Barnegat Lighthouse, New Jersey

 Having off work Friday ( a mental health day) and a forecast of beautiful weather convinced hubby and I to head to the Jersey shores for some birding. Our first stop were the beaches at Avalon-Stone Harbor and then we headed north to Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are some of the highlights from Friday the first day of our visit to New Jersey.

The first shot is of the sunrise at we headed across the Delaware Memorial bridge, in the second photo are hundreds of Sanderlings on the beach at Avalon, the last shot above.. a few Brants at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Sanderlings and seagulls a plenty on the Jersey beaches.

Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones(orange legs) seen along the jetty.

Brants walking along the beach at Barnegat. Winter time is a great time for viewing the ducks along the coast. I do think this warm weather we have been having lately is having an affect on the numbers of ducks we are use to seeing in the winter. I am loving this warm weather and I hope it continues thru January.

In the mosaic above are shots of the Barnegat Lighthouse, A few Purple Sandpipers at the Stone Harbor jetty, a Common Loon and a group of Long-tailed ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Above, a Harlequin couple seen at Barnegat.

The Long-tailed ducks seen at Barnegat. Barnegat Lighthouse beach is known as a great place for birders to see some great ducks like the Long-Tailed, Brants and the Harlequins. We also saw Common Eider, tons of Common Loons and Surf Scotors.

Thank you for visiting my blog and post and for the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a great week ahead and Happy Birding.

Panama Polleras

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday and click to see my Camera Critter post at the El-Nispero-zoo-Panama

I am skipping around some showing our last night in Panama, our tour guide arranged a special dinner at the Miraflores Lock at the Panama Canal. After a great dinner we were treated to a show which was a group of Panamanians doing their traditional dance with their beautiful costumes.

The women's costumes are called Polleras, it is said this dress is the most admired and beautiful costumes of the Americas. There are tales saying that the Polleras are copied from a gypsy dress in Spain at the time of the conquest of Peru and was brought to Panama by servants of the colonial families.

Each female dancer had a different color dress, shoes to match, jewelry and the ornments to decorate their hair was also gorgeous. The hair piece called a tembleques is made of a tortoise shell comb embellished with pearls and gold and is worn on top of the head and resembles a crown or a halo.

Watching the men and the women dance was just lovely as was the music they played. It was a wonderful time on last night of our trip. We met nice people on our tour and everyone got along great during the whole week we were together.


To see more wonderful scenes from around the world please visit Scenic Sunday.. Thanks to the Holley's for hosting Scenic Sunday. And thank you for stopping by my blog for a visit.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Panama Skyline and skyscrapers

For my Scenic Sunday  I am showing some of the Skyscrapers in Panama City, Panama.


My link for Camera Critters...common-moorhen


Panama has some tall buildings and still even more being built.  You can see some of the Panama's skyline on my header photo above.

The corkscrew design on this building above was one of my favorites. Some people in our tour group said it reminded them of lego building toys.

The skyscrapers include offices, banks, hotels, casinos and condominiums.  There are over 80 banks in Panama City.

A Hard Rock Cafe is a must have in a big city, I also heard there will be a Hard Rock hotel also.

This shot above was taken from the moving bus, I assume they are playing a soccer game.

There are over 100 skyscrapers in Panama City and over more than 150 being built.  Panama is in the middle of a building and economic boom.

Before visiting Panama, I pictured Panama more of a lush rainforest and the canal. I did not even think of a booming city. The cool thing is the rainforest is probably no more than an hours drive away.

The Metro Mall was right outside our Panama City hotel. A very popular place to shop with the locals and the tourist.

Edit: An answer to Ann's question I am adding some info on Panama's economy and wealth. The tourism industry generates over 2.5 billion dollars, the re-export business (free trade zone) is another 2.5 billion dollars and the canal generates over 1 billion a year.

To see more beautiful scenes from around the world check out Scenic Sunday. Thanks to the Holleys for hosting Scenic Sunday. And thank you for stopping by to see my post. Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Scenic Sunday Panama

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday

I have some more photos from our first full day of touring Panama City.  The tour included stops at the San Jose Church in Panama known for its famous gold alter.

The church is use to visitors stopping in to see the gold alter. We arrived in time for the mass and the singing of a pretty hymn. It is a lovely church located down a small cobblestone city street.

One of the few murals painted on the buildings near the church.

After leaving the church in Panama City we headed to the Miraflores Lock and the canal. We were able to stay long enough to see some ships make their way to the lock and to enjoy the exhibits at the visitor center.

For more wonderful photos from all over the world please visit Scenic Sunday.  Thanks to the host of Scenic Sunday and thanks for stopping by to see my post. Have a great weekend!

Panama Caravan tour

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday

Hubby and I took a week long tour of Panama with Caravan tours. The Caravan tour included two nights in a Panama City hotel and tours around the city and then two nights at a rainforest hotel with more tours and two nights at the Pacific Ocean resort and the last night back at Panama City. I did arrange a bird guide for a day. I could not go to Panama without getting the chance to see some of the exotic and my cool Panama birds. But, this post will be on Panama City and some of the sights we saw during the two days we toured the city.

The morning part of the tour included the Panama Viejo visitor center museum displaying artifacts from 500-700 years before the Spanish arrival. The center included displays of clothing, furniture, pottery and a model of what old Panama City would have looked like.

Panama Viejo (old Panama) city founded by the Spanish in 1519 . A gateway for gold from the Inca Empire.

In 1671 famous Buccaneer Henry Morgan ransacked the city and burned it to the ground. It is interesting to see the old ruins with the new city skyscrapers in the background

The Panama Viejo is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Vasco Balboa a Spanish conquistador and explorer. The first European explorer to see the Pacific in 1513. He claimed the Pacific Ocean and all its shores for Spain.

These photos and tours were done on the first full day of our Panama Caravan tour. Actually, the Viejo visitor center and ruins was just the morning part of the tour. I will do another post on the afternoon tour. We visited the San Jose Church with the gold alter and had lunch at the Miraflores Canal Locks.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of Panama Viejo center and ruins, to see more wonderful scenes from around the world check out Scenic Sunday. Thanks to

Chincoteague Ponies

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday   and  Camera Critters

I am sure a lot of bloggers have read the book Misty Of Chincoteague, it was my favorite book as a child. The Chincoteague volunteer fire dept auctions off the ponies in July every year to raise money. They are also doing what is called buy-backs. The buy-backs are foals that the firemen had picked to stay in the herd. The foals are auctioned off  at the pony penning to give people a chance to "own" a Chincoteague pony without having to take it home. The new owners will get the foals official registry name and a certificate but the foal will stay on the island with the rest of the Chincoteague herd.

On Friday evening the cowboys were rounding up the 40-50 of the Chincoteague ponies for a vet check and to get their worming medicine. This happens three times a year in April, October and July.

One of my YouTube videos of the Chincoteague horses all gathered for their worming medicine. I captured some of the horses making sounds after getting their medicine, probably something similiar to the sounds I would make if I was given some icky tasting medicine. Well maybe not the same sound I would make but you know what I mean..

A shot of the horses penned waiting for their turn of the worming shot.  The Pintos are my favorite I love the multi colors.

The horses have numbers on their thighs, which are actually the number showing the year they were born. This one above was born in 2006

In the background the Palomino  stallion Chief( the white one)  is fighting again with another stallion. They do not like being penned up in a small area. They get jealous over their groups of mares.

I would not want to be the one trying to hold this gate shut.  The Chief was being a bad boy while penned up, fighting and kicking other horses.

Above you can see the vet shooting the worming medicine into Chiefs mouth.

The two dominant stallions Prince born in 2007 is off white with white spots and the other off white horse is the Chief born in 2008. They are all beautiful horses and I took so many photos. It is was hard to choose which one to add to my post.

To see more scenic photos check out Scenic Sunday  and to see more cute and wonderful critters check out Camera Critters.  Thanks to the Holley's  and to Misty Dawn for hosting these fun memes. Thank you also for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Lighthouse & Chincoteague Island, Virginia

These are some scenes from Chincoteague Island Virginia and the Assateague National Seashore for my Scenic Sunday  post. To see more scenic shots from around the world click on my link.

The view from the top of the lighthouse. There were free climbs to the top celebrating  the 144th  birthday of the lighthouse.

This shot above you can see the wildlife drive and the Atlantic Ocean.

I hope you enjoyed my views of the Assateague Lighthouse on the Chincoteague NWR. To see more beautiful scenes from around the world check out Scenic Sunday.  Thanks to the host of Scenic Sunday and also thank you for stopping by to see my Scenic post. Have a great weekend!