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.

Ricketts Glen Falls Trail

April 2012, 

On Saturday hubby and I hiked the Falls trail at Ricketts Glen State Park. Ricketts Glen State Park is located 30 miles north of Bloomsburg, Pa. The falls trail is a 3.2 mile loop passing by 21 waterfalls. The other waterfalls are located off other trails. It is a very steep and sometimes difficult trail. We took our time stopping to enjoy the waterfalls and I was listening for the birds and taking photos. We did spook a turkey off the trail. And I saw a few Chickadees and turkey vultures soaring above us. It is a little early for the warblers though I do think I heard one off the trail. Ricketts Glen is noted for 23 varieties of warblers and the Bald Eagle. The park is also included in the Susquehanna River Birding trail.

 

The sign shows the Falls Trail and list the names of each waterfall that we saw, they range from 11ft to 94ft being the tallest.

Ricketts Glen has a total 23 waterfalls, beautiful hemlock trees, lots of pretty ferns and moss and bridges that cross the rivers.

The steps were steep and uneven and now my legs are feeling like I used muscles that I did not even know I had. LOL!

We crossed several different bridges along the way criss-crossing back and forth over the river.

After spending about 4 hours hiking on the Falls trail and at the park we headed to Wilkes Barre, Pa to spend the night at a Best Western hotel. After checking into to our room we headed to the Mohegan Sun casino at Pocono Downs. We had dinner at their Timber buffet, lots of good seafood and dinner choices. They also had other restaurants like a Ruth Chris and a Johnny Rockets, a great variety. The casino was very crowded, also included a long line of people waiting to see and get autographs of an actress on  the show Jerseylicious? After dinner we were ready to head back to our room for the night.


To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Sunday Bridges   and  Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday.  

Thanks to all the great host, Louis of Sunday Bridges, Mary of Mosaic Monday and the gang at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sandy and Sylvia.  I hope you enjoyed my post, thanks for stopping by.

I wish everyone a safe and happy week ahead.

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