Saturday's Critters # 631

     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

I am sharing a mish-mash of photos, from our walks and my back yard and some from my archives and travels.  

Click on images for better viewing.

1. Two of my common back yard birds, the Dark-eyed Junco and the Carolina Wren.  

2. Mid-day on a Sunday, I had a cold and windy walk to the lake with Miney and hubby.  I rarely see the little birds on windy days, they stay hunkered down somewhere. I did hear an Eagle calling and a loud Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I could hear Crows calling loudly in the distance. 

3. NCR bike trail, I saw three Northern Flickers pecking at the ground, Miney and Hubby on the trail.

4. In the our back yard the Blue Jays wait for me to put out some bird food for them.  

5. Our first snow storm with 4-6 inches of snow. Miney looks at the shovel and says when are you going to get this done?  

From my archives, various trips we took to Costa Rica, Panama and Belize I was thrilled to see various toucans. 

6. Collared Aracari Toucan, seen in Costa Rica and Belize. 

The photo below was taken from the resort balcony, there were 3 Collared Aracari toucans perched in a distant tree. 

7.   Keel-billed Toucan, seen in Costa Rica and Panama.

Below is another Keel-billed Toucan seen during a boat ride in Panama. 

8.  The Yellow-throated Toucan or is it the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, seen in Costa Rica. 

I hope you enjoyed these birds, they were a treat to see. The Toucans are one of my many favorite birds, seen during our travels to Costa Rica, Panama and Belize. 

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.

Check out  Catblogosphere.com

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post! 

My World, 11th Blog Anniversary

Hello,

Happy Monday!  It is my 11th blog anniversary, these years have flown by.  I have many great memories looking back at my older blog post. My post shared years of birding, enjoying all things nature and traveling.  All the things I love and I hope you love too.  During the first part of 2020, we were limited on what we could do and where we could go due to the Covid virus. I am not sure if or when things will ever return to normal.  Covid is not something I like to blog about, I just wish for happier times and good health for all. 

 So images randomly picked from my past 11 years of blogging.  I hope you enjoy and I thank all my blog visitors for all the past and future comments.  

I have my eye on you!  Wood Duck , Nov 2009..Original post Wood Duck_November 2009

  I started making the mosaic images and participating with Mary and her blog called Little Red House. Mary was the host of Mosaic Monday back in 2009.  Now Angie of the blog Letting Go of the Bay Leaf is the host of Mosaic Monday. Maybe you can join in with the mosaic making party.

 Various Toucans, seen in the wild during our Costa Rica trip in March 2010. Original post Costa Rica trip_Toucans

At this time in 2011, I was joining in with the linking party called Our World Tuesday. Thanks to these lovely host Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  Lady Fi is the host of Our World Tuesday. Some bloggers are gone but not forgotten. 


 Some of my favorite birds seen in 2011, original post Favorite-birds-of-2011.  I must add all birds are favorites, especially at the time of seeing them..

 Goldie Girl will always be remembered on my blog. This Goldie photo was taken in Dec 2012.  My original post Dec 30th 2012

 A Snowy Owl seen on the Delaware Shore in Dec 2013.. My original post Delaware Snowy owl

 A Violet Sabrewing seen while birding in Belize in May 2014, my original post Belize birds and critters

 In 2015, I blogged about our Washington state trip and a visit to the Dungeness Spit. This spot is my favorite near Sequim Washington, hubby and I almost moved there. We had a realtor show us a few homes.  One home was perfect,  we are kicking ourselves for not buying.   My original post was a year end for 2015 Year end 2015

Starting in Oct 2016, I started blogging from our place in Lakeland Florida, we were just a walk away from a lake and this Tricolored Heron.  My original blog post is here  Lakeland-Florida

 I started my Skywatch blog post back in 2009 with the Skywatch hosting team of Sandy, Wren, Sylvia, Louise, Fishing Guy and Klaus. A few of these bloggers Louise and Klaus have passed away, they are missed.  The others are MIA, I believe Tom, the Fishing Guy has stopped blogging. Now Alan of the blog Yogi's Den is the Skywatch Host at  http://yogisden.us/     
Join me and others from around the world watching the sky.

 In Dec 2017, I blogged about my favorite things/sights we saw during 2017.. The original post is here Thankful 2017 list

 In March 2018, one of my favorite places to blog about Assateague Island National Seashore and the ponies.  My original post Assateague, Md

Dec 2019, hubby and I went to Hilton Head SC. My original post is here Hilton Head SC

I am looking forward to another year of blogging and visiting your blogs.  Thanks so much for visiting.   I really appreciate your comments now and over the past 11 years. 


We are staying safe, wearing our mask and keeping the social distance.   I hope everyone is safe, happy and healthy. Take care and stay well. 



What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks again for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Back in time

Linking up with Camera Critters  and I'd-rather-b-birdin

I hope all my blogging friends up in the north are warm and  safe from the storm Nemo.

I am going back in time with these photos. Between working all week and the weather I have not been anywhere to take new photos. The blizzard has missed Maryland, only seeing some heavy wind gusts here.
So, off we go to Costa Rica to see my favorite birds and an iguana tree.
 Sorry, if you have seen these photos, I hope you do not mind seeing them again. I do not think I have shown the Iguana tree though so that might be new. They are some of the highlights we saw in Costa Rica, the wildlife sightings were just amazing.

We passed this iguana tree while touring with our group. This tree was filled with iguanas of all sizes. 

 There were so many iguanas on the tree, I could not fit them all in on one photo. It was amazing sight to see. How many iguanas can you find in the shot above. You could times that by 20 and that would be how many we saw on this tree.

Rhinceros beetle was a cool sighting in Costa Rica. It was one of the biggest beetles I have ever seen.

The Collared Aracari was seen quite a bit at our  Tortuguero resort.

The Keel Billed Toucan is one of my favorite toucan. The Toucan species are just awesome looking birds.

The Blue-gold Macaws were seen on the parking lot of the Swinging bridges. They were most likely escapees but still very cool to see the pair of them.


The wildlife of Costa Rica is awesome, if you ever have a chance of visiting Costa Rica I would say go for it. I hope you enjoyed my critters and birds.
To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters  and more beautiful birds seen at Anni's blog I'd-rather-b-birdin
Thanks to both Misty Dawn and to Anni for hosting these fun memes. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

My favorite birds of 2010

I thought I would do a post showing my favorite bird sightings of 2010. They are not all lifers for me but just ones that I enjoyed seeing. I have to say most of the favorites were from my trip to Costa Rica. The Toucans were so cute.

Three different kind sof toucans in my mosaic are the Collared Aracari, Chestnut Mandbiled and the Keel Billed Toucan.

Parrots on the grounds at our Arenal hotel in Costal Rica

Another Costa Rica bird the Montezuma Oropendola,  very cool and different looking bird.

This Barred owl was not a lifer but it was cool sight to see it out in the open.

The Clapper Rail sighting was another favorite, I was excited to even see one out in the open they are very timid birds.

This Bombay Hook Blue Grosbeak was seen at Bombay Hook another one of my favorite birds.

The Eastern Bluebirds nesting in my yard are always a treat to see.

 This Chincoteague Egret eating a snake was an amazing and cool sight to see

One of my all time favorite sightings is of the Little Blue heron below and on my header shot.

This is another Littel Blue below.

Now I am looking forward to another great year and adding to my list of lifers. My life list is at No. 251 and my last two lifers were the Golden Crowned Sparrow seen yesterday here in Maryland and the Wilson Snipe NO.250.

I am linking up with Misty Dawn's Camera Critters  thanks Misty Dawn for hosting. I am also linking this post to Sally's Blue Monday and Drowsey Monkeys Mellow Yellow Monday and Mary's Mosaic Monday

Thanks to our host and  for stopping by to see my post.

Toucan mosaic.

While vacationing in Costa Rica I was able to see three different kinds of Toucans. I thought it would be fun to make a mosaic with their photos. They are the Collared  Aracari, Keel billed Toucan and the Chestnut Mandibled Toucan. Seeing the toucans was a real treat for me and I think they are really cool cartoonish looking birds. Below I have separate post on the Keel billed Toucan and the Collard Aracari but this is my first time for adding the Chestnut mandibled Toucan to a post. The red and yellow colors on the toucans are so bright and pretty.

Chestnut mandibled Toucan

Keel Billed Toucan

Collard Aracari

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday

and

since you seen the yellow on my Toucans you can visit Mellow Yellow Monday

Costa Rica Bird...Part 4

My entry for Bird Photography Weekly #85 Please click on my link ot see more.
I was lucky to see three different toucans while in Costa Rica. This Keel Billed Toucan showed up in a tree while I was looking at a red Summer Tanager. The Keel Billed Toucan ranges in length from 17-22 inches. Their colorful bill averages 5-6 inches of its length. Wikipedia states that the bill is large and cumbersome but is actually spongy hollow bone covered in a keratin a very light and hard protein. They mainly eat fruit, but will also take insects, small eggs and reptiles. I think they are cool cartoonish looking birds.

One the photo below You can compare the Collared Aracari to the Keel Billed Toucan

The main difference between the aracaris and the toucans are the tails. The Collared Aracaris have a sharp and pointed tail. The beaks are about 4 inches long.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and to check out more bird and critters visit the Friday Ark

also

this also my entry for Camera Critters visit Misty dawn's Camera Critters for some cute critters.

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