Viewing nature with Eileen

Saturday's Critters #122

The Belted Kingfisher was seen along the wildlife drive in the refuge.


The Killdeer was seen right on the wildlife drive. They moved off as we drove closer.


It was a warm afternoon the the turtles were sunning themselves.

More turtles..we saw more as the day went on.

Turtles and their reflections were everywhere.


Not the best shot, but across the lake was a nest far right and I believe it an eagle on the far left tree.


Back on the hotel parking area the local pool swimming Mallard couple were out for a walk and a dip in the puddle. I hope you enjoyed my post. As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

It's time to link up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences and Random 5 Friday and Friday's Hunt ...I hope you can join in on the fun and share your post with these fun memes.

My post is more on our Virginia Beach trip. On our first day in Virginia we stopped for a visit at the Great Dismal Swamp NWR near Suffolk Va. We drove the wildlife autotour, walked on a few of the trails enjoyed the scenery and wildlife.  The Great Dismal Swamp wildlife refuge was created in 1974 from a combined land purchased and with land donated to the government from the Nature Conservancy. The refuge encompasses over 112,000 acres. It is also considered one of the (IBA) Important Bird Areas.


For Friday's Hunt.  Thanks to Teresa for hosting Friday's Hunt.
1. Starts with P
2. Week's favorite
3.  In Motion
For Nancy's Random 5 Friday, my randoms are listed above the images.

1. Viewing wildlife and anything nature related is one of my simple Pleasures.

On the wildlife drive we saw many turtles out sunning themselves, a swallowtail butterfly, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Coots, Common Grackles, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher.


2. Visiting and touring the national wildlife refuges is one of my favorite things to do. The scenery is usually pretty and we always see some kind of birds or wildlife.


A favorite photo...Pretty blue sky and lake, a fence and sky shot at the Lake Drummond at the Great Dismal Swamp NWR.

3. Lake Drummond is a freshwater lake located in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp.


The photo below of the Coots "in motion" for Teresa's Friday Hunt prompt. The Coots have neat looking red eyes and white bills.



4. Hubby and I try to get our exercise walking outside and enjoying nature. This shot below has some fences for Tex's Good Fences meme.



We walked on some of this trail shown above, you can walk all the way to the same lake that we drove to on the autotour. Along the trail we saw and heard a lot of Yellow-rump Warblers, Pine Warblers and Woodpeckers.

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

I have more birds from last weekend's visit to Blackwater NWR. Besides all the winter ducks at Blackwater we also saw a White Pelican. I have been told it is injured and has become a regular bird of Blackwater.


This was my first time seeing the White Pelican at Blackwater during previous trips we missed seeing them.


A Ring-necked Duck couple, as you can see the brownish looking female looks much different then the male.


I believe I have seen the Coots during all my visit to Blackwater NWR



On the way home we stopped for lunch at Kent Island a restaurant called THE NARROWS, great crab cakes here. On their parking I found this cute Killdeer.


Also from the restaurants parking lot I sighted this male Greater Scaup along with a couple of female Scaups. My field guide says the Great er Scaups have the rounded heads and the Lesser Scaup has a peaked crown on the rear of its head.


Two female Scaups, heads tucked and each with one eye peeping out. Thanks for stopping by to see my birds and I always appreciate your nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

YEA!  Another weekend is here and I am linking up with Camera Critters   and  Sunday Bridges  and Scenic Sunday  .  I hope everyone is safe from the horrible storms that happened overnight and yesterday, my thoughts and prayers go out to the storm victims.

These are some shots of a large flock of Blackbirds seen while driving on the back roads here in Maryland. It was the weekend hubby and I were on the way to see the eagles at Conowingo and to see if any ducks were at HavredeGrace.  And while we are in the area we always enjoy a crab cake dinner at McGregors in Havrede Grace.

I like this photo with the tree, the large flock of blackbirds and the rolls of hay


You can see the Red-winged Blackbirds mixed in with this large group. Maybe some Grackles too?

I saw this hawk in a bush low to the ground, so I was able to snap a few photos right from my car.



Male Mallard duck with a female laying right behind him, seen from the boardwalk at HavredeGrace.

This dude is doing his stretching exercises.


Headless gulls and their wacky reflections.


A few Coots were also seen near the boardwalk.


A scenic view of HavredeGrace's waterfront and boardwalk.


A bridge for my Sunday bridges. This is a bridge going over the Susquehanna river and is used by the Amtrak train that travels from Baltimore-Washington to Philadelphia and New York.


We can watch the Amtrak trains going over the bridge from the restaurant, they do have a lovely view of the river. I hope you enjoyed my post and birds. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a Happy weekend.


To see more cute and beautiful critters please visit Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting.

And to see more bridge shots please visit Sunday Bridges and for more beautiful scenery please visit  Scenic Sunday

For my Camera Critters I have some more birds from our to visit to the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge.

If you want to see ducks or geese a visit to the Edwin Forsythe NWR in the winter is a must. We saw so many ducks, geese, Hawks, Yellow Rump Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, Great Blue Herons and some Coots.




On my post below I have my video of the Snow geese during the sunset, this video was taken the next day at Edwin Forsythe NWR.




I hope you enjoyed my birds and critter post. To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  Thanks to Misty for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy MLK holiday weekend. It is nice to have another long weekend. To all the birders, Happy Birding!

I hope everyone had a GREAT Mother's Day!!

For Mosaic Monday I have a little of my Cape May birding from last weekend. Hubby and I took an overnight trip to the Jersey shores last weekend and stopped at a few of the birding places that are known to be good in the spring time.


In this mosaic I have the Purple Martin birdhouse and the Cape May Lighthouse, Swallowtail butterfly, one of the many bunnies we saw,  a few baby geese, and the beach.

I hope you enjoyed my Cape May photos and to see more wonderful mosaics please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday.  A big thanks to Mary for hosting this fun meme and thank you for visiting my post. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

During this past week we had some nice warm weather, we had temps in the 70's. So I grabbed the chance to take some nice walks to the Inner Harbor at lunchtime.

As far as birds go I did not see much just a lot of gulls, pigeons, around 9 mallards, 6 coots and one Northern Shoveler. There might have been more hidden in and around the boats slips.


           Below is a view of the Baltimore Aqarium, the glass pyramid holds the rainforest. The rainforest section is one of my favorite attractions in the aqarium. You can walk across the bridge to see the dolphin show in the second part of the aqarium. Past the aqarium you can just barely see a white tent like structure, this is the Pier 6 Pavilion which has a summer series of outdoor concerts.


As usual click on the photos for a larger image.



                             One of the six coots, I saw during my walk. I found the coots in the same spot all three days I took my walk.