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!

Hashawha Nature Center

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

These are some scenes we saw during our drive to and our hike at the Hashawha Nature Center on Saturday. I read the the word Hashawha is a Native American term meaning "old fields". During our hike we stopped at the raptor center, the raptors are birds that are injured in some way and can not live in the wild. The owls are some of my favorite raptors at the center. It is just sad for me to see them in cages.

We passed this field of sunflowers along the way, I could not pass up stopping the car for some photos.  I can just imagine how happy the birds with this field of sunflowers. They must be in heaven with a buffet of sunflower seeds.

While hiking on the loop trail we passed by this small pond. I see a large owl box towards to back of the pond. It would be cool to  be there when the box is in use.

At the Raptor Center I zoomed in on the Great Horned Owl's face trying to remove most of the wire fence in front of us. The owl has the coolest looking eyes. They also have a Bald Eagle, Red Tailed Hawks and a Barred Owl.

The loop trail also took us by this field, I like the layer of colors. I was hearing all kind of birds along the walk but except to see one flying away I could not report a specific bird.

We walked past this old 19th century log cabin, it is not in use except for historic reasons. I love the wood and the big stone chimney. Around here I saw some Cardinals and heard a very noisy wren.

We saw lots of American Goldfinches on this field of yellow goldenrod. There was also some pretty purple thistle mixed in that attracted the birds. I believe I had some quick glimpses of a few Orchard Orioles.

We ended our walk near alarger lake filled with lilypads. As you can see with the pretty sky and cooler temperatures, we had a beautiful day for our hike and some birding.



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. Have a safe and happy week!

Sunday morning hike

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

This morning hubby and I went on a hike around the Patuxent wildlife refuge. Visiting the National Wildlife Refuges must be one of my favorite things to do. If you scroll down on my blog you can click on the letters NWR and it will show some of the posts I have made about my NWR visits.

I saw my first of the year Osprey on the nest, lots of Tree Swallows, Bluebirds, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Chipping Sparrows, heard and saw a few Northern Flickers, Juncos, Robins, Canada Geese, Mallards, Ring-necked ducks and the pretty Wood ducks.

My mosaic is made of some of the sights and birds we saw at the refuge.

In my mosiac, the refuge had a cool sculpture of a wolf family, wood ducks were making their way along the edge of the lake and tree swallows were flying all around us. The tree tops looked pretty with their colorful buds, the flowering redbud looked gorgeous and I tried hard to get a decent reflection of the Canada Goose and a reflection of the bridge.

The wolf family sculpture outside the visitor center was cute.

The redbud tree looks gorgeous and is one of my favorite blooming trees in the spring

One of the many Tree Swallow we saw, most were flying around, I guess catching bugs.

An Osprey was on the nest and I liked the pretty trees on the other side of the lake. The buds on some of the trees looked orange and reddish.

 My fuzzy zoomed in shot of the Osprey on the nest.

I hope you enjoyed our walk around the wildlife refuge. I hope everyone has a happy week ahead. Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and thanks to the hosting group at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sandy and Sylvia.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos, please visit Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday

GBBC & a hike in the neighborhood

I am linking up my post with Mosaic Monday and  Our World Tuesday

This weekend I have been participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count . It is a joint project with Cornell and Audubon and could be called a Citizen's Science project. Yesterday and today I took fifteen minutes of my day to count the birds in my backyard. Yesterday the bird with my highest count was seeing 31 Turkey Vultures and today the bird with the highest count of 22 was the American Goldfinch.

Two of my regular backyard birds in the mosaic above were the Pine Warbler and the male Downy Woodpecker.

 A male Downy Woodie on my pergola.

It turned out to be a great day..... the so called forecast of snow missed us and stayed south.  So, hubby and I decided to drive around our lake and take a hike on another trail. We parked for a bit near the dam to take a look and some photos. Other shots in the mosaic besides the bridge going over the dam, my Goldie Girl, a neat looking snake like vine, some cool looking fungi, the reservoir and a Golden Crowned Kinglet. While hiking on the trail near the lake we again spooked off some Common Merganser and saw a huge flock of Canada Geese way on the other side of the lake.

I liked the reflection of the bridge going over the dam. It will be nice to start seeing all these trees turning green once again.

Some cool looking fungi, almost heart shaped.

Goldie Girl is a great hiker. 

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

I am still protesting the horrible Word Verification that blogger is now using. My eyes are going batty.