Nature Notes: September draws to a close

Sometimes I feel like I'm on a treasure hunt for fall leaves.

As you can tell from the next shot it's still very green at the lake but here and there are fall/autumn leaves.

The mallards cooperated by grouping under some leaves that had changed.

The mallards themselves have an autumn look to me.

The drying seeds and flowers are also looking like fall.

We've had a lot of rain lately which is obvious from the containers on my deck.

I'm continuing to photograph my dogwood tree frequently as it is changing faster than my other trees.

The sweet gum is another of my trees where I feel like I'm watching as the leaf turns.

The butterflies feeding on the flowers at the lake park were so numerous I couldn't count them.

I think at one point I saw over a dozen flitting from flower to flower.

From a distance they looked like they were part of the flower.

They're were so many that even when a bunch flew away if I got too close, at least one or two let me zoom in on them.

Walking around the lake I spotted a few isolated colorful trees mixed in with the green.

The male and female mallard below looked like a good matched pair.

I'm still on the look out for the return of the gulls but only geese and ducks so far. Sometime close to winter the gulls arrive in great quantities and leave during the spring.

I am so happy that summer has finally ended that I relish each new sign of the new season.

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