Happy Monday!

 Happy Monday! 😊 Hope you have a Happy May!

Wishing everyone a happy day and a great new week!

Curacao sunset, 2012

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off! Enjoy your day!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope you all have a great day and a happy new week!

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow!

Magnificent Frigatebirds, Curacao Sea Aquarium

Live each day as if it's your last!

Comments Off, enjoy your day! 

Happy Monday!

 Happy Monday everyone!

Have a great day and a happy new week!

People protect what they love! Conserve, Preserve, Protect!

Curacao Sea Aquarium

Comments off!  Enjoy your day!  😀😀😀

Happy Monday!

 Happy Monday everyone!

 I wish you all a great day and a happy new week!  

Flamingos seen at the salt water flats on the island of Curacao.

Be happy and a reason will come along...😊

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Happy Monday

 Happy Monday,

"Color is a power which directly influences the soul!"

" Life is art, live yours in color."

Have a great day and a happy new week! 

Our World, My World

 Hello and Happy Monday.

 Hubby and I are celebrating our ❤️ 30th anniversary today May 4th. It is amazing how fast 30 years go by.  Usually we celebrate our anniversary by going on a trip somewhere. Some of our trips had to be planned before or after our actual anniversary date.  Traveling anywhere now has been put off, so we will celebrate when things are normal again. Happy Anniversary to my hubby, my shadow and my love.




" We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."
  

For now, I am remembering past trips hubby and I took for our anniversary.  Our honeymoon in 1990 was in Hawaii, we visited the Big Island, Maui and Kauai..below are some scenes from places we visited, we took a helicopter ride in Kauai, the road to Hana was a done a few times, we saw so many waterfalls, a hike through a bamboo forest, visited the Hawaii Volcano National Park, Kauai's Grand Canyon, black sand beaches and more.

I am skipping ahead to 2010, our 20th Anniversary and one of my favorite places, Chincoteague Island Va..  In late March 2010 we went to Costa Rica  and in Sept 2010 we drove a loop around the Cascades Washington State.

 In 2011, a short anniversary trip was to Cape May NJ and Atlantic City NJ.  This trip included beach walks and lots of birding at Cape May and Edwin Forsythe NWR. In Nov 2011 we went on a week long trip to Panama

 In 2012,  our trip was to the island of Curacao. You can click on the Curacao link to see more trip photos. In July 2012 we vacationed in Oregon and we went to hubby sisters wedding in Bainbridge Island Washington.

 In 2013, we were in Florida, traveling around from Tampa down to Key West Florida. 
In Nov 2013 hubby and I visited New Mexico/Texas.

 In 2014, our 24th Anniversary  another favorite place to visit was Belize. We spent part of the week at a jungle resort and the other part of the week was at a beach resort.

 In 2015, our 25th Anniversary,  below another visit to Chincoteague Island Virginia.  Longer trips in 2015 were to Florida 2015   and Washington State 2015.

 In 2016, our trip was to Virginia Beach, Va.. another trip in March 2016 a road trip to Tennessee to see the Sandhill Cranes migrating and Falls Creek Falls . July 2016, we bought a 2nd home in Lakeland Fl.  In October 2016 we lived part time in Lakeland Florida till March 2017.  Every day during that time was like a vacation.  We sold that Lakeland Fl home in March 2017.

 

In 2017, Our 27th anniversary trip was 2 weeks in May traveling around Washington State.  One of my favorite places was Sequim and the Dungeness NWR. In Sept 2017 we took a road trip to Erie, Pa.

In 2018, our 28th Anniversary trip, was a road trip through Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Below our hike to Old Man's Cave in the Hocking Hills SP, Ohio

In 2019, our 29th Anniversary trip was in June to the Finger Lakes NY. Below is the Watkins Glen State Park. In Jan 2019 we drove to Florida again.

We have many happy memories from trips, these are from the past 10 years and our honeymoon shown in the mosaics above. Older photos and trips are in my archives.  Now we are looking forward to more trips and years ❤️ together. 

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

Crested Caracara

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

More from my archives..the Crested Caracara is a bird of prey and is in the family Falconidae. I am not sure who reads different state listserves for birds that are being seen. But, it appears a Caracara has made it to New Jersey and is being seen near Cape May. So, I was reminded of the Crested Caracara I have seen on my previous trips. I wanted to share my Crested Caracara with my followers who might not know what this bird looks like.

The Northern Crested Caracara seen during our trip to Curacao.I believe these birds are also seen in the Texas area of the United States.

They kind of remind me more of a Turkey or Black Vulture than a bird of prey. I did read they are kind of sluggish and can even be scavengers. The shot above was taken during my trip to Costa Rica. Not the best flight shot but I thought is was neat to see two together.



To see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Yellow Warbler

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

For this week's post from my archives  I am showing the  Yellow Warbler. The Yellow Warbler below is a bird I saw while in Curacao. There is definitely a difference between the Yellow Warbler in Curacao compared to the Yellow Warbler I see here in Maryland during the summer.

 The Curacao Yellow Warbler has a rusty colored spot on its head. The reddish streaks are the same on the Yellow Warbler seen here in the states.

 Above is the back of the Curacao Yellow Warbler, the rusty spot is very obvious.

The warblers are cute birds and I enjoyed seeing the "new" Yellow Warbler during my trip. Thanks for stopping by to see my wild bird.

To see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!

Curacao Pink Flamingos

 For Nature Notes and Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday   I am so happy Stewart has started the new World Bird Wednesday. On this post I am re-visiting Curacao and the Pink Flamingos. Did you know there are actually different species of Pink Flamingos? The Pink Flamingos I saw in Curacao were the Caribbean Flamingo and then there is the Greater Flamingo and the Chilean Flamingo.

The Curacao Pink Flamingos were found at a saltwater lake or what is called the saltpans.  I believe the Caribbean Flamingos can also be found on the southern tip of Florida. Some neat facts about the flamingo. They stand on one leg to conserve body heat. They can travel 300 hundred miles in a day to a new feeding site.

The Chilean Flamingo is considered threatened due to egg harvesting and and habitat loss. I read that the Chilean Flamingo breeds in temperate South America. But, there is a small population in Utah and California?  I guess they were a little off course or introduced to the US?

The Greater Flamingo is the largest of the flamingo family. The Greater Flamingo is found in Africa, Asia and Southern Europe. The male can stand as tall as 74 inches. The use their feet to stir up the mud and then suck up the water and filter out the shrimp and other food.

The juveniles are more of a pale grayish color. In this photo there are four adults, a juvie and way in the background a Black-necked Stilt.

Above are a few of the Caribbean Pink Flamingos and a few Egrets in the background.


It was a treat to see the wild Pink Flamingos, previously all my flamingo sightings were in zoos. I hope you enjoyed my post and thank for visiting.

To see more wonderful nature photos and watery shots please visit Nature Notes and Stewart's Wild Bird WednesdayThanks to Michelle of Nature Notes and to Stewart for starting the new Wild Bird Wednesday.

Black-faced Grassquit

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

This bird is one of my latest lifers from Curacao..the Black-faced Grassquit. Weird name but a very cute bird. It is considered a Tanager and is known to breed along the coast of Venezuela. The male is olive green above and has a black head and breast. The female and the immature are dull olive-gray and paler gray underparts.

The Black-faced Grassquits feed mostly on seed of grasses and weeds. When I saw them they were chowing down at the sugar feeder.

I was happy to be able to see both the male and female. Above the female is perched on the sugar feeder with the Bananaquits. I know professional photographers prefer to take photos of the birds in more natural surroundings. But, being a birder I am into seeing a new bird where ever it maybe... even on the feeders.

I have been busy working during the week and going on weekend daytrips and family get togethers I have not updated my lifer list. I must do that soon I am really behind.

To see more beautiful birds from around the world check out Springman's World Bird Wednesday  And for some nature scenes please visit Michelle's  Nature Notes.

Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes. I also appreciate everyone who stops by to see my post. I wish you all a great week and happy birding.

Curacao's Sea Aquarium

I am linking up with Camera Critters

Gee, I know you are saying... REALLY .... more photos from Curacao. But, I have not posted about our visit to Curacao's Sea Aquarium. It was a great time, we enjoyed the dolphins, the sea lions and all the sea critters in the aquarium's tanks.   I love dolphins, they are so smart and so darn cute.

The Dolphin's were a major part of our visit to the aquarium. The show and watching the dolphin encounters were just wonderful.

If you wanted to you could pay extra to do the dolphin encounter. The aquariums trainers teach the visitors how to train the dolphins with the hand signals.

My eyes were everywhere, watching the dolphin show and than checking out the pelican grooming itself. I love the Pelicans just as much as the dolphins.

These two are just adorable, they look like they are smiling and laughing.

One dolphin had a baby swimming close by.

The Pelicans are free to come and go, I guess they like to stick around for the free fish.

 We took a break from the sun and had a bite to eat, this ground dove was nearby the restaurant.

This Pelican is waving goodbye for now.

I hope you enjoyed my dolphin critters and pelicans. To see more beautiful critters
please check out  Camera Critters.  Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting and thanks for stopping by to see my post.

 I hope everyone is having a safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend.

SWF>>Curacao

I am linking my skies up with Skywatch Friday.

These are more Curacao skies. On this day we watched the Frigatebirds at the Sea Aquarium in Curacao. I also posted about the Magnificent Frigatebrds on my post below.  It was another beautiful sky and a gorgeous day on the island.  We enjoyed watching the birds and watched some tourists who paid for a dolphin encounter.

Above, one of the aquarium trainers was feeding the sharks when the frigatebirds flew over his head looking for hand outs. The water is so clear even from a distance you can see the sharks swimming near the trainer.

 The visitors were taught how to train the dolphins with hand signals. It was neat just to watch, the dolphins seemed very eager to show off too. I will do another critter post on more of the dolphins.

This was a cool aquarium to visit, with it being right next to the ocean.

The Pelicans were also hanging around the aquarium, they must all know where to get the free and easy food. At the aquarium, I also saw Terns, more of the Bananaquits and a Green Heron.

The frigatebirds were coming close the trainers hand for the fish.

The blue sky along with the pretty water color makes for a gorgeous scene.

 back at our hotel we took a walk along the beach toward the Hilton which was just about next door to our place. This is actually looking back at our resort and hotel.

Back at our resort, we watched the sunset. This was probably the cloudiest day we saw while on our vacation.

A combination of the skies reflection and the resort had these lights that changed colors and reflection pink light on the sand.


I hope you enjoyed my skies and to see more gorgeous skies from around the world
Please visit Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Magnificent Frigatebirds

I am linking up my Magnificent Bird with World Bird Wednesday  and Nature Notes

The Magnificent Frigatebirds are a common birds seen in the Caribbean. It is fun to watch them climb high in the thermals and then descend close to the sea. They feed mainly on fish and take their meals in flight never landing in the sea.

The females are black and have a white breast and the males are all black.

The juveniles have a white head and underparts.

We saw many of these Magnificent Frigatebirds in Curacao, they were also very common in Panama.

To see more beautiful birds check out Springman's World Bird Wednesday   and Nature Notes.
Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle the host of Nature Notes.

Thanks also for stopping by to see my post, I appreciate the visits. I hope everyone has a great week.