Saturday's Critters # 305

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


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!

We were dog-sitting Nibbles and Chewy while my son and DIL went on their honeymoon. I think Nibbles and Chewy loved going on walks with us. 

Nibbles took on the job of watching for squirrels.

Oct 12th I saw 3 Monarchs at our Butterfly bush.

One morning, I looked out my dining room window to see this Hawk on my deck railing. I was glad I did not put out my bird feeders earlier. 

 I am guessing this is the immature Cooper's Hawk, it was looking all around for a meal.

We had a surprise visitor early Friday morning, my hubby woke me up at 2am saying we had a black bear on the deck. It knocked over a metal trash can that had a heavy cinder block on top. I keep all my bird feeders and seed in the trash can, the heavy block was to keep critters like raccoons from eating my seed. Obviously the heavy cinder block did not deter the bear any.  Hubby had a view from our kitchen window at the bear's butt sticking out of the trash can. The trash can was right outside and under the window.  I had a good view of the medium sized  bear walking away by our gate and down the end of the driveway. The bears have been seen in our area for the last month or so.



I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments !








Here is a list of my linky parties;

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

Saturday's Critter's #108

Saturday's Critter's #108

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

I am sharing some of my yard birds from this past week. It has been cold outside and I have take all these shots from my dining room window.

 A male Cardinal with a Carolina Chickadee.

Those darn branches keep getting in my way.

The Blue Jays come around for the peanuts I sit out on our deck railing.


For Teresa's Friday's Photo Hunt. This weeks prompts. Thanks to Teresa for hosting..

1. The letter "B"
2. Week's favorite
3. Outside

My entry below for the letter B.. is too easy I am seeing lots of Birds in my yard.

One of my regular visitors... a Blue Jay.

For the prompt *Outside* I had a sighting of a Cooper's hawk outside my window.

A Cooper's hawk sitting in our weeping cherry tree. Needless to say all my feeder birds disappeared. I hope you enjoyed my yardbirds, what birds are you seeing in your yards?

An InLinkz Link-up

As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Around the yard

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   They are both fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

I have finally begun to see some new birds in and around the yard.. I am happy to see new birds arrive and the winter birds are fewer..I am still seeing the Junco and the White-throated Sparrows.  But YES, Spring has sprung.

I have been seeing a few Purple Finches, love the raspberry color on the male. The Pine Warbler has returned, two of them hopping around my weeping cherry tree. I am starting to see some Pine Siskins moving thru again. The Blue Jays never seem to leave..I believe the hawk is a Sharp Shinned Hawk. The Chipping Sparrows have returned,  are all shown in the above mosaic.

 My Crow with the cross-bill is still being seen around..

 On the left is the Chipping Sparrow and on the right is a Pine Siskin with a Goldfinch.

My Pine Warbler seems to like the peanut suet balls I buy at Walmart..

The neighborhood Great Blue Herons have also come back to the same tree they have been nesting in for years.  The tree and Great Blue Heron nest is across from my neighbors yard, from my house there are a lot of twigs branches in the way..

A pretty male...raspberry colored Purple Finches are also stopping by.. It is nice to see the migrating birds moving in..Winter is finally over! WHEW, I though it would never end...


I hope you enjoyed my post. Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. I appreciate the nice comments..

I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.

I hope you can join in on our fun at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith 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 ahead!

Bombay Hook NWR, 75th Anniversary

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

On Saturday, hubby and I drove to Delaware to visit Bombay Hook NWR. I included a link for Bombay Hook NWR which lists the many activities they will be having during their anniversary celebration. If you want to visit during this time you can check out the calendar of events. We did not know until we arrived at Bombay Hook, they are celebrating their 75th anniversary. The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937.

 In my mosiac above I have a cute Pied Billed Grebe, tree blossoms, Great Egret, raft of Coots, Yellowlegs, three Black Crowned Night Herons in the tree, Blue-winged Teals, and Purple Martins at their house.

I believe the bird with the highest count seen at Bombay Hook were the Coots. Hubby and I were in disagreement over the count. I said there was close to a thousand Coots throughout the refuge and hubby had a lower count of 700-800. The other highest count birds were Dunlins and Sanderlings?  The Coots were in such large groups, I was never able to fit a group on one photo. We also saw some Yellowlegs and maybe Dowitchers. I am happy the shorebirds are arriving.

The Blue-winged teals were also plentiful at the refuge.

We saw lots of cute frogs too.

A few of the Black-Crowned Night herons look like they were napping. Their beaks are tucked into their chest. Do you see three of the Night herons? Their Black Crowns and white chest are pretty easy to see.

One of the activities they had on Saturday was a display of the wild birds of prey which are native or known to migrate thru this area.  Included were the Red-tailed hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Broad-winged hawk and a Red-Shoulder hawk.


The Wild birds of Prey program is a cool experience to see these beautiful bird up close and learn more about them. It is sad to learn each one had some kind of disability. The Red Shouldered Hawk was blind in one eye and the Merlin had a broken wing. The Red-tailed hawk was actually the western species and had a beautiful white chest which is different than the east species which has the dark belly band.

I thought the hawk in the back was beautiful and is the western version of the Red-tailed Hawk.

I hope you enjoyed my post and I appreciate the visits and the comments.

To see more wonderful mosaics, post  and photos click here Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday. 
Thank You to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy.

Wilkes Barre Hawk

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

I am pretty sure this is a Red-tailed hawk. Hubby and I saw him or her while walking around Kirby Park in Wilkes Barre, Pa this weekend.

The hawk did not move much only a slight turn of the head to look at me.

The red-tailed has a vivid rusty red tail.  Also, present are white markings called scapulars. Now, I had to look up what exactly scapulars were on a bird. Scapulars are feathers that cover the top of the hawks wing when the bird is at rest. They look like shoulders. Cool, I learned something new today, the meaning of scapulars.


To see more wonderful birds click here World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman of World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle of Nature Notes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. Happy Birding and I hope the rest of your week is a happy too.

SWF>>>Edwin Forsythe NWR hawks

It's my favorite time of the week for Skywatch Friday YEA!!!

The weekend is here and Happy Easter to everyone!! I want to add for those celebrating Happy Passover also!

These shots are from the two day NJ trip back in March. Hubby and I went to Atlantic City, we also went to the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR. This wildlife refuge has become one of my favorite places to visit and see the birds.

On this visit we saw lots of ducks, GB Herons, Snow Geese, Brants, Cormorants,  Oystercatchers, Yellowlegs, Bluebirds, Cardinals, Titmouse, Chickadees, Tree Swallows and Purple Martins and a surprise sighting of a American Woodcock, a Red-tailed Hawk and a Northern Harrier.

We hiked the Jen's trail, when I saw the sign  I immediately thought
of Jen and her blog "I usedtohatebirds" 
 If you like to see more great birds you should check out her blog.

So here are a couple of photos from Jen's trail

 Again from Jen's trail a view of the pond. This was the area where we saw the American Woodcock. It quickly disappeared in the brush. We also heard and saw this Red-Tailed Hawk.

Again from Jen's trail we saw a foggy view of the highrise hotels/casinos in Atlantic City.

The sky was mostly blue but the fog seemed to be hanging around. I think New Jersey must have the most marsh land I have seen in all my travels. Marsh land is great because it attracts so many great birds.

The Northern Harrier showing off his white uppertail.

We watched from our car as the fog rolled back into the refuge.

This is a view of the tallest hotel/casino in Atlantic City called the Revel. I thought it looked cool to only see the top and the fog all around the bottom of the highrise.

I hope you enjoyed my skywatch from the wildlife refuge and to see more beautiful skies from around the world check out Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the host of Skywatch: Sandy Sylvia and Wren. Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a great weekend!!

SWF>>>Hashawha Nature Center

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday

On the weekend hubby and I always pick some place to go for a walk, this past weekend we went to the local Hashawha Nature Center. They have miles of trails, a lake, streams, a raptor center and it is great for birding.  The sky was a beautiful blue and it was a lovely day.

A robin perched on the wires with a pretty blue sky for a background.

Hubby and I were trying to figure out what kind of tree this is? It had these little round balls hanging on the branches that the birds were picking at? 

I am seeing hawks just about everywhere I go, I believe this is a Red Shouldered.

The full moon looked beautiful last week.  I hope you enjoyed my skywatch.  As usual thank you for visting my post and for the lovely comments.

To see more beautiful skies from around the world  please visit Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the hosting group of Sylvia, Sandy and Wren. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Taking the Back Roads

YEA!  Another weekend is here and I am linking up with Camera Critters   and  Sunday Bridges  and Scenic Sunday  .  I hope everyone is safe from the horrible storms that happened overnight and yesterday, my thoughts and prayers go out to the storm victims.

These are some shots of a large flock of Blackbirds seen while driving on the back roads here in Maryland. It was the weekend hubby and I were on the way to see the eagles at Conowingo and to see if any ducks were at HavredeGrace.  And while we are in the area we always enjoy a crab cake dinner at McGregors in Havrede Grace.

I like this photo with the tree, the large flock of blackbirds and the rolls of hay

You can see the Red-winged Blackbirds mixed in with this large group. Maybe some Grackles too?

I saw this hawk in a bush low to the ground, so I was able to snap a few photos right from my car.

Male Mallard duck with a female laying right behind him, seen from the boardwalk at HavredeGrace.

This dude is doing his stretching exercises.

Headless gulls and their wacky reflections.

A few Coots were also seen near the boardwalk.

A scenic view of HavredeGrace's waterfront and boardwalk.

A bridge for my Sunday bridges. This is a bridge going over the Susquehanna river and is used by the Amtrak train that travels from Baltimore-Washington to Philadelphia and New York.

We can watch the Amtrak trains going over the bridge from the restaurant, they do have a lovely view of the river. I hope you enjoyed my post and birds. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a Happy weekend.


To see more cute and beautiful critters please visit Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting.

And to see more bridge shots please visit Sunday Bridges and for more beautiful scenery please visit  Scenic Sunday