More from around the yard

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

These are some shots from around my yard showing what it looks like after some snow in January.  Today was a bust weather wise, all we saw was a foggy damp day. So much for today being sunny and 60 which was predicted for today.

In my mosaic, I have the Mourning Doves and a Cardinal, Holly Bush, Chickadee and Titmouse, more Mourning Doves, American Goldfinches and a couple of Pine Siskins.

We had to have a large pine tree cut down that was growing right next to our house and we saved some of these large pieces or stumps to use for bird baths or in this case I spread some sunflower seed on top for the birds or critters to eat.

At times my yard can be filled with Mourning Doves, they seem a little shy around me. In the photo above the weeping cherry tree is a favorite spot for all the birds to land before going to the birdfeeders. It is cool, some of my yardbirds let me stand out on the deck right next to them.

The tangled monster behind the birdhouse is a trumpet vine we have climbing up the side of our deck on a trellis. We did not cut it down in the fall because the birds use it to perch and hide in. I like to have lots of spots for the birds to go to for protection and my monster seems to work well. Above you can find a Chickadee on top of the birdhouse and behind is a Titmouse perch on the monster.

Above is my tree stump, some holly berries and my purple coneflower seed head. I have seen the Goldfinches on the seed head multiple times. It was well worth letting the flowers go to seed.

Around in the backyard is another tree stump with a bird bath sitting on it, but it was covered with snow on this day. On this side of the backyard we have some rhododendron bushes, butterfly bushes, a dogwood tree, an azalea bush in front our shed. I think hubby cuts back the butterfly bushes in the early spring and they grow back each year.

Above I caught a cute Red-breasted Nuthatch behind the Mourning Dove.

In the winter, the only color I see are the holly berries on our holly bushes. I hope you enjoyed the walk around my yard and my birds. 

To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday
 Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy .  Thanks also for stopping by to see my post.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Birds, butterflies and blooms

I am linking up with Fiona's Green Day and Misty Dawn's Camera Critters and Today's Flowers

These are some shots from around my yard and a pretty female Orchard Oriole. I was a happy birder to see the Orchard Oriole show up in my yard one day.

The female looks like a larger size Goldfinch, 2 inches larger and  the beak is a little different. It has the white wing bars and is a summer bird for my area.

Another day I saw this same bird or another one just like chasing a crow across my yard. I have a feeling they could have been nesting nearby or it was protecting it babies.

My butterfly bushes are great for attracting the butterflies. This Tiger Swallowtail is a common butterfly seen in my yard.

I am pretty sure this is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly.

My Goldie girl  at the lake, she has had another haircut and is looking more like a yellow lab than a golden retriever.

My Black-eyed Susans are looking especially pretty this year. It is the state flower of Maryland. I am hoping to link up with Today's Flowers. Which has been on a break and will be starting back up this weekend on the 18th. I hope, I missed the gorgeous flowers.

These are a couple of my trumpet vine flowers, they grow on what hubby and I call the monster on our deck. It seems the  hummingbirds love the flowers. They are a great natural nectar for the hummers. I have watched the hummer almost get lost inside one of these large tube flowers.

To see more cute critters please visit Camera Critters and Green Day and Today's Flowers

Special thanks to the wonderful host Fiona of Green Day, Misty of Camera Critters and the M. Luiz of Today's Flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post and flowers. Thanks for stopping by, i hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Bermuda birds and scenery

With this post I am link up my mosiacs with Mosaic Monday and the yellow chested Great Kiskadee for  Mellow Yellow Monday and with the beautiful blue water of Horsebeach Beach and the lovely skies  for Blue Monday. I recently read that Smiling Sally is in the hospital, please say a prayer for her and wish her well.

Ruddy Turnstones seen on the Horseshoe beach

I think by now everyone knows I love to go birding and that includes birding while on vacation. During our port of call stop in Bermuda I was able to check out the birds on the Horseshoe beach. A popular beach with pretty blue water and pink sand.

Hubby was able to go snorkeling while I did my birding so we were both happy. At Horseshoe beach I saw a bird I see on the beaches at home, the Ruddy Turnstone. Other common birds I saw in Bermuda, the Eastern bluebirds, Cardinals, Mourning Doves and lots of pigeons, starlings and lots of house sparrows. I did add a lifer to my list with the white-tailed tropicbird. I will do another post on my lifer the Tropicbird.

Below we were at Tobacco Bay, known to be a great snorkeling spot. Hubby was happy seeing pretty Parrotfish while snorkeling. Here, the birds I saw were more of the Great Kiskadee with their pretty yellow chest and lots and lots of House Sparrows.

These birds below the Great Kiskadee were seen all over the island.  I watched these two Kiskadees while hubby, son and his friend were snorkeling at Tobacco Bay. They have such a pretty bright yellow belly.

Please visit these fun memes: Mary's Mosaic Monday and Drowsey Monkey's Mellow Yellow Monday and Sally's Blue Monday.  A special thanks to these great hosts:  Mary, Drowsey Monkey and Sally. Thanks for visiting my blog and my post. I hope you all have a great week.

Blackwater NWR Skywatch

My shot below is my entry for Skywatch and is from Blackwater NWR taking on Friday the 15th.

Last weekend,  I talked hubby into a daytrip to the Blackwater National Wildlife refuge in Cambridge Md. I wanted  mostly to the see the birds and it was a great day weather wise, it was close to 60 degrees.

I saw lots of birds at Blackwater. There were Bald Eagles, lots of Snow Geese and lots of Canada Geese, Mallards and a GB Heron walking on ice. I am pretty sure that I saw a flock of swans (are they called flocks) going over the refuge too.


                                   Swans, the Snow Geese have black on their wings. The Swans were all white.

Snow Geese

Snow Geese a little closer

Some of the Snow Geese on the ground with some Canada Geese.

Thanks for checking out my Blackwater Skies and to see more great skies from all over go
 and visit: Skywatch Friday   Also a big thanks to our hosting team of Sylvia, Sandy, Wren, Klaus  and Fishing Guy

Morning walk at the river

Hubby and I went out for an early morning walk, I like to go early to see the early birds. We usually go to the lake on a fireroad which is close to our house. But this morning we decided to go to the river for our walk. First Stop was to see if the Dam was overflowing. We had lots of rain yesterday!



Hubby was happy to see the dam was overflowing, he likes to sit in the rapids further downstream for what he calls a massage. Apparently the water is not as cold for him when it is overflowing than the water that comes from the bottom gates of the dam.



After checking out the dam we drove to the park parking lot close to the river. We walked until we were at the rivers edge where we were able to watch some kayakers practicing their rolls.






We walked on the trail until we got to where the water was on the trail. We had to turn back or try walking in the water. I knew that wasn't going to happen.




At the bridge we watch a kayaker help a couple with their overturned canoe. They seemed alright and were actually laughing about being dumped in the river.














My hubby just enjoys hiking and I enjoy looking for the birds while I am hiking. This mornings walk started off with a very loud Pileated Woodpecker and a Cuckoo. This trail along the river is mostly mountain laurels and in some spots hemlock trees and some wildflowers and a variety of ferns. I have to say I heard more birds than ones I actaully could see. I did see some medium size brown birds moving about the trees, I believe they were some kind of Thrush.

Black and White Warblers were moving quickly in the trees along the rivers edge.






After hiking the rivers trail, hubby and I went separate ways. he took another trail to see the river at another spot and I took a nice flat trail in the woods that crosses under power lines. I was hoping to see some birds in the fields near the power lines. All I could see were some Turkey Vultures soaring above, some Bluejays, Crows, Carolina Chickadees were fussing and I could hear a hawk. I had a nice walk but was a little disappointed with the birding. Oh Well, maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck.

Birding with Eileen in the Caribbean

This is my first attempt at blogging. This blog is mostly about the places I go and the birds I see and love. I love to travel and visit new places. I love going on vacations. My family and I just got back from a 9 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Our cruise stopped at these four ports...San Juan, St Thomas, Samana and Labadee. St Thomas was my favorite port. I would like to go back and spend more time visiting St Thomas. There are so many places I would love to travel to but there just does not seem to be enough time. My DH likes to snorkel and DS just likes to cruise and I just like enjoying nature. So DH and DS were enjoying themselves snorkeling while I sat on the beach watching the beautiful water, birds and the lizards that were surrounding me.

 I did pick up five lifers during my vacation cruise. They were the very cool looking Brown Booby, Gray Kingbird, Scaly Naped Pigeon, White winged Dove and a Pearly eyed Thrasher. Another possible lifer not confirmed as of yet is a Shearwater. Now I am home wishing my vacation was not over and that I really do not have to return to work tomorrow. YUCK!