December begins....

and the year winds down....but it is still fall for a few more weeks. There's still time to take long walks on sunny mornings looking out over the marsh to the sea...

and to sit and enjoy the view without freezing half to death....

There are old nests to discover, left over from last summer. This one is most likely a catbird nest since they have a fondness for bushes surrounded by briers and they like a bit of shiny cellophane to liven things up a bit..

Oriental bittersweet is invasive but the bright orange berries against an azure sky are still quite lovely....

Winterberries are abundant and give the landscape a red hue where they are most plentiful...

There's a familiar gray creeping into the landscape everywhere we turn....

And young red tailed hawks can be seen watching the ground below from their perches in nearby trees....

and at the end of the day....the sun sets with the intense colorful drama that only this time of year seems to bring...

By the end of the month winter will have set in....but until then, we can enjoy more days and evenings like these...

these photos were all taken on December 2 in various parts of the lower and mid Cape....