My very first photohunter theme was two back in August of 2007. This is the third time that two has been a photohunter theme that I've had to work with.
Above are two mallards and below are two Canadian Geese. I selected two shots for the theme.
Click for the home of Photohunters.
I've started noticing how most trees seemed to start changing colors at the top before the lower ones change.
There's an evergreen on the right hand side of the shot above so I'm only using the tree which fills in most of the shot to illustrate this top to bottom change over.
I can understand why trees often lose top leaves first because of the wind which would explain the one directly above but the wind wouldn't explain the direction of color change.
My largest oak tree won't fit into a shot so with the one above you only see the difference in the very top and middle of the tree but the bottom leaves have barely changed at all yet.
One reason I've probably not noticed this top to bottom color change as much in other years is because when you have a mix of evergreens and different trees like the shot above, there are so many different stages, as well as evergreens that don't lose leaves.
Above the colorful part is one tree and you can see that the lower leaves aren't as far along in the change as the top. The same is true in the next tree with the bottom leaves still being green and the top reaching full color.
From a different perspective the shot below shows how the different trees with green leaves rising above the colored ones would make it easy to miss this phenomenon.
The next shot is another one showing how different trees mixed together can explain why I have missed this top to bottom color change until I started looking for it.
It is getting quiet at the lake with far fewer water birds on the main part than almost any other time, although I am spotting spotting a fair number of ducks and geese in the coves.
I almost didn't recognize the titmouse on my deck below because they look so different when their feathers are fluffed out.
I know that trees start storing more nutrients in their roots during the winter which is part of the process of leaves changing colors and dropping off when day length, temperature and other factors change. But I don't know what explains why top leaves tend to change before lower ones. Please let me know if anyone has an answer to this question because I couldn't find one. Click for the home of nature notes.
My hydrangea blooms have been brown for some time now but I happened to notice one had a little color remaining.
The bittersweet berries that are out in the fall are like flowers to me, and the berries are much more showy than the flowers they have in the late spring.
Fall leaves themselves are autumn flowers to my mind and I enjoy them at least as much as flowers.
Click for the home of today's flowers.
I decided to combine the photohunters light theme with Mimi's Blog Blast for Peace.
The combination works literally and figuratively. My peace globe above uses a photograph of a mourning dove where the background of the shot has whirls of light and the darker green in solid.
In photography, depending on which direction you shoot in the light changes the image, apart from the different perspective.
Light can be used in imagery for peace such as the light of love, moving from the darkness of war to the light of peace.
In order to achieve any lasting peace it is necessary to understand the perspective of others and move away from an us and them mentality.
For photohunters click here. For Mimi's Blogblast for Peace click here.
I've been watching out for the bittersweet berries to start a bursting and have been rewarded. They cover my deck wall and I enjoy them this time of year.
The weather has started getting much cooler and we had our first frost at the end of October, but I didn't get out early enough to photograph it.
The oak trees in my front yard are finally starting to have some red mixing in with the green (shot above).
I'm not sure what kind of tree the one above is in my neighbor's yard, but it's another with a mix of fall leaves and green ones that haven't changed.
When I first glanced out my living room window I thought the male cardinal was a red leaf until I zoomed in. He blended well with the dogwood leaves from a distance. That dogwood is a volunteer which is starting to get established. I have mature dogwoods too but it's fun to watch volunteers trying to find their way.
I am finally starting to get some shots of birds in flight with my new camera. I'm not sure what kind of bird the one in the next shot is.
It has taken me a while to get the hang of photographing birds in flight because the zoom is so much more powerful on my new camera . I zoom in too much and lose the bird before I snap the picture.
I didn't get a very clear shot of the great blue heron above but I'll keep practicing. The next shot is the same bird but it had landed and was waiting for a fish.
It had rained the day before I took the next shot and the creek that feeds into the lake was gurgling and making a pleasant sound which reminded me to look over and photograph it.
I love the way fall leaves look as streams of color reflected in the lake.
I enjoy the subtle mix of colors and am surprised, each time I go on a walk, by the changes occurring daily.
It's interesting to me how the cormorants appear at the lake in the fall and then seem to disappear in the spring. The only place I ever see them is on the pilings.
The cormorant below held that posture for a long time. Seemed odd the way it was poised with its wings partly open.
The goldenrod flowers below have gone to seed.
I keep waiting for the sandbars (seen in shot below) to be filled with the gulls who usually appear shortly before winter. I always wonder why the sandbars are so popular with the gulls in the winter even when the lake freezes but the geese and ducks move to the banks on the other side when it gets cold. I don't see anything like as many geese in the winter but that's the only time I see gulls at the lake.
I guess I'll end with one last shot for this week's nature notes. All of these were taken over the past 6 days but aren't in any particular order.
Click for the home of Nature Notes.
