Late September through Late November 2018

The hard part with blogging so much less than I used to is it's harder to select photographs. 



Late September was almost like summer although the dogwoods did begin changing early as they always do.



There have been more egrets on the lake near my house lately than heron.



I used to see great blue heron frequently but they seem to be supplanted by the egrets for some reason.



Heron hang out at a lot of different lakes in my area so they may have decided other places have better fishing.



The guy above looks a little off kilter.



The shot above and quite a few below are ones I took in the NC mountains. 



The mountains are always ahead of central NC with fall color but everywhere was later than usual in my state this year. 



I got some great contrast with the light playing on the mountains.



We drove on the blue ridge parkway from the southern end to the northern end of the mountain range.



The weather was better than expected.



It was supposed to rain the whole time we were there but it ended up with a very small amount of rain that we drove out of.



I think I love the rocks in the mountains as much as anything.



I think the cyclist below must be very tough.



I wouldn't be able to ride a bike in the mountains much less in the rain.



And here comes the sun.



The rest of the shots are at home and on Shelly Lake walks



The bittersweet on my deck is very abundant this year.



I photographed the camellias a couple of weeks ago but we had some very cold temperatures at night so even being hardy they've probably all been zapped by the freezing weather.



We still have a lot of fall color in central NC although the leaves are changing and falling very fast now.



I heard a story on NPR about how climate change has been gradually making fall leaves change later.



It does seem to get later and later.



There are a lot of evergreens at Shelley Lake so there's green year round.



One of the people in the shot below had a red jacket which looked like part of the leaves from a distance.



The gulls have returned for the winter.



The cormorants have also returned. Both gulls and cormorants go to other places in the spring.



I miss the cormorants when they leave.



There are gulls year round at other lakes near me but I usually only see cormorants in the fall and winter.



I think I like reflections in the fall as much as anything.



Even without colorful leaves in the reflection below I think the duck is photogenic.



I'm guessing by next weekend there won't be hardly any leaves left on the trees. 



I used to think of all the fall leaves dropping well before Thanksgiving but that hasn't happened lately here.