Thursday, March 31, 2016

Around the yard

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday, Good Fences, Friday's Hunt and The Barn Collective. I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

I am sharing some backyard scenes, skies and neighborhood barns. Maybe some birds too. We are going on 27 years living in this rural area, we see lots of farms and old barns no longer in use. It is sad to see these old farms and land turn into McMansions.


A Great Blue Heron flying over our yard.

Below are some drive-by shots of local neighborhood farms, barns and fences.





Another one of my favorite scenes and photos, a local horse farm.



A drive-by street with fences on both sides of the street and a nice red barn with a horse.


For Friday's Hunt.  Thanks to Teresa for hosting Friday's Hunt.
1. Starts with N
2. Week's favorite
3.  Vintage

 Above my favorite skywatch photo. From my deck a pretty view of the sky and contrail.


When my son was living at home he had his homemade backyard firepit, pull up a seat. Down the hill are our shed, redbud tree and some butterfly bushes and our neighbors fence.


So far, daffodils are the only blooms we are seeing on our yard.


for the letter N outside my window, I have a White-breasted Nuthatch looking at me.


Another week's favorite, I still have some of Goldie Girl's hair for the birds to use in their nest, check out the Titmouse with a mouthful.


My moon shot, another favorite.

Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments.
To see more pretty skies, fences, barns and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.


Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt    Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Snow Geese, Middle Creek WMA


I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.


Happy Easter everyone!

These days are just flying by, finally Spring officially arrived on March 20th. YAY for Spring! I am sharing a daytrip from March 9th to Middle Creek WMA near Lancaster Pa. My hubby, my brother and I went to see the Snow Geese that are migrating on the East Coast. The Snow Geese stop at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management area for a rest and refuel.  I did not count the geese but I would say there were around 50,000 Snow Geese,  1,000 or more Tundra Swans and various others ducks seen on this day.




Some of the Snow Geese were close to the crowds of people, they did not seem shy.




Seeing all these Snow Geese is amazing sight even for the non-birder.


Around the other side of the lake we found the Tundra Swans hanging out with some Canada Geese.


We waited a while to see the Snow Geese lift off the water to land on the fields.


The Snow Geese did not fly far, some actually just walked onto the field from the water.



One barn was in the distance and another barn off the road as I was driving. I like the big tree next to the barn on the bottom right. I hope these barns are ok for Tom's Barn Collective. We had great weather almost a summer like day, I always love seeing the Snow Geese and Swans. We found a nice diner called Knight and Day, for an early dinner before the ride home.

I hope you enjoyed my post. As always, I appreciate the visits and your nice comments.  Have a happy new week ahead!

As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective
Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees
Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Saturday's Critters #119

Saturday's Critters #119

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.


Happy Easter everyone!

These are local birds from my neighborhood and from the woods next to our home. On March 10th the Great Blue Herons have arrived landing back on their same nests as last year. There may be more Herons this time, I am noticing more nests on different trees than last year. I can see at least 4-5 nest in the woods across from yard. I can watch the Great Blue Herons working on their nest and flying by my yard with stick in their beaks.


One Great Blue Heron on a nest.



There are two herons on this nest, one seems to be looking at me. The other heron is leaning over I only see it butt and legs. There are more nest in these tall pine trees along the fireroad back into the woods.



In the woods across from our house I can watch the herons collecting sticks for their nest.


A video taken from my dining room window, I was able to watch this Great Blue Heron in the tree.



When hubby and I walked on the fireroad checking out the other herons nest we found this Barred Owl. Two different days we found him/her in the same tree. It is nice to have both the Great Blue Herons and the Barred Owl just a short walk from home. We will be checking out the progress on all of these birds through out the season.


From a different day we saw the Barred Owl again, same location as the previous sighting.  I think their nest is nearby!



Another bird sighted off the fireroad, two Wood Ducks.. The male flew away towards the lake but this female stopped and perched in a treetop. I hope you enjoyed this 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!



To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-BirdinThanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Great Falls National Park

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

One weekend hubby and I took a day trip to see the Great Falls NP, the water levels were up high due to all the snow melt and the rain storms we had recently.

For Teresa's Friday's Hunt...
1. the letter M
2. week's favorite
3. Bird or wings



A favorite photo,  the sky and the reflections are pretty. We had a nice sunny day but a little chill still in the air as we walked on the C&O Canal Trail at the Great Falls NP.


I like this curvy trail the Great Falls NP.


The Great Falls overlook, a pretty sky and the Potomac River was looking pretty forceful.


The birds I saw at the park were the Tufted Titmouse, Canada Geese in flight, Great Blue Heron, Mallard ducks and more Canada Geese.



My YOUtube video taken at the Great Falls NP in Maryland.


For Friday's Hunt and my week's favorite I have a red sky sunset capture.

As always I hope you liked my photos. Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments.


To see more pretty skies, fences, barns and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.


Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt  
  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Sunday, March 20, 2016

The Farm


I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.


Happy Spring, our daffies are finally blooming. I am linking up with Denise at Today's Flowers.  Thanks Denise for hosting.


I am sharing some local birds and scenes from around our neighborhood.



Above on a local farm is a family style restaurant (they have the best Maryland Crabcakes) located in our neighborhood, it is on a large property and they have a few ponds that attract the Canada Geese and various ducks.


Restaurant patrons have been known to feed the Geese and the ducks at the local pond.


One of the three ponds at the family-style restaurant and their big white barn. The restaurant is close enough to home that we have ordered carry-out and eat at home.


Somewhere in the trees behind this farm is an eagle nest, over the years I have never been able to find the nest. I have seen the eagle flying over the ponds and on the ground.


Another local neighborhood barn, I assume the middle photo is a Birch Tree and a favorite the Red-bellied Woodpecker.


The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a regular visitor to my yard but I can see her in the woods next to our place too. I hope you enjoyed my post. As always, I appreciate the visits and your nice comments.  Have a happy new week ahead!

As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective
Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees
Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Saturday's Critters #118

Saturday's Critters #118

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

Hubby and I took a walk on the trail next to the Monocacy River in Frederick County, Maryland. Below are some of the birds I saw including the cool Great Horned Owl.


Great Horned Owl seen off the trail.


A snoozing Great Horned Owl. I wish I could make that tree branch disappear, but that is not happening.


Singing Redwing Blackbird.


Besides the birds above, we also saw a group of white-tailed deer running off into the woods. I hope you enjoy my owl and all the other birds from our walk.





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!

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-BirdinThanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Stewart  hosting Wild Bird Wednesday Thanks to Stewart for hosting this fun meme.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Tennessee Sunrise

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences and joing for the first time Jesh @ Seasons @ St Germain's Blog  Thanks to Jesh!
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.


Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 
This is my favorite Irish Blessing
May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come thru your door! 

This should be the end of our Tennessee trip and photos, we started off the 2nd full day with a sunrise at the Tennessee River and then we were off to see the waterfalls and more of the Falls Creek Falls State Park.


I am sharing my week's favorite this sunrise shot above.


For Teresa's Fridays hunt..thanks Teresa for hosting.
1. The letter L
2. Week's favorite
3.  Lace


We had a full day planned for our last full day in Tennessee, it started with a sunrise view of the Tennessee River.


My last sighting of Tennessee birds, were the Black Crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Herons, Double Crested Cormorants, a Hawk, White Pelicans and more Sandhill Cranes.


The view at the Buzzard's Roost, Falls Creek Falls State Park.


Same park but, this is a different bridge than the bridge on my last post. For Tex's Good Fences, I have this shot of the suspension bridge at Piney Creek Falls, Falls Creek Falls State Park. We crossed several bridges at this park.




I am attracted to all the dogs I see while I am away, this cute furbaby was near the waterfall. If you look closely in the top right corner I have a bit of fence for Tex's Good Fences.


This was the Piney Creek Falls.


This is the view at Falls Creek Falls, the main attraction at the park called Falls Creek Falls State Park.  I think the water on the waterfalls looks like lace for Theresa's Friday's Hunt.


George's Hole, a pretty spot in the Falls Creek Falls State Park.


My Tennesse moon capture is another photo for Teresa's hunt and my week's favorite photo.

After a full day of birding, hiking, visiting the waterfalls and park we were back at the hotel before dark and saw a beautiful moon.
As always I hope you liked my photos. Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments.


To see more pretty skies, fences, barns and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.


Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt    Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! "One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day." "T...