Viewing nature with Eileen

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

My Wild Bird this week is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I am seeing a couple in my yard everyday, I believe they were nesting nearby. Lately the male seems to let others take turns at HIS feeders. So I assume it is the female or maybe some juvies?


Above is the female Ruby-throated at one of my feeders. Sorry for the bad photo, it was taking out my dining room window.  I put out three feeders because the male seems to be very stingy when it comes to sharing. I have witnessed what looks like a battle in the air, surprising for these tiny little birds.


I can always find the male hummer sitting in my weeping cherry tree if he is not at one of my feeders. His perch is positioned in such a spot he can watch all the feeders. Later in the summer I will move a feeder around the corner just to make sure other hummers passing thru will get a chance at the feeder.


The male showing off his pretty ruby-throat. It had recently rained so he is looking a bit wet and puffy. I enjoy sitting out on my deck in the evening and have these adorable birds zooming all around my head.

I hope you enjoyed my hummingbird post, I am looking forward to seeing your wild birds.

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.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

Taking you back once again to Florida, it was one of my favorite vacation spots. This week I am sharing a Florida sunrise from Key West.


This was the view from across our Key West hotel. On this morning we saw a colorful sunrise.



The three shots above are in order SOOC, the colors in sky was changing from a pink to orange.


The Magnificent Frigatebird was not a lifer for me but, I enjoyed watching this bird in flight along the Florida coastline.


The Piping Plovers are one of my favorite birds to see on the beach. The Plovers are adorable birds.

  I hope you enjoyed my birds and sky shots.
Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

Happy Skywatching  to everyone!
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am featuring one of my favorites..the Black bellied Whistling Duck. We saw my favorite duck nearby the Venice Audubon Rookery while vacationing in Florida.


I am not sure what it is about these ducks but, they are so darn cute. They have the cutest eyes and beak, their legs look pink and the have the black belly. You can't help but to love them, I do.






In this spot across from the rookery I noticed the Black Bellied Whistling ducks, a few White Ibis and there were some Glossy Ibis also nearby. Seeing the Whistling Ducks made my day. 



I hope you enjoyed my Black bellied Whistling Ducks.
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.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin I hope you will join in on the fun and share your critters and birds.

July 6, 2013

These are some of my yardbirds and one breeding bird seen during my local walk in the forest next to my house.


A White Breasted Nuthatch is one of my year round visitors.


Another shot of the White breasted Nuthatch at my suet feeder.


From my fireroad walk, not the best photo but it is the Worm-eating Warbler.  This bird has olive-brown upperparts, light underparts and black and light brown stripes on its head. They can be found breeding on wooded slopes in a deciduous forest. I found this bird on a hilly trail heading down to our lake.


I see lots of these guys/girls in my yard. This squirrel is in heaven pigging out on my birdseed.


The Tufted Titmouse another year round visitor to my yard and feeders. They can be fun when the fledgling are around.


I do not mind these cute chipmunks visiting, they look adorable filling their cheeks with the bird seed.

This week I have some more of my favorite blogs to read and visit. Maybe you might know these bloggers already if not you may enjoy visiting their blogs too.

Debbie, a Jersey girl is so friendly and nice to visit with.... you can visit her here: It's All About Purple.

Diane, is an Aussie blogger. Lately, I have been enjoying her travels to the Australian rainforest. Visit with Diane at Adventure before Dementia

To see some AWESOME bird photography you can visit with Bob at Bird and nature in the Forest of Dean

You can see beautiful flora, cool iguanas and amazing photography if you visit with Maria at Caribbean Biodiversity

Another birder Frank @ the Early Birder from the UK, I enjoy reading his trip reports and seeing his UK birds.

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

July 2, 2013

Can you believe it is July already?  I wish all the Canadian bloggers a HAPPY CANADA day. And on Thursday is our 4th of July celebration in the USA.

These are a few birds from my archives that I noticed I have not posted. I would like to do a post on each of my lifers, that way all my lifers appear on my blog. Another way I can keep track of my life birds. These birds were seen during a trip to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.


Yellow-headed Blackbird


Magpie


Mountain Bluebirds


Clark's Nutcracker


Black-throated Sparrows. I am sure I have more lifers that I have not done a blog post about, it will take a little while to find the photos. How do you keep you life list? Is it on an Excel document? Do you keep a written journal?  I am looking for an easy way to keep a list list and have it numbered, any ideas?



I hope you enjoyed my variety of Wild Birds on this post.
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
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!

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

This is my second post on my neighborhood breeding birds, the first post Neighborhood-breeding-birds included the Northern Parula, Scarlet Tanager, Great Crested Flycatcher and the Indigo Bunting.

I have three more birds that are breeding birds in my neighborhood. They are the Pine Warbler, the Ovenbird and the Acadian Flycatcher. I have seen the Pine Warbler visit my yard and feeders many times over the years.



Above the Pine Warbler in my weeping cherry tree. The Pine Warbler is a regular in my yard, here is a post I did back in Jan 2013 that included a Pine Warbler visiting in the winter  Happy-New-Year 2013


This is the male Pine Warbler.



The Pine Warbler has a pretty song.


I have shots showing the front and above a nice shot of the side of the Pine Warbler.


This is one of my previous post that included the Ovenbird Happy Earth day


 The Ovenbird shots were taken on a wet morning, while out walking I could hear the Ovenbird with its loud song off the fireroad. They have a thin black bordered orange crown, which is shown above.


The Acadian Flycatcher is another breeding bird in my neighborhood. They are frequently heard while I am out on my walks on the fireroad. Here is one of my first post on the Acadian flycatcher, tanager walk. 

I hope you enjoyed my Wild Birds this week. I feel lucky to see these wonderful birds in my yard and neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.
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!

June 22, 2013

Happy Summer!!

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin I hope you will join in on the fun and share your critters and birds.

Last weekend hubby and I made a second visit to the York, Pa rookery. We saw the chicks of the Black Crowned Night Herons and the Great Egrets.


A Great Egret with at least two chicks.


A Black Crowned Night Heron



A Black Crowned Night Heron Chick


I think this large group of Mallard Ducks were just fed by someone walking by.


A large group of Canada Geese were also treated to some goodies.


Another cute Egret chick!


This cute bunny was running around on the grass beneath the pine trees where the herons and egrets are nesting.


I watched the bunny for a while, it came close to my feet and started rolling in the dirt. It was so cute.


I loved seeing the herons and the egrets but the bunny stole the show for me. It was adorable. I hope you enjoyed  my visit to the rookery and my cute critter.

I notice other bloggers sharing some of their favorite blogs to read, today I decided to do the same. I am randomly  selecting these blogs and they will change on new post each weekend. I hope you take a chance to visit with some of these wonderful bloggers from around the world.

Jill from Norway shows off some amazing scenery here Jill's Norway

Visit with sweet Lynne  at her Irish Garden House  Lynne takes us around her garden, shares birds and her cute Snickers dog.

Dimi in Greece shows off her beautiful country and lovely decoupage creations on Dimi's blog.

Phil from the UK  reports on the birds he bands and shows off his beautiful bird photos.

Carole from Australia shares some Australian birds and pretty scenery  Snap Happy Birding

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday

June 20, 2013

Wow, another week has rolled on by and the days seem to go by faster and faster. I am sharing some scenes from around the yard and one sunset view from our lake. I have both sky shots for Skywatch Friday and some photos of my yardbirds for NF Winged.


This was one of my early morning sunrises on the way to work. The fog was turning colors from the sunrise.


The Gray Catbird is one of my frequent visitors. It likes the meal worms, sunflowers seeds and I think it likes the grape jelly.


One of my favorite visitors is the Downy Woodpeckers. I have a couple that visit my suet feeders.


The Carolina Chickadees are always fun to watch, I believe their babies have fledged. And they are bouncing all around the yard.


I think this Goldfinch has misplaced its comb.


This moon shot was taken on June 14 at 7:14PM , it is called the Waxing Crescent.


The shot above was courtesy of my hubby, a view of our lake at sunset.  Have you enjoyed my walk around the yard, the birds and sky? I hope to see you sharing your skies too.

Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

Happy Skywatching  to everyone!
To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

Wednesday, June 18, 2013

 For this week's Wild Bird I am featuring the Little Blue Heron. It is one of my favorite herons that we see here in the USA. I am showing both the adults and the juvenile.




 It always surprised me that the juvenile Little Blue Heron is white and looks more like an Egret.  The juvenile is all white, except for dark wings tips and have dull greenish legs. The juveniles also have a olive-gray bill.

 The photo above has one juvenile Little Blue Heron mixed in the the adult Little Blue Herons.



The adult Little Blue Heron has a bi-colored bill, a deep blue body with a reddish head and neck. The Little Blue Heron and the Snowy Egret are both about 24 inches tall compared to the taller Great Egret which is 38 inches tall.



Reflection of a  Little Blue Heron.


This shot shows just how tall the Great Egret is compared to the smaller Little Blue Herons. I hope you enjoyed my Wild Bird post and the lovely Herons.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments. I always appreciate your visits.

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!