Saturday's Critters # 627

  Welcome to Saturday's Critters! Hello and Happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Do you have a wish for Christmas? I have a wish besides peace and love, joy and good health for us all.

Click on images for better viewing.

Not a Christmasy post, my wish for this Christmas to see some of these birds once again.  From my archives I have a few favorite lifers, they were seen either in Maryland parks and in my back yard. I was lucky to see these birds, I have not seen most of these birds for a long time.  I wonder why they have disappeared. 

My sighting of a Fox Sparrow in my back yard. 

It has been awhile since I have seen a Fox Sparrow. 

Common Redpoll was seen at the Black Hills Regional Park, Boyds Maryland .

 A rare sighting of the Evening Grosbeaks in my yard, I had 3-4 show up at my feeders on Oct 25-26th, 2012. 

The Pine Siskins are not a rare bird, but there were years I saw many of them at my feeders in the winter months. It has been years since I have seen one in my yard. 

The Indigo Bunting is seen and heard in my yard and neighborhood. One of my favorite summer birds. 

The Indigo Bunting was one of my favorite yard birds, it is a lovely bird.  

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were another bird that would appear in the spring as they were migrating north?  It has been years since I have seen one in my yard.  

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday   I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

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Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

Top Ten 2012

We are almost at the end of 2012, very hard to believe this year flew by. For my Camera critter post I have a post on my top ten birds I most want to see and some photos of my previous top ten. I started this list years ago and have been marking off my lifers as I see them.

TOP TEN BIRDS... from 2009 most wanted to see in 2010 first post on my TOP TEN
1. Snowy Owl.. seen @ Assateague...added Snow Bunting... a link to my  Snowy Owl
2. Whip-poor-will.........Seen at Magee Marsh, Ohio
3. Blackburian Warbler...a male.....Seen  at Magee Marsh , Ohio  my Blackburian Warbler
4. Green Jay....maybe a Texas trip
5. Snipe...Seen in the Paper Mills flats here in Maryland my Wilson's Snipe
6. Horned Lark...seen Freeland, MD added the....American Woodcock... seen at Magee Marsh, Ohio
7. Yellow Breasted Chat...seen on a Bird Club outing my Yellow-breasted Chat
8. Bittern... any......American Bittern seen with the bird club in Huntley Meadows, Virginia
9. Chestnut-backed Chickadee..  seen on our Oregon vacation July , 2012
10. Whooping Crane.....seen Aug 4, 2012 at the Patuxent Whooping Crane research center

I saw lots of Chestnut-backed Chickadees during our trip to Oregon, July 2012.

We visited the Whooping Crane research center at Patuxent NWR in Aug, 2012. My Whooping Crane post about our Whooping Crane tour at the research center is here Whooping Crane.

The Snow Bunting is one of my favorite top ten birds and I was so happy to see it here in Maryland

 at Fort McHenry.

2011....Top Ten Birds..Most want to see in 2012

1. Barn Owl..in the wild
2. Atlantic Puffin...saw the Tufted Puffin In Oregon, July 2012 still need the Atlantic Puffin
3. Evening Grosbeak....male..I have seen the female Evening Grosbeak here in my yard Nov, 2012
4. Black Rosy-Finch
5. Roadrunner
6. Pine Grosbeak....male
7. Western Tanager....male...male seen during our July 2012 vacation to Oregon
8. Green Tailed Towhee
9. GreenJay
10. Townsend’s Warbler..seen on a backyard feeder in Carlisle Pa, Feb 2012

I was thrilled to see the Tufted Puffin, the male Western Tanager and the Townsend's Warbler even though the sighting was only for a short time and I was not able to take their photos.

On the list above I need to go on a vacation to Texas and Arizona? I could knock off a few of these birds with one trip.

 A real treat to see the female and juvie Evening Grosbeaks in my yard in Nov, 2012

                                            2012 Top Ten Birds... most want to see in 2013

1.   Barn Owl ..in the wild
2.   Atlantic Puffin
3.   Blue-winged Warbler
4.   Golden-winged Warbler
5.   Saw-Whet Owl
6.   Burrowing Owl
7.   Limpkin
8.   Black Tern
9.   Common Redpoll
10.  Pine Grosbeak

Since we are having this irruptive year, I might be able to see the Common Redpoll or even a Pine Grosbeak in Maryland or neighboring states. The Burrowing Owl and Limpkin are possible to see during a planned Florida trip in March or April. The two warblers will have to wait until spring. I am hoping to add many more lifers to my list in 2013. Happy Birding.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters please visit: and Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host Fiona of Green Day, Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.  Thanks for visiting my blog and post. I wish everyone a very safe and happy weekend.

More on the Evening Grosbeak

I am linking up my Evening Grosbeak with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

First, I want to say so far my family and I made it safely thru the storm, our electric is on as I type this and I am happy to have a cup of coffee first thing this morning. The wind and rain was scary last night so I went to bed early. I hope all my blogger friends have also made it thru the storm safely. Maryland has had heavy rains and winds on the east side of the state and blizzardlike conditions and snow on the west side of the state. It was a very strange storm.

I was a happy birder to be one of the few people last weekend to have a "rare" visitor to my yard. The Evening Grosbeak is another species of bird like the Pine Siskins for Maryland birders to see in an irruptive year. Irruption is like a migration of birds moving south due to the availability of seeds and their food source.

The first day I noticed the Evening Grosbeaks there were three of them, the second day I only saw one. I was told that I was seeing one female and two immatures.

The Evening Grosbeak is a larger size finch around 8 inches. Their breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada and the western mountain area of the United States. The adult has a short black tail, black wings and a large pale bill. The adult male has a bright yellow forehead and body. You can see the adult male here male Evening_Grosbeak . The female is mainly olive-brown and greyer on the underparts with white patches on the wings.

The Evening Grosbeak mainly eats seed, berries and insects. On the photo above you can see a faint yellow collar. The Grosbeaks were in  my yard and visiting my sunflower seed feeders for at least a day and a half before they moved on. I wished they would have stayed longer, maybe I will see another group arrive again this winter. I will be on the lookout for any new bird arriving due to the irruption.



To see more beautiful and wonderful photos please visit: Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Wishes do come true

I am linking up with  Green Day and Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.

As a birder I had an exciting last couple of days. I posted in my last post about the irruptive birds moving thru the area and everyone should be on the look out for new birds in their yard. 

The excitement started on Thursday, I came home from work and was reading some blogs. I was commenting on Gary's Me, Boomer and the Vermilon river. I loved Gary's Evening Grosbeaks and I commented that I would love to see one in my backyard. It was no more than a minute goes by and I turned my head to look out my window and what do I see three Evening Grosbeaks at my feeders. YAHOO!!

My ever popular feeder looks like a favorite with the Evening Grosbeaks. I have been told that out of the three Grosbeaks I had one female and two immature.  Now for a pretty male to show,  would just make my weekend.

The Evening Grosbeak is a "RARE" sighting in Maryland and I was one of the few birders reporting that they were seen. I have a feeling more sightings will be reported this weekend. I reported my sighting on EBIRD and on my MD listserve, I started getting emails from birders asking if they could stop by to see my Evening Grosbeaks. I am happy to share, I just hope they stick around for awhile or maybe even more will show up.

 

The view from my window and two of the three Evening Grosbeaks.  Sorry, the chair and curtain are a little in the way. I took the shot from my desk chair at the computer.

Now, I am thinking I can wish for any bird to show up in my yard. I am wishing to see some Common Redpolls  and it would be cool to see a Saw-Whet owl in the woods next to my house. A Bohemian Waxwing would be a cool visitor too.

Another surprise in my yard, the clematis started blooming again. It is one of my favorite plants and look so pretty.

I hope you enjoyed my Evening Grosbeaks and clematis.

To see more beautiful photos and cute critters please visit: Green Day  and Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host Fiona of Green Day, Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.  Thanks for visiting my blog and post. I wish everyone a very safe and happy weekend.