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!!

My Great Blue Heron

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes

 This is the third year in a row that the Herons have returned to nest in the same area and trees in my neighborhood. Even my neighbors are getting into seeing and hearing the herons.

 Above are three of the herons flying above the pine trees in my yard. I believe there is more than one heron nest, since I have seen more than one heron at one time. I can always tell a heron in flight with it's long bill, neck and those long legs hanging out the back.




I was able to make a short video while I stood watching the heron from my deck.




They do make the weirdest noises. I have watched one heron in the trees across from my driveway. The heron was breaking off branches to take back to it's nest. It is amazing that these large birds actually nest in the tree tops and not down on the ground. When the heron got back to the nest with the stick, I heard a lot of squawking, I believe it was the female saying "about time you got home" HaHa!

The heron seemed to be picky about what branches it wanted. sometimes breaking off a branch only to drop it and try for another one it liked better.

It looks like progress is being made on the one nest I was able to find. I do believe there is more than one. Above you can see the Heron butt and underside while it was bent over re-arranging the sticks on the nest.

The Great Blue Heron usually nest in colonies which is called a Rookery. The Herons are smart building their nest in colonies, it guarantees that the nest will be watched and protected by another heron. The first year we heard the squawking and squabbling we were not sure what was going on until I started seeing the herons flying to and from the nest. I read that 3-5 eggs are laid in the nest and by 8 weeks 1-4 of the chicks survive. The chicks start testing out their legs by walking near the edge of the nest and stretching their wings. The Great Blue Herons can live until the age of 17.



To see more beautiful birds check out Springman's World Bird Wednesday  and Michelle's Nature Notes

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

Birds & Cats

I am linking up with Camera Critters

I know there are a lot of bloggers friends that love cats and I hope my post does not make my readers upset with me.  Recently, I read an article about birds killed by turbines in one of our environmental magazines. I honestly think that the wind turbines are horrible for birds, especially sitting in the path of migrating birds. What really surprised me was they listed domestic cats and pesticides kill tens of MILLIONS of birds annually.

 Above is a sweet Hermit Thrush!!

 I would think logically the wind farms can be put in areas away from migrating birds. I read that engineers are looking into various ideas to protect the birds and actually try to keep birds away from the turbines. Suggestions were solid towers rather than lattice style which the birds like to perch on, radar that would slow the turbines down when it detected approaching migrating birds, flashing strobe lights at the top and even changing the color of the tower.

EDIT: As I was playing on the computer this morning and listening to the news I heard the Electric Co or State of Maryland wants to add a monthly fee onto our bills to help pay for a wind farm they want to put out in the ocean. I believe this would be near Ocean City, Md.  Now, this wind farm would be on the Atlantic Flyway for migrating birds and they want me to help pay for it. Are they are out their minds?????

 This is one of the wild cats I have seen recently in my yard. I must find a way to keep these cats out of my yard. Should I call the animal shelter? These cats are wild, they have had no shots from a vet and raise babies in an old car that one of my neighbors keeps in their yard. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to suggestions.

Above my Wingscape Birdcam has captured some cute squirrel shots.

 My Goldie Girl looks a little upset I will not play ball with her. Goldie Girl recently had her long hair cut      and now looks more like a lab than a Golden Retriever. But, she is still my cutie.

 I do have to admit I am a dog lover and a responsible dog owner. We keep our dog in a fenced-in yard and on a leash while out walking. Now, it would be nice if cat owners were responsible too and either keep their cats inside the house or watch them when they are outside or do they have leashes for cats?  I was horrified when I heard how many birds are killed annually by cats. When I see the  feral cats in my neighborhood, that keep coming into my yard all I can think of is trying to protect my birds and the cute chipmunks that must go into hiding to be safe from the cat. If engineers are willing to work on the problems of the birds & turbines I would think pet owners could find a way to protect the birds from their cats. As far as pesticides go, we are not able to use pesticides around our well water so pesticides are a NO-NO for us.. Also, aren't there a lot of safe organic products that can be used on lawns and plants?

Another shot of my sweet Hermit Thrush


Sorry my critter post included a rant. I just care about the birds and wildlife. To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters..  Thanks to Misty for hosting and thanks for stopping by my post. I hope everyone has a HAPPY weekend and Happy Birding to my birder friends.

SWF>>>Backyard sunset

I am linking my skies  up with Skywatch Friday

Above is my neighborhood heron, it flew to the trees across from my house. I watched from my living room window as it broke off branches to take back to the nest. Along with the heron near my house, hubby and I noticed at least two other Great Blue Herons moving in the treetops off of the fireroad during one of our walks. There could be more herons that we have not seen. So, I guess I can consider my neighborhood is now a heron rookery.

I thought these clouds would make a beautiful sunset. Tell me what you think of my clouds below.

It is amazing how the sky changes and can light up the whole sky with beautiful colors.

My youtube video of a skywatch sunset, birds sounds and some very loud frog sounds. One of the loudest bird sounds in my video is the Cardinal. They do dine late at the feeders.



I hope you enjoyed my skies and video. Skywatching has become one of my favorite things to do, besides birding. It is wonderful when I can do both skywatching and birding at the same time.

To see more beautiful skies from around the world check out Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to the host of Skywatch: Sylvia, Sandy and Wren.  Thanks, also for stopping by to see my  post and I hope everyone has a Happy weekend.