More river scenes on our hike back up the trail, a Wood Pewee was calling in the woods. A tiny pretty moth no bigger than one of my fingernails.

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thanks for visiting my blog and post. 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!

Florida Variety

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's in blogland..

For my post this week I have a  variety of birds and a few lizards we saw while in the Florida Keys.

 

Piping Plovers, Ruddy Turnstone, Willet and Sanderlings

Anole and Iguana

Magnificent Frigatebird, Orb Spider, flock of White Ibis

The Palm Warblers were being seen all over Florida and the bottom right shot is a female Prairie Warbler.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post. I hope everyone has a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments. To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.

Sunday Morning Walk

 I am linking up with Simple Things Sunday and  Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

 I was so happy to wake up this Sunday morning and finally see some blue sky and sunshine. Our weather lately has been mostly cloudy and raining. Since, working all week I enjoy getting outside on the weekend to take a walk with hubby and our dog. And to do a little bird watching is always a simple pleasure for me.

One of our favorite places to take an early morning walk this weekend was at the Loch Raven Reservoir.

On the weekend the road around the Loch Raven reservoir is closed to car traffic and open to people walking, biking and jogging.  We usually see families out with their young children on their little bikes. Today we took our Goldie Girl.

Sometimes I try to arrange our walks where a certain bird has been seen hanging out. This time I was looking for the Eurasian Wigeon. I did find a couple of American Wigeons which I have in the mosaic above. We also saw lots of Gulls, Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks.

 We watched one family with a cute toddler feeding the geese and gulls. The toddler seemed to be enjoying all the birds he was attracting with the bread.

A shot of the reservoir and a couple of Canada Geese giving me the eye.

The walk along the road is pretty with the tall pine trees and the reservoir.  I hope you enjoyed my Sunday morning walk. Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comments as well.


Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit Simple Things Sunday and to see beautiful mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and more from  Our World Tuesday
 Thanks to our host:  Rebecca of Simple as That and Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  Thanks also for stopping by to see my post.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Crested Caracara

 I am linking up my  post with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

More from my archives..the Crested Caracara is a bird of prey and is in the family Falconidae. I am not sure who reads different state listserves for birds that are being seen. But, it appears a Caracara has made it to New Jersey and is being seen near Cape May. So, I was reminded of the Crested Caracara I have seen on my previous trips. I wanted to share my Crested Caracara with my followers who might not know what this bird looks like.

The Northern Crested Caracara seen during our trip to Curacao.I believe these birds are also seen in the Texas area of the United States.

They kind of remind me more of a Turkey or Black Vulture than a bird of prey. I did read they are kind of sluggish and can even be scavengers. The shot above was taken during my trip to Costa Rica. Not the best flight shot but I thought is was neat to see two together.



To see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Birding Loch Raven

I am linking up with  Green Day and Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.

These photos are from last weekend, hubby and I took another walk at the Loch Raven Reservoir. Loch Raven seems to attract more ducks in the winter than the reservoir near my home.

Most of the ducks were across the lake on the opposite shore from where we stood. I can make out the Canada Geese, Common Mergansers, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers and I am sure there are some ducks I could not id without having my scope.

Loch Raven is great place to visit on the weekends, since the road is closed and used for hiking, biking and jogging around the lake. The road is line with the tall green pine trees that you can see in the distance.

Above, hanging out on a small island we saw the Great Blue Heron, lots of gulls, and some Ringed-neck Ducks.

I was playing around with the setting on my camera and I thought it made the water look neat.

Look the ducks are swimming uphill.

Families with small children are often seen in this spot at the lake feeding the gulls, ducks and geese.

Almost home, we see the usual peacocks hanging out on the snowy field. Now, that not a usual sight for some to see.

A cropped photo for a closer look. These birds live on a farm around the corner from me and I see them often on my way home from work. A few times they have been on the road right near a curve, luckily they were safe while I had to brake for them. It seems our neighborhood has a few farms with these peacocks, I have passed signs along my road saying BIG BIRD crossing.


To see more beautiful photos and cute critters please visit:   Green Day and Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host Fiona of Green Day, Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.  Thanks for visiting my blog and post. I wish everyone a very safe and happy weekend.