Our World Tuesday: Late August and Early September

I'm going to start with some of my first shots of September in honor of a new month beginning.

The female cardinal above poses showing me her profile. The male cardinal below fidgets looking ready to fly off if I don't snap fast.

Cardinals are the state bird of North Carolina, U.S. where I live.

The rest of the shots are ones I took in late August.

My yard is full of toadstools and mushrooms.

The ducks are on the pilings for now but once fall arrives these pilings are usually taken up by cormorants who stay until spring.

I'm looking forward to fall with the blaze of colors it brings.

There are subtle changes that make me know a new season is around the corner.

I wish the city wouldn't mow the grass on the dam this early, or at all for that matter. I like to see the tall seed heads on the grasses when they don't mow.

When I said I wished the city wouldn't mow, I of course mean that I wish they didn't have city employees mow.

For a minute I had a bizarre image of a city full of tall buildings sitting on a riding lawn mower.

 There are wild parts of the trails that don't get any maintenance which makes it nice for the wildlife. There are also more maintained parts along paved paths around the lake that are mowed.

I like the wilder areas although I also like to check out the birds at the lake.

I like the reflections of the ducks on the piling.

The mallard was into some serious grooming below.

The shots were taken on different walks which is why there is a difference in the light.

A flock of geese took off so fast that the shot below is pretty blurry.

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