Viewing nature with Eileen

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday   and Nature Notes

I have to edit this post. I do not want people or birders to think I was close to the nest.  I was standing a good distance away from the nest and I did comment below my photos are cropped for a closer look.  Also, I do not give out nest locations for any bird. I believe the birds can get stressed.

Hubby and I were on our way on Saturday for a hike in one of our favorite Maryland parks when we noticed this eagles nest. Actually, first we noticed the guys with their huge cameras standing in the road looking at the nest. . We got there right when the male eagle was flying off the nest to another tree where it grab a branch and flew back to the nest . 


All these photos have been cropped to get a closer look. The Eagles are a common sight in Maryland and they have made such a great come back. For me seeing the eagles will always be an awesome sight to see. I have been lucky to see both adults and juveniles fly over my yard. Hubby and I have seen the eagles at our lake and flying over the fireroads near our house.




It seemed like the female was directing the male as he moved the tree branches around on the nest. Usually eagles will build their nest in large trees near rivers or the coast. They will use the same nest year after year. If the old nest is damaged from the wind the eagle pair will rebuild the nest within a few weeks near the nesting season. They are territorial and the nesting territory is one to two miles. The eagles will look for a mate around the age of 4 or 5 and will mate for life.





To see more beautiful birds and nature photos from around the world please visit Springman's  World Bird Wednesday   and Michelle's Nature Notes.  Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.  I also thank everyone for stopping by to see my post. I hope the rest of your week is great.

I am linking up with Camera Critters

Hubby and I like to visit the Hashawha Nature Center often to look for birds and to hike. It is nice because it is maybe no more than 30 minutes from our house. But then almost everything is about 30 minutes from our house.  The nature center includes Lake Hashawha and I believe a stream by the name of Bear Branch. There are about 5 miles of trails on about 380 acres. So far we have not come close to hiking all 5 of those miles yet. Mainly because we have our favorite sections we keep going back to see.

On this day we were watching some turtles in the lake sunning themselves and listening to the sounds of the Red Winged Blackbirds that were all around us.





 We were back on the boardwalk when we noticed  a couple of Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers were flying all around us. That is when we notice their nest. The nest was in a tree not too far off from the boardwalk. They did not seem to care that we stopped and watched them.



While watching the turtles and the blue-gray gnatcatchers we saw this guy swim by. I think he is part owner of the dam that is located on the edge of the boardwalk.


I hope you enjoyed my critter post and 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 blog. Have a great weekend.

I do not think I have shown my photos from my last visit to Blackwater NWR. So for my Camera Critters post I have some shots of the Osprey on a nest and a large snapping turtle crossing the road.

The Osprey are great birds to see, they are dark brown above and white below, they have a dark eye stripe. Their huge stick nest are conspicuous on bouys, channel markers and large trees. The Blackwater refuge has nesting places set aside for the Osprey. They hunt by hovering over the water and then plunging down to graps the fish with their open talons.




One of the many Bald Eagles seen at the Blackwater NWR

I hope you enjoyed my Osprey, Eagle  and critter post and to see more cute critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  Thanks to Misty for hosting and thanks for stopping by to see my post. Have a great weekend. :)

For this week's World Bird Wednesday and Nature NotesI have more on the Prothonotary Warbler. The Prothonotary is one of my favorite warblers. Mainly because of its beautiful yellow color. I love colorful birds. They look similiar to the Yellow warbler, but the male Yellow warbler actually has red streaks down the front of its belly.

The Prothonotary nest in cavities like the woodpeckers holes. They like to be near the water or wooded swamps. They line their nest with mosses, sounds nice and cozy. An interesting thing I read about these warblers is that the fledglings can swim if they fall into the water when leaving the nest. I read that the male is a bright yellow-orange, but I say they look more yellow than orange. Their wings are blue-gray in color. The female has more of a white belly. And they have a heavy and spikelike black bill.

During our visit to Magee Marsh we were able to watch both the female Protonotary going in and out of the nest cavity. The male was nearby also, I am not sure if he was seen helping with the nest.


These photos are fuzzy due to the heavy cropping. I was not that close to the nest.

Montezuma Oropendola  is a very strange name for a cool looking bird I saw in Costa Rica. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowland from Mexico to Panama. The males are mainly chestnut with a blackish head and a bright yellow tail.  The male song is heard during a bowing display and consist of  bubbling followed by loud gurgles. Sounds weird right?  I found these sounds to be funny and we heard them often at the Laguna Lodge in Tortuguero.