Subtle Fall

The fall colours in my neighbourhood have been lacking this year. I guess with the warm, humid weather continuing up until a couple of weeks ago, it has affected the strength of colours. When I look out my windows it's still predominantly green with just subtle hues of colour.

Earlier this week I took the kids down to our local marsh for an enjoyable walk along the trail and to get a few fall colour shots, such as they are.

Kids look so tiny in the woods ...

There were a few nice bird sightings. Nuthatches are so fast! that I only got one good shot of him, even though I snapped about six!

The turkeys are back in the piney woods ... all ready for a free handout.

 

They don't think I see them ;)

 

This short video has the chickadees eating seeds from my hand. It makes me laugh because all I can hear is the little girl in my care saying "a little bird on my head" when a chickadee landed on her head. She's so good and didn't panic, but kept repeating it over and over ;)

A bright cardinal heard the commotion when we stopped to feed the chickadees, but he refused to leave the safety of all these red branches.

The Canada Geese are always busy down at the marsh. Most of these birds will winter here now. When the temperatures suddenly drop however, it triggers in their tiny brains a faint memory of flying south and they flock together, honk together, cause great commotion and then forget where they're supposed to go.

 

Although the colours were subtle, some of the scenery looked like a painting with a faint haze in the air.

Loved the sweep of these bare branches (below) ...

The faint colours are still nice close up ...

Lots of vines heavy with grapes and other berries. I was surprised the birds hadn't already devoured these ...

Far too quickly it was time to head home again. Although I love being able to take the kids out with me on these little outings, I just want to keep going, going, going, but these little guys run out of steam quickly. A group of hikers were in the parking lot when we started out, and they marched passed us on the trail already heading back! I think I would be bored walking in such regimental style. When we got back to the parking lot they were all doing their cooling down exercises before hopping back in their vehicles. 

This little mallard is sporting his new fall pin ... all the girls thought he was special.

Thanks for stopping by today!