Photohunters: Fall Colors

 Fall

 Colors

It's hard to believe that the two photohunts didn't coordinate for one to pick fall and the other to pick colors as the theme words this week.

All the shots in this post were taken after Thanksgiving dinner when we went on a walk and enjoyed the remaining fall colors.

Many of the trees have dropped their colors of fall.

Even so, there are still quite a few fall colors remaining.

 For those of you in the U.S., I hope you are having a happy Thanksgiving weekend and for those of you other places I hope you are having a happy weekend too.

For the fall photohunters click here and click here for the colors photohunters.

Nature Notes: Late Fall

Hard to believe that fall is almost over.

It has continued to be wet which I don't mind too much.

I like the raindrops dripping off the bittersweet berries above.

It helps my sinuses when the fallen leaves are wet.

It is nice to have a few days when the sun comes out.

The Virginia Creeper has climbed up my house to decorate the birdhouses.

The robins are spending more time in the trees as it gets colder.

The male cardinals have each claimed a bird bath.

It's nice to still have some color from the leaves to brighten grim days.

The birds are getting increasingly active.

They still take breaks from food gathering to catch a bath like the male cardinal above and the female cardinal below.

The sparrow is waiting for its turn to bathe below.

The male cardinal is perched on top of my deck swing in the next shot.

The rufous-sided towhee below is in my front yard.

The sparrow below is watching the towhee and waiting to catch a bath in my front yard.

After the birds finish, I filled up the bath.

Photographing the birds reminds me to put fresh water in the bird baths.

Click for the home of nature notes.

Today's Flowers: Berries fill in for flowers

This time of the year, berries begin to fill in for the splash flowers make during warmer seasons.

Above the bittersweet berries glisten like jewels and the nandina berries below catch some light.

Click for the home of Today's Flowers.

Photohunters: Mural and New

 New

Mural

I used these shots on my blog 5 years ago but they were all I could think of to combine the New and Mural themes this week.

The mural above was inside the elevator of the art deco hotel I stayed in while celebrating my 50th birthday in New York. The mural below was one of the ones outside the elevator. Each floor of the Washington Square Hotel in New York has an individual mural outside the elevator door. 

For the New photohunters click here and click here for the Mural photohunters.

Nature Notes: Mid November

Hard to believe we're already moving towards mid November.

Over the past 5 or 6 days, my oak trees have gone from mostly green to rapidly getting their fall colors.

The male cardinals never fail to delight me with their flamboyant feathers.

Above the rufous-sided towhee and the cardinal seem contented to share the bath.

Saturday was a perfect day for a walk.

After chilly weather with a few nights below freezing we had warm day temperatures over the weekend. The difference in day and night temperatures were over 30 degrees.

The mallards above are swimming in the creek that feeds into a lake.

Today the weather is changing to overcast and similar day an night temperatures. Chilly but not too cold and only a few degrees difference in day and night.

The shots I took at the lake are all from Saturday and I have a feeling that the changes in the leaves are already very noticeable just after a few days.

The cormorant has returned to his favorite perch this time of the year.

In central NC where I live, we have had so much rain that the fall leaves aren't as dramatic as some years.

Some trees are slow to change but once they do it's been very rapid and one minute they are here and then they're gon.

 

I can hardly complain though as there is plenty of beauty.

Even a short lived splash of color is a treat.

Click for the home of nature notes.