October 12 through December 7, 2019

I have been uploading photos to flickr over the past two months and had intended to write a post before now.



Since I put the flickr address into my blog post to avoid running out of storage space, I usually write a post as soon as I have the photos ready to embed.



The problem with doing it this way is I have so many shots ready to embed it will probably be an insanely long post.



One way I know I've been blogging a long time is I started with picsa as a place to host embedded photos and then used photobucket and finally landed on flickr. Dogwoods are usually the first trees that go to full color in my neck of the woods.



This was an odd fall in that trees that change colors later, were not only later than usual they reached full color very fast after the change started and then dropped fast.



I'm still in the October shots but that was very noticeable with the oaks which will be towards the end of this post.



This buck was in a neighbor's yard and I thought he was a statue at first. Definitely wasn't scared of me.



Weather was all over the place this fall. That's not unusual but to have lows in the 20s (Fahrenheit) one night and within about 3 days to have a high close to 90 (Fahrenheit) was bizarre.



The maples were gorgeous as usual this year but short lived color.



Below the oak tree was beginning to change colors and I loved how it bled into the maples.



The down sided with so many shots since my last post is it's difficult to choose.



I was happy when the water birds showed up at Shelly Lake. The commentary doesn't fit the shots because I'm waiting until later in the post to use shots from the lake.



I liked the way the jeep and mailbox matched the fall colors below.



The hawk below chose the most precarious limb for a perch which reminded me of how the largest people sometimes land on the most fragile chairs. I'm quite large at this point in my life but I'm leery of delicate chairs.



I can always tell when the hawk is in my trees because the other birds don't use the birdbath until her or she is gone.



At this point I'm skipping more shots that I uploaded than I'm using.



I only went on one walk at Shelly lake when I didn't see any water birds but it was a first for me so I was relieved when they showed up again by the next walk.



The cormorants always leave in the spring and return in the fall as do the gulls.



There are other water birds at the lake year round (ducks, geese, heron and egrets).



They shift to different parts of the lake depending on the time of the year.



In the early spring I don't see as many water birds but I hear them warning me away from their nesting area.



I haven't seen the bald eagles since early summer so glad to spot this one on a recent walk.



I love reflections and particularly when there are clouds along with a blue sky.



Hard to pick which reflections to use.



At this point I'm running out of words so I'm looking for a logical place to stop.



Nice having beautiful walking days during my Thanksgiving holiday.



The last two shots aren't particularly good but I took them today and was pleased that the birds seemed happy I raked the leaves on the deck as well as removed them from the bird baths.



The American Robin was as happy about the berries I uncovered as well as having a clean bath waiting.