Two week's of Sunday's

Sunday December 6 was seasonal with a chilly start to the day.



I am fascinated by bird bath ice, in and out of the bath, although I know it's no fun for the birds.



When there aren't very many birds visible in my backyard I can usually find a hawk keeping guard from the trees and making some other birds stay out of site.



The camellia below surprised me as I photographed it the same day as my bird bath was making ice and my camellia sets buds in the winter and blooms in the spring. Confused bush. 



The rest of these shots were taken today, Sunday December 13 which was a spring weather day.



We walked at Falls Lake (Blue Jay Point - Wake County Park) and I was able to take my light jacket off half way through the walk.



The warmer weather is going to last well into the upcoming week.



It's kind of nice to have a few days here and there that are more like spring than winter.



There were a lot of people taking advantage of that at the park.

December of 2015 beginning

Not quite a banana shape but that's what the moon reminded me of.



Beginning to have some ice to clear out of the bird baths.



Before I dumped the bird bath ice and leaves out, it look like saran wrap.



The leaves have fallen from almost all the trees but this one in my neighbor's yard is always the last to change and let go.



I need to clean the panes on my door but the bluebird is a beauty in spite of the surrounding smudges.



He or she is foraging in the bittersweet vines.



Another shot of the last tree with colorful leaves.



Below the cardinal and sparrow are facing each other across the bird bath and at the bottom of the shot is a blurry junco.



I think the bird below is a starling.



I usually don't see juncos except in the fall and winter.



I like the reflections in the bird's water saucer the sparrow is perched on.



The sparrows and juncos tend to blend into the deck.



The male cardinal was turning his nose (beak) up at me.



The reflections make it look like there's a lot of green but that's just from the bittersweet vine leaves that haven't all dropped off yet.



I think the junco below is a male and the junco earlier in this post was a female.

Bathing Beauties

It wasn't light enough to shoot my bathing beauties through the glass door but I think their personalities come through.



I realize assigning personalities to animals is debatable but I do it anyway.



The first two shots are of a brown thrasher.



The female cardinal above and the sparrow below appeared calm, cool and collected.



Then the sparrow looked like it was skating.



The male cardinal was all puffed out in the bath.



I had a chipmunk getting water on my deck but didn't manage to get the shot.



The carolina wrens were too fast for me to shoot.



I can almost always photograph cardinals on my deck because there are so many of them.

November 10 through 21, 2015 in my neck of the woods

I don't think the farmers market sellers were as amused as I was by the bird helping themselves.



We'll be having a hard freeze Sunday and Monday night so I don't think there will be much local produce from here on out.



There are still some colorful leaves but they will be gone soon.



I'm making a point of photographing the lingering flowers.



We've had a very rare November snow (many years ago) where I got to shoot flowers in the snow.



I think our average first frost date is in late October where I live (central NC).



This year I think we may have had light frost but most nights haven't gone down to freezing yet.



I'm enjoying the cooler weather and am glad that it's seasonal.



I like changes in nature and am glad that we have four seasons although some days the weather gets mixed up.



As the saying goes, if you don't like the weather stick around a few minutes and it will change (or something like that).



I wasn't sure if I was going to stay silent with both written words and photographs ending on this space.



I may pop back occasionally with a few shots from my photographic journey.

 

I was feeling stale for awhile and I was also without a camera for a number of months.



I have a new camera and am enjoying it.



I commute to work now all the time instead of working from home which has definitely changed some of my habits.



Adding the driving time to my day has been an adjustment.



In certain regards though I think it has been good for me.



I had become something of a hermit.



Now I don't have that option.



I love water and reflections.



My neighbor's car is a perfect match for her maple tree this time of the year.



The fall leaves are staggeringly beautiful.



I have enjoyed being able to photograph my backyard birds.



That's one thing I miss about not working from home.



I used to be able to take work breaks to photograph the birds during the day.



Now I mostly get to shoot them on weekends.



I doubt I'll post again before Thanksgiving so Happy Thanksgiving ahead!