Saturday’s Critters Meme | The Beauty Around Us

Doe, a Deer, a Female Deer

While driving through a local state park this past Sunday, we were surprised by a doe sprinting across the road in front of us. The doe stopped a few feet from the side of the road and allowed me to take a couple pictures of her.

I linked up this blog post with Eileen’s critter party. You may view more critters by visiting Eileen’s critter party blog post.

Friday Afternoon Drive: Willow Dale Duck Pond

Bob and I went for a drive Friday afternoon.

We drove to Allegany State Park via Bradford, PA.

Our first stop was at Willow Dale Duck Pond. The duck pond is located along PA Route 346 a few miles west of downtown Bradford. We parked alongside the duck pond. I took photographs of three resident white ducks, from inside our car, using my Grizzly camera bean bag as support for my long lens.

The white ducks were fun to watch!

Once the ducks tired of playing, I got out of the car to take a few pictures of the pond itself.

Willow Dale Duck Pond

It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring!

Our next stop was at Marilla Reservoir, the subject of my next blog post.

I linked up this blog post with Eileen’s critter party. You may view more critters by visiting Eileen’s critter party blog post.

Saturday’s Critters #10

I believe all cats like a warm place while sleeping. Our cat, Patches, certainly does. Patches likes to crawl underneath the bedspread when it is time to sleep. I smiled yesterday, when I walked into the bedroom and saw two paws sticking out from underneath the bedspread.

Cat’s Paws, all that was sticking out when Patches was taking a cat nap under the covers.

You may view more critters by visiting Eileen’s blog, Viewing nature with Eileen.

Saturday’s Critters #9

This past Thursday I visited Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA with my friend, Martha. In addition to seeing monuments, lighthouses and the beach we saw a few seagulls and ducks. The waterfowl were located between the north and east piers, in a small patch of Presque Isle Bay that was not completely ice covered.

You may view more critters by visiting Eileen’s blog, Viewing nature with Eileen.

Snowy Owl

UPDATE: I am linking this post to Eileen’s meme, Saturday’s Critters. Today is Saturday’s Critters #8. You may view more critters by visiting Eileen’s blog, Viewing nature with Eileen.

There is a snowy owl irruption. Perhaps you have been as fortunate as me to have spotted one or more of these magnificent birds.

I saw my first snowy owl on January 14th

Most days since then I have driven from my house to the various places in the immediate area where the snowy owl has been spotted. I wanted to capture a closer picture of the snowy owl and, if possible, lower to the ground.

Today my husband and I went for a drive in search of the snowy owl.

We spotted an owl sitting on top of a utility pole,
across the street from where I took my first snowy owl picture.

We drove a little farther north, where a snowy owl had been spotted on other days. We looked but didn’t see any signs of an owl. The snowy owl blends in well with the snow, so we might just not be seeing it. We decided to do a U-turn and return to where we had spotted the owl sitting on top of the utility pole. The owl wasn’t there; however, we spotted it just across the street on another utility pole. The utility pole it was perched on was the same pole where I had first seen the snowy owl on January 14th. We parked along the side of the road. As I was getting out of the car, the owl flew off the pole to the field behind the pole. I walked across the field to a wire fence. I searched the ground for the snowy owl. After a couple minutes, I spotted it!

What a magnificent bird!

Saturday’s Critters #7

This goldfinch was at our back yard bird feeder this afternoon. Not many birds have been partaking of the food at our bird feeders. My husband thinks feral cats and/or a hawk in the area is keeping the birds away.

Goldfinch

I was happy to see this hungry little goldfinch at the feeder today.

Even though snow covers the ground and temperatures are hovering in the low 20s, I can tell by looking at this goldfinch that Spring is on its way. How can I tell? The goldfinch is losing its brown winter shield in favor of its Springtime yellow coat.

If you’d like to see more critter photographs, please visit Viewing nature with Eileen.

Saturday’s Critters #5

This is my first “Saturday’s Critters” post. As you can tell from the blog title, I am joining the critter party a few weeks late. My blogging friend, Eileen, began this weekly meme on Saturday, December 7th.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 1st, a Facebook friend posted that he had viewed several eagles just below Kinzua Dam. Bob and I made a quick trip to Big Bend Recreation Area, just below Kinzua Dam, and saw at least six eagles. That is the most eagles I have ever seen in one place. It was a very exciting sighting for me!

This is one of several eagles that we viewed from the Riverside Watchable Wildlife Trail and Viewing Platform at Big Bend Recreation Area.

The eagles were across the Allegheny River, not very close to our viewing platform. I brought my 70-300 mm (EFL 140-600 mm) lens with me. I took several pictures. The photograph shown above turned out the best. Even zoomed in the full capability of my lens, I still had to do heavy cropping of the image. This is the very first time that I took a decent picture of an eagle in its natural habitat.

If you’d like to see more critter photographs, please visit Viewing nature with Eileen.

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