Saturday's Critters # 579

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!

These are a few of my favorite things and places I was able to photograph and post on my blog during the year 2024. 

Click on images for better viewing.

2024 favorite things from January through June.

1. Jan 2024, Prettyboy Reservoir, we enjoy our local walks on the fire roads, through the forest and to the lake. The Bald Eagles are a common sight to see around the reservoir and our neighborhood.

Jan 2024, our second grandson turned 2 years old. 

2. Feb 2024, I love to check out the local Friendly Farms ponds, in the winter we can usually see some ducks. Below are the Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers and an American Wigeon.

Our first grandson, turned 3 years old in February 2024.  

3. March 2024, I love the Woodpeckers and the Pileated Woodpecker is at the top of my favorite woodpecker list.

4. April 2024, the Snow Geese are a favorite sighting, we can usually see large flocks in Maryland and Delaware. 

5. May 2024, more favorite woodpeckers seen during our Arizona trip are the Acorn Woodpecker and the Arizona Woodpecker. 

6. June 2024, another favorite thing is spending time with our grandsons and our grand-dog Winnie.

2024 favorite things from July through December

7. July 2024, a favorite sight to see in our yard is the visiting Peacock. 

I have two photos for July, my favorite granddaughter Sophie was born.

8. Aug 2024, from our Arizona trip is my hubby the butterfly whisperer. 

9. Sept 2024, seen on one of our many walks at the Prettyboy reservoir, is the mama deer with her fawn. 

10. Oct 2024, during our Alaska trip I loved seeing the Moose. This one was seen along the road near our hotel not far from Denali Park.

11. Nov 2024, from a visit to Bombay Hook NWR are the Sandhill Cranes. 

12. Dec 2024, I love the seashore, the photo is from a getaway to Chincoteague Island NWR.

13.  The December puzzle finished, I love the dolphins.

A bonus image from Jan 12, 2025. We decided to foster a dog with the option to adopt if all goes well. Miney is just over 6 months a mix breed, part Retriever and part Border Collie. Her litter mates had the names Eenie and Moe.  She is super friendly and was house trained. She is jumping up and we are working at training her to stop that bad habit. 

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.

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Saturday's Critters # 555

 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!

I am away from my computer at this time, I want thank everyone who links up and shares their critters,  to everyone who visits and for all the nice comments.  I will be visiting and commenting as soon as I can. 

1. These photos and critters are from our Arizona trip. I am still trying to catch up sharing more recent photos. On April 27th after we left the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, we decided to check out the adjacent Reid Park. We walked the loop around the lake and of course I was looking at all the birds and critters.

2. Below are a few turtles, a Cormorant and some domestic Geese.

3. A view of the lake, pretty sky and some ducks and pigeons.

4. Below are two hummingbirds hard to tell their id due to the lighting and angle of the photos. The Gila Woodpecker and a Great Horned Owl on a nest.

5. Not sure but this could be a Costa's Hummingbird.

6. This looks like the female Gila Woodpecker, I think it looks very similar to our Red-bellied Woodpecker. There is also a Golden-fronted Woodpecker and a Gilded Flicker that are similar.

7.  I was able to zoom in on a nest in a distant tree, It wasn't until I was home looking on the computer that I noticed I captured a profile of the Great Horned Owl sitting on the nest.  I see the ear tufts close to the top right side of the photo. 

8. This cute dog was patiently waiting for his/her human to continue on their walk. 

9. A couple of Cormorants were swimming in the lake.

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.

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Redbellied Woodpecker

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's Wild Bird I am featuring the Redbellied Woodpecker..  It is a common bird found in my area and around the state of Maryland.. I have a pair that visit my yard and feeders frequently..

I am sharing various photos taken from the past year..some new and some I have already shown on previous post..

The Redbellied Woodpecker is one of my favorite yard birds..

This woodpecker loves peanuts, suet sometimes Black-oiled sunflowers seeds and cracked corn..

Above you can see the red on this woodpecker's belly..

A female Redbellied Woodie.. you can see the white on its forehead and that the red on the head stops..

The male Redbellied Woodpecker..as you can see the male has the red on it's head all the way to the beak.

Momma and a juvenile Redbellied Woodpeckers.

Another shot of the female Redbellied Woodpecker. I hope you enjoyed my Redbellied Woodpeckers as much as I do..Till next week's wild bird post.. I wish you happy Birding and have a wonderful week!



Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird and nature photos please visit:

 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes

Thanks to all of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.

  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Almond Beach Resort, Hopkins Belize

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

EDIT: I am linking up with Favorite Fotos thanks to Lydia at Where the Wild Things Were

HAPPY SUMMER  to all in the Northern Hemisphere!

With this post, I am taking you back to Belize..after spending 4 nights at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge we transferred to the beach and their sister resort called Almond Beach in Hopkins. Hopkins is a small fishing village with some shops, bars and restaurants. And of course some beach front resorts. We arrived at our beach resort and were greeted with a rum punch and a tour of the resort.

Our room was a beachfront room with a fantastic view of the Caribbean Sea. Every morning we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.

We had a great room with the porch that led to the beach, towel animals on the bed, grass umbrellas and hammocks, infinity pool, a cafe and a restaurant. Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans flying up and down the coast.

 

On the first day, we arranged to take the Bioluminescence tour. The boat ride started off  thru a tunnel of mangroves into a lagoon. The night sky was lit up with stars, more than I can ever remember seeing. And the lagoon was glowing from the schools of jellyfish. Some brave people on our tour were picking up the jellyfish, not me I am a chicken. If you do not pick these creatures up a certain way you will be stung.. The Bioluminescence tour was a cool experience!

 

 On the second beach day after breakfast we went on our second Hopkins tour, a hike to the Antelope Falls in the Mayflower-Bocawina Nat'l Park. Our hike passed by these partially excavated ruins, beautiful fauna and flora and the Black-cheeked Woodpeckers.

Our tour guide showing us the partially excavated ruins. The Maintzunun Terrrace Temple Mound, it is an acropolis complex dated back to approx 800AD.

Hubby took this shot of the Antelope Falls a 100ft waterfall. .. Also at this park, you can do the waterfall repelling and ziplining, there are 5 waterfalls, various trails and birdwatching. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of Belize thru my eyes and camera..

Thanks for stopping by and for the comments.

Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

A few Woodpeckers

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes



It is not often that I get to see the Hairy Woodpecker at my feeders. I think this cold weather and snow has brought this female Hairy Woodpecker to my suet feeder.  I could tell right away that this woodie was the Hairy and not a Downy woodpecker.. The size is larger, the head is larger and the bill is longer and thicker.

One the left is the Hairy and on the  top right a male Downy and bottom right is the female Downy.

Above is the male Downy and on the right is the Hairy Woodpecker. I was trying to get a shot showing the bill. But, the Downy was not cooperating. I think the photos above do show the head size and the overall size of these two woodies.

I've been thrilled to see the female Hairy each day for the past 4 or 5 days of my GBBC.



The woodpecker is one of my favorite birds, I am lucky to see these two woodies, along with the Redbellied woodpecker, the  Northern Flicker, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and the larger Pileated Woodpeckers in my yard and neighborhood.


Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the 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 our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Costa Rica bird...part two

The Collared Aracari a Toucan is one of my favorite birds seen in Costa Rica. These birds were seen during our stay two weeks ago in Tortuguero. One morning we watched a couple leaving a nest in a telephone pole on the grounds of our resort. It seemed to me that the nest was made and being used by a couple of  Woodpeckers. The Collared Aracari were raiding the woodpeckers nest. We watched the Collared Aracari squeezing in and out of the hole in the telephone pole.

According to wikipedia.org the Collared Aracari eats fruit but will also take insects, lizards, bird eggs and other small prey.

The Collared Aracari are cool looking birds and just one of many exotic looking birds I had the pleasure of seeing in Costa Rica

Thanks for visiting my blog and you can view more wonderful birds at Bird Photography weekly