Wordless Wednesday..The Loon

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Birding the shores

Hubby and I decided to take a last minute trip to Delaware and the Maryland shore. I was hoping to add some lifers to my list. So we left early in the morning on New Year's Eve and drove to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware.  The first bird I saw on the trail to the beach was a Hermit Thrush..a lifer for me. The Hermit Thrush ..my field guide says it is grayish brown, eye ring and spotted chest. Cool, I was off to a good start adding to my lifer list for the end of the year.

In the mosaic above pictures included are the sunrise, Cape Henlopen dune, Hermit Thrush, White Winged Scoter, Red Throated Loon and the Cape Henlopen beach.


As we got to the beach I started scanning the dunes and beach for the Snow Bunting, a bird I have been wanting to see since I started birding. We walked along the beach and I was able to pick up two more lifers..the Surf Scoter and the White Winged Scoter. Then we drove down to the point, a place where the Snow Buntings have been seen in the past. Walking along the beach a large flock of birds flew  past quickly and I just had a feeling that they were the Snow Buntings. An awful photo enlarged and cropped did verify they were the Snow Buntings.  I do not like including a bird as a lifer unless I get a good look at the bird. It would have been great if they could have stopped and landed but no luck there. So this winter I will still be on my quest to see a good sighting of a Snow Bunting. Here is a link to Cornell's All about Birds with some facts about the  Snow Bunting .



Below, is my quick point and shoot shot of the flock of Snow Buntings. They flew by so fast, I as surprised I ended up with any of the birds in my photo. I thought it would be one of my famous blue sky shots. The male Snow Bunting is mostly white and has dark wing tips.

Since we finished kind of early at Cape Henlopen we decided to do a loop and drive to Ocean City Maryland and Assateague Island. Ocean City's inlet is usually great for birding. We stopped for lunch at a place called Dumsers famous for their ice cream. We had started with delicious seafood bisque (it was filled with scallops, shrimp and crab meat) and hubby had a crab cake and I had a tasty barbeque pork sandwich. A great place for lunch,  I would highly recommend Dumser's on Coastal Hwy. After lunch we were onto the inlet to check out the birds there. The birds I saw at the inlet were not lifers but I enjoyed seeing the Common Loon, Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings. There was still some snow around, this was the first time I had seen snow on Ocean City's beach. We even saw a snowman near the jetty at the inlet.

In the mosaic above, pic's of some cute birdhouses on the dunes at Ocean City, Purple Sandpiper, Common Loon, Snowman and the sunset at Assateague Island. We were making so many stops we decided to spend the night and continue having more fun at Ocean City and Assteague on New Years Day.

Above is one of Assateague Island famous wild ponies. Assateague Island and the beach is another spot known to have Snow Bunting sightings. Hubby and I enjoyed another walk down the beach looking for the  Snow Buntings. I was determined to find a Snow Bunting before the end of the year.

Above is the beautiful sunset we were lucky to see at Assateague Island. Even though I did not see my Snow Bunting hubby and I had a great New Year's eve.

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday  and to show off the pretty blue skies check out Sally's Blue Monday  and That's My World . Click on the links to visit these fun memes. Thanks to both Mary and Sally and the hosting team at That's My World for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post.

Birding the NCR trail

Last weekend hubby and I enjoyed a brisk walk along the NCR bike trail not far from our house. Usually in the afternoon I do not see many birds but on this outing we saw the Carolina Wren and was surprised to see about 10 Eastern Bluebirds flying fast over the trail and up the hill next to us. I missed getting photos of the beautiful bluebirds. The trail follows the Gunpowder River and is fast moving so only parts of it were frozen. 

These are some of the shots I took while on our walk and joining in on 2sweetnsaxy's meme Watery Wednesday and Susan's Outdoor Wednesday.

Carolina Wren  is a resident in the eastern half of the USA. Rufous colored upperparts and orange buff on its belly. It has a striking white eyebrow and a long bill.

Goldie Girl always enjoys our walks, I think sometimes she stops and looks around for the birds too.

Happy Birding and I hope you enjoyed our walk and thanks for stopping by. Clock on my links to visit more Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday posts from all over.

In case I do not get the chance again I want to wish everyone a very HEALTHY and HAPPY NEW YEARS.

My favorite birds of 2010

I thought I would do a post showing my favorite bird sightings of 2010. They are not all lifers for me but just ones that I enjoyed seeing. I have to say most of the favorites were from my trip to Costa Rica. The Toucans were so cute.

Three different kind sof toucans in my mosaic are the Collared Aracari, Chestnut Mandbiled and the Keel Billed Toucan.

Parrots on the grounds at our Arenal hotel in Costal Rica

Another Costa Rica bird the Montezuma Oropendola,  very cool and different looking bird.

This Barred owl was not a lifer but it was cool sight to see it out in the open.

The Clapper Rail sighting was another favorite, I was excited to even see one out in the open they are very timid birds.

This Bombay Hook Blue Grosbeak was seen at Bombay Hook another one of my favorite birds.

The Eastern Bluebirds nesting in my yard are always a treat to see.

 This Chincoteague Egret eating a snake was an amazing and cool sight to see

One of my all time favorite sightings is of the Little Blue heron below and on my header shot.

This is another Littel Blue below.

Now I am looking forward to another great year and adding to my list of lifers. My life list is at No. 251 and my last two lifers were the Golden Crowned Sparrow seen yesterday here in Maryland and the Wilson Snipe NO.250.

I am linking up with Misty Dawn's Camera Critters  thanks Misty Dawn for hosting. I am also linking this post to Sally's Blue Monday and Drowsey Monkeys Mellow Yellow Monday and Mary's Mosaic Monday

Thanks to our host and  for stopping by to see my post.

Captive Birds or Wild

For this weeks Camera Critters I have some photos from my archives. These shots were taken at the Sealife park on Oahu, Hawaii. While looking thru my old photos I noticed I had taken some shots of birds before I was into birding. Now I need to id these birds. They have beaks similiar to the Brown Booby I saw while in the Caribbean. Since I saw them at the Sealife Park I am not sure if they are native birds to Hawaii or captive birds. Or maybe both captive and natve?  Anyone know?



I had help wiht the id of the two birds below...I am told they are the Masked Boobies. What a name!

Another critter seen at the Sealife park is the dolphin. I am sure these are dolphins from Pacific which are a little different than our Atlantic dolphin. I loved the dolphins but would much rather see them in the wild then in captivity.

These are my critters and to see more go and visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!!