Preening Time

I am link up with Green Day  and Camera Critters  and NF Winged 
and Id-rather-b-birdin
These are some shots from last week's visit to Bombay Hook. We saw lots of birds and I managed to capture of lot of birds preening. LOL, I think they spend more time preening than I do.

Above my preening birds are ducks, black-necked stilts, stilt and egret, great blue heron and great egrets.

Preening is an essential part of a bird's daily routine. They are more like humans than I thought. The bird uses their beak to remove any debris, move feathers that are out of place and distribute a special oil that is secreted from a gland at the base of the birds tail. The oil helps to keep the birds feathers healthy and shiny. Kind of like the conditioner I use on my hair? I am just glad the birds do not use makeup, I have seen some scary scenes of some girls putting on mascara while driving down the highway in the morning. I think there are some chicks that need more time preening at home.

Two Great Blue herons preening.

Black necked Stilts preening.

These two are not preening but I liked this shot. When I took the shot I only saw the red-eared slider turtle, after I downloading my photos I saw the cute frog next to the turtle.

I hope you enjoyed my post and critters photos.
To see more beautiful photos and cute critters please visit Fiona's Green Day   and Misty Dawn's  Camera Critters and NF Winged and I'd-rather-b-birdin.
Thanks to the all of the host of these fun memes Fiona the host of Green Day and Misty Dawn the host of Camera Critters and Monica of NF Winged. Anni of I'd Rather-B-Birding asked me to link up. Thanks Anni.  Thank you for stopping by to see my post and for leaving all the nice comments. I appreciate the visits. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Northern Pintail

My Northern Pintails are  linking up with World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes

 It is not often that I have the sun shining in just the right spot, but I think these two Northern Pintails look pretty with the sun shining on them.

The Northern Pintail is known as a dabbling duck and is supposedly declining in numbers. The Pintail ducks can be seen vigorously dabbling for plant food.
The Pintail breeds in Alaska and Canada and they winter in coastal wetlands like at Edwin Forsythe NWR.

A nice reflection of the Northern Pintails.

The adult male has a long elegant and patterned neck and a long tail.  The tail is actually two long black feathers. The female has an unmarked head and a marbled plumage.

We saw a lot of winter ducks at Edwin Forsythe NWR during our two day visit. I am amazed at how many different species of ducks can be seen in the winter. The are the Dabbling ducks, Sea ducks, tree ducks, diving ducks. I am not sure why but my field guide book reports that most ducks are in decline except for the Green-winged Teal and the Gadwall. These last two are ducks I hardly see, my most common duck is the Mallard. I seem to see them everywhere and I see them year round. Are you in an area where you see a lot of ducks, if so what species of duck do you see?



To see more wonderful birds and nature photos check out World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes.  Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

I also want to thank you for visiting my post and blog. I appreciate all the lovely comments too. I hope the rest of your week is wonderful.  Happy Birding!!

A Ducky Christmas

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone's Christmas wishes come true!!


I am not sure if there will be a Camera Critters this week but I have my Just Ducky post just in case. A little late but you can check out some winged critters at NF Winged


Yesterday 12/23/11 was a mandatory furlough day for me so I decided to take Thursday as an extra vacation day so hubby and I could head to the Delaware shore. Taking advantage of the warm weather we had a great time walking on the beach and of course I was checking out all the birds. One of the stops we made was at the Silver Lake in Rehoboth Delaware.

The Silver Lake is designated at a waterfowl preserve. Silver Lake is home to various ducks, geese and year round freshwater birds. It is a 40 acre freshwater  lake located directly behind the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most common ducks we saw on the Silver Lake was the Canvasback. We had some great closeup looks too.

I believe the ducks coming in for a landing are the American Black Duck

The Canvasbacks have bright white sides, the male has a chestnut red head and a black bill. They pair up in late winter on ocean bays.

To see more beautiful critters please be sure to visit Camera Critters and thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting this fun meme. I also want to thank everyone who stops by to see my post and for the comments. And thanks to the host of NF Winged.

I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years.

El Nispero Zoo, Panama

I am linking up with Camera Critters


The El Nispero Zoo was included in our week tour of Panama. The zoo and botanical gardens are located on 7 acres and is home to 90 species of animals.  We saw exotic birds from Asia and Africa and tropical birds like the macaws, toucans and the parrots. The zoo also includes a center for the study of amphibians like the Golden Frog.

A male Wood duck and a Mandarin duck

I do not usually like taking photos of cages, but this rooster/chicken was really pretty.

I just love the look on this parrot.

The four Blue and Gold Macaws are my favorite, gorgeous birds.

This dude was a cutie.

The Golden Frog is listed as critically endangered. Some individual Golden Frogs have been collected to breed in captivity to preserve the species.

The research center is studying the bacteria resposible for the eradication of the Golden Frog

This Ostrich is saying goodbye and thanks for stopping by.

To see more cute critters check out Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  Thanks Misty for hosting! Thanks to everyone for visiting my critter post, I everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Birding Chincoteague Part II

Hi, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday. I can not believe how fast the weekend goes, just flies by.


Birding Chincoteague for Mosaic Monday  and That's My World I created my mosaics with photos of the various birds and scenes from Chincoteague Island Virginia. The national seashore and refuge is one of my favorite places for birding. Hubby and I try to take an annual overnight trip to celebrate our 21st anniversary. This was an early celebration, our anniversary is May 4. The shorebirds, waders, and ducks were abundant and always a great sight for me to see.

Birds seen in this mosaic are Sanderlings, Merganser, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Egrets and on the bottom row are Dunlins.

In this mosaic birds seen are the Cattle Egret, Tree Swallows, Great Egrets, Northern Shovelers, and bottom corner is the American Oystercatcher.

I hope you enjoyed my birding at Chincoteague and to see more mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and for more photos from around the world visit That's My World

Thanks to Mary of Little Red House for hosting Mosaic Monday and to the gang of That's My World : Sylvia, Wren, Sandy and Klaus.

I appreciate you stopping by to see my post, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Birding Chincoteague

My post for Scenic Sunday


MY post on the Chincoteague ponies is here http://travelwitheileen.blogspot.com/2011/04/chincoteague-ponies.html
On both days during our visit to Chincoteague we hiked on the marsh trail. The 1/2 mile marsh trail is restricted to foot traffic only and offers excellant views of the freshwater ponds and habitat and has an elevated observation deck.

Cattle Egret

Green winged teal

I believe these are Dunlins but, I could be wrong. A lot of shorebirds look alike to me. I am still learning by looking at the beaks and leg colors to help iding these birds.

I liked watching the large group of Dunlins take off in flight only to land a short distance away.

By the elevated observation platfrom we saw large groups of Green Winged Teals and Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Black Ducks and Canada Geese.

There were also large groups of Northern Shovelers

There were many Tree Swallows flying about and around this birdhouse.

I hope you enjoyed my scenic view of Chincoteague, it is one of my favorite parks to visit. Please check out Scenic Sunday for more great photos.  Thanks to the host of Scenic Sunday and thanks for stopping by my post.

Birding the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

After leaving Barnegat Lighthouse last Saturday Hubby and I headed for the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. We were able to do some birding at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning. It is located just across from Atlantic City.  The refuge has 47,000 acres of coastal habitat and a fantastic wildlife drive. I have been going to Atlantic City since a child and this was my first visit to the refuge, I did not even know it was there. It is a great place for birding and I will definitely be making another trip to the refuge later in the spring 

During this visit we saw a lot of ducks, mostly the American Black Duck, Northern Pintails, Gadwalls, Northern Shoveler, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, a large flock of Dunlin, Canada Geese, a Northern Harrier, Tundra Swans, Mute Swan, a large flock of Brant,  a Bald Eagle,  Killdeer and an unknown raptor.


Click on photos for a larger image

Northern Pintail... I just love their cute tail feathers

A closer look at the Northern Pintail

I assume this is the American Black Duck.

A large flock of Dunlins

Cute Killdeer

Pintails, Shoveler and Mallards

Great Blue Heron

Common Merganser

Hooded Merganser and a Bufflehead

Large flock of Brant

Any know what my unknown raptor is?

Atlantic City in the distance, I hope the Turbines do not hurt these birds as they are migrating.

This is my Camera Critters  post, I hope you enjoy my visit to the refuge and all the ducks and birds. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and as usual I appreciate your visits to my blog.  Have a great weekend!