What's Up?

I honestly don't know how many Tufted Titmice we have in the garden now - maybe a dozen?  I've been able to count up to 8 at one time but they are in constant motion so it's really impossible to get a totally accurate count.  What is certain, however, is that they are one of our cutest, most characterful little birds.  They flit and dart and perform all sorts of gymnastics in pursuit of insects, seeds and berries.  And most of the time, their little grey crests are elevated, which just adds to the cuteness factor.  Prepare to see more as we move further into fall and the diversity of yard birds decreases...

I went out to blow some leaves off the patio and when I blew a big patch off, I found a big Giant Tiger Moth caterpillar all curled up, trying to be invisible.  Of course, I had to pick it up and look at it - during which it played dead.  I left it in the side garden and when I went out a short time later, it was traveling, having stretched itself out to about 2 inches of fuzzy black cuteness.  It will overwinter under some tree bark of buried in leaf litter, emerging as a stunning white moth with big black spots next spring.  I'll put a pic in Extra of it playing dead in my hand.

I have my images from Saturday narrowed down to 330 images meaning that each dog owner will get at least 50 pics of their dog to choose from.  I've included shots of all phases of the trial as well as some random fun shots that they may like.  Now I just have to load them up to Pixieset, get them organized the way I want, and send the link out.  Although 330 is a big number, I feel that it's a good number as it represents about 10% of the total images I shot and gives the owners lots of choices.  

Temps are only in the low 50's today with moderate wind.  Even so, I spent some time in the garden, cutting some things back and pulling some annuals out of the beds.  We haven't had a killing frost yet, so some of the annuals are still blooming and will remain until they wilt.  Already making plans for modifications to the garden for next year...

I'm thinking dark with ginger may be the pick today.

xo
Debbi