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!

Cold Winter Day

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

Yesterday, hubby and I took a brisk walk on the NCR bike trail. It was a cold day, but the sky was a beautiful blue and the sun was shining.

John Muir, was a man I admire. His love of nature was clearly shown in his artwork. This is one of his quotes that I love. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul".

Above are some scenes from our walk yesterday on the bike trail. The wall of ice was beautiful, the details on the icicles, the colors from the sunlight shining on the ice was just amazing.

A few of the birds I saw were a flock of Eastern Bluebirds and a Downy Woodpecker. Watching the birds is a simple pleasure for me.

A male Downy Woodpecker working his way up the tree.

Another quote I would like to share author unknown to me "Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain".

Another John Muir quote I love "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks".

I am a person who enjoys nature and the more simple things in life like beautiful blue skies, sunrises, sunsets, nature, birds, wildlife and a forest of trees left untouched by man. Do you enjoy nature? 
Thanks for visiting my post and I hope you enjoyed my photos.

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 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!

Hemlock Gorge Walk

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


These are some of the scenes from our walk at the Hemlock Gorge yesterday.Such a calm day before the big storm SANDY. I am hoping our electric stays on, they are already announcing school closings. If I am not around visiting your blogs the next couple of days, it will be because I will not have the internet access. I hope everyone in the path of SANDY ..Take care  and be careful and I hope no one has any serious damage.

Above we saw a few falls colors, hemlock trees and a cute Carolina Wren. I also saw the YC Kinglets in the same area as the Carolina Wren.

Our walk on the trail next to the river and goes into a Hemlock forest. We saw various hemlock trees that look like they are dying most likely from the insect called Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. It was sad to see that these same beautiful hemlock trees in the Smoky Mountains are also dying from this insect.

Above are some photos from around my yard: top right is our red maple tree, Clematis is blooming again, more of the red maple, our colorful weeping cherry tree and one of the many Pine Siskins I have been seeing at my feeders.

I love the colors on our Weeping Cherry tree.

More of the blooming Clematis.

Here are just of few of the Pine Siskins in my yard today. You can see their pretty yellow stripe on their sides. At the same time they were also on other feeders and in the weeping cherry tree. My biggest flock of Siskins so far this season.

They are a fun groups of birds to watch, sometimes getting a feisty with each other. I hope you enjoyed my walk and my Pine Siskins.

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!

Sunday morning warbler walk

This morning, I talked hubby into getting up early to go on a warbler walk with me. I knew the warblers have been passing thru and I know of a local park where warblers seem to hang out on their way south. This park is very birdie especially early in the morning. I ran into some other birders from the bird club I belong to, so I am not the only one with warblers on their minds. In the past at this same park I have seen the Prothonotary warbler which was a very nice surprise. So I never know what I might see here. This is a picture of the Prothonotary Warbler I saw last spring.




The walk started off with a few Northern Cardinals, a lot of Robins, and this bird below which I believe is an Eastern Phoebe.



We walked along the trail which follows along a stream this area was very birdie but the birds stayed high in the tree tops and it was difficult to focus on them due to the leaves and they were constantly moving. A Great Blue Heron was fishing in the stream. The Robins were everywhere, in the trees, on the ground and just about everywhere we looked.



I am still learning to id my birds and seeing warblers in the fall is very difficult
for me. I saw a few of the Black & White warblers, they are easiest for me to id compared to some of the other warblers. I think even a non-birder could id a B&W warbler. LOL! The male American Redstarts were looking pretty.



This is a picture of one bird I saw today, I am undecided if it is a Bay-breasted or a Northern Parula. Or something totally different, I have been way off before. Maybe a Vireo? Someone has also mentioned my unknown bird is a Chestnut-sided Warbler.


This picture show wing bars and eye ring.






Some of my fellow bird club members pointed out a Canada Warbler and a young Baltimore Oriole. I compared some of my sightings with them and we went on our separate ways. Hubby and I went on to try and find a Wilson Warbler that the others had seen but was hiding from me. The Wilson Warbler will have to stay on my want to see list of Warblers.

Further along the trail we saw this bird on the ground in a more wooded area. I am pretty sure it is a Veery.




These two sightings are not of birds but I found them to be interesting. I am use to seeing Woolly Caterpillars but the color of this one is new to me. Also we saw some berries or is it some kind of fungi growing on the ground. They were both seen in wooded part of the trail.


White Caterpillar






Berries or Fungi?





I still have a lot of warblers on my list to see so I am sure I will be going on many more warbler walks.