A short walk

This is a run-off reservoir near the house. It could be a nice little place for birds and ducks but there are no water foul here . I saw a Blue Heron at the pond's edge twice, and a  gaggle of Canadian geese swimming in it once. In fact, I have posted pictures of the heron, ( 8-29-10 ).  Since birds do not stay or frequent the pond  I think the water may be poisoned in some way, it certainly is not a food source.  The algae seems to be all that is alive in it.  Although I hear a multitude of toads and frogs singing their little hearts out in the summer I have not seen them around this particular area, I find a large number around the house though ( 07-20-11, 05-20-11 and more ) .  Sometimes inside the basement!  EEK!  The plant life does contain wild grasses, fern and moss in the lower areas and ditches.    These areas are alive with many gold finches even now.   In fact, that seems to be the overwhelming species here all year long.
Emma snuck out of our fenced yard to follow me to the pond. As I walked the pond's perimeter she made her presence known by following behind me and barking every
few moments, turning and walking back down the path a few steps, and looking back to see if I were obeying and starting to follow her.. I finally gave up on my stroll, put my binoculars and camera back into their pouch and obediently began to head for home.  She did not stop her calling and checking until we had reached the paving stones at the side of the road.  There would be no bird watching today.

I drove back to the pond with the firey red tree and parked the car so I could take a quick shot of the tree and show it's base.  It doesn't look like I did any better with this picture than I did with the earlier post..Oh well, it is still pretty.  The sun was just begining to set so the colors are a bit muted and you can see the  early evening shadows. 

On my way back from the pond

I thought I would take a few more pictures of the landscape to share with everyone.  As you can see the trees are still pretty green.  We're just going into a cold snap so maybe now we will have more fall color.

 There was more pink in the sky than these pictures show,and the way the setting sun back lit the farm was very pretty to see.  I like this little farm house with its out buildings, barn and silo.  It is not a working farm, in fact it has stood empty for over a year now.

The Wonders of Fall

This bright red tree is at the bottom of an incline and on the edge of a small pond.  I wasn't able to get out of my car to take a picture that would capture the whole scene.  I thought it pretty enough to take a photo of what I could though.

Maple leaf on wet sidewalk.

A chipmunk hole.....

 Sophia finds so many great things on our walks, we will keep some and photograph the rest.  We are going to keep a journal about our adventures.

I don't know why I didn't make any pictures of Cohen while we were out.  He was enjoying the walk too.  I'll get some of him tomorrow....I know you can't wait!

Blue Heron

I made these pictures at a small pond right above my house this evening.  

                         I made them from inside the car when I was driving by.**I did pull over and stop the car before taking the pictures****

This last picture can really fool you.  The tree trunks in the picture are actually the reflection of the trees growing just beyond the pond's  bank.  The trees themselves are not pictured.  The pond;s surface is clean near the bank, but, covered in pollen on the more open surface where the breeze has also deposited leaves and debris.  The green undergrowth in the very top of the photo is the 'real' bank.