Last Day Of Summer At Our Local Community Park

The dry, warm and  sunny weather continued throughout this past week. Thursday  was the last day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere.  I decided to take a late afternoon walk out Lake Irena at our local community park.

I have posted a  number of blogs about this pretty place and they can be found in the archives. I found that, despite the summerlike temperatures this past week there were many signs of fall, including a lot more color in the trees surrounding the lake. 

I found a number of Canada geese gathering together in anticipation for their flight south for the winter. 

I also observed this unusual sight, birds not of a feather flocking together. If you look carefully at this photograph you will see a cormorant  among this  flock of mallard ducks. 

I watched the ducks and their friend the cormorant for about a half hour as they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. 

I tried to approach to get a better photograph. The birds took off, the ducks flying one direction,

and the cormorant off on it’s own. It swam through the waters with it’s snake like neck,

until it perched on this stump. 

I walked under the large oaks along the shores of the lake hoping to find some wild mushrooms but the dry, sunny weather we have enjoyed is not good for the fungi. 

There were still  a few wildflowers in bloom. I may have, in a prior post misidentified this as ragweed. I know believe it is golden rod. .

And they attracted some insects and this beautiful butterfly. 

It was the last day of summer, and the sun is now setting around 7 p.m. here in Northeastern Pennsylvania so I had to end early but it was another enjoyable walk taking in the beauty nature has to offer us, even in our own backyards. Here is a link to some more photos from my walk..  walk.

By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.Helen Hunt Jackson