September AND October Choices!

As I wrote last week, "Every year I put together a calendar for friends and family, of photos I have published on this blog for the last year or so. However, it's always difficult to make decisions about which photos to use. I am hoping visitors to this blog will help out. Every day for the next few weeks I will publish three or four photos from a given month and hope that comments and choices made by visitors will help me make a final decision which photos to use in this year's calendar. As an incentive, I will offer an online downloadable/printable file of the calendar to anyone who helps me make a choice."

Thanks to everyone who has given me their opinions so far, and it really helps when you give reasons for your preference.

Below are my favorite September AND October photos, some from 2016 and some from 2015. The printing deadline is closer than I thought so I am speeding up the pace. There are four to choose from today. Two of these photos are of local wildlife. The other two are unorthodox. Which TWO of these do you prefer?

Mushrooms

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Saxe Point Park

Autumn Leaves

Red-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

Here's a fairly common local bird that has just begun to visit our backyard bird feeder, a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis).I am happy that it has decided to feed here since they are difficult to photograph in the wild - jumping and hopping around very rapidly when they are foraging for insects and seeds in trees. Our backyard feeder has been taken over by House Finches and House Sparrows and this forces the little Nuthatch to seek spilled food on the ground or wait for an opportunity at the feeder.