CELEBRATING FALL

Paddling their own canoe
With the autumn foliage lighting up the background, a group paddle their fishing boat to shore at Cottonwood Lake, near Buena Vista, Colo.

Scarlet and snow
Autumn and winter battle it out as New England's bright fall foliage meets with an early snow in Franconia, N.H.

Rosy-fingered dawn
The sun begins to rise over the Somerset Levels looking towards Pilton near Glastonbury, England on a crisp fall day.

Smiles and umbrellas
Belarussian teenage girls play with umbrellas during a drizzly autumn day in Minsk park in Belaruss.

View from the top

A couple take in the view from the ocean lookout ledges on 1375-foot Mount Megunticook, at Camden Hills State Park in Maine. The state's forest rangers, who have been tracking fall foliage for 50 years, are now using personal data assistants to send in fall foliage reports from the field.

Still waters
The evening sunlight illuminates trees with leaves that are beginning to change color besides a lake near Warminster, England. England, particularly in the south, is enjoying a spell of dry weather, allowing the beginning of the autumn foliage colors - brought on by shortening daylight hours and cooler weather - to be fully appreciated.

Gold rush
Orange and gold leaves frame Shiprock, a dramatic rock formation near the San Juan River in New Mexico.

Sky's the limit
The autumn colors of these towering aspens near Buena Vista, Colo., leap out against blue sky.

Falling for fall
The autumn rainbow surrounds Kegon Falls at the outlet of Lake Chuzenji in Japan's Nikko National Park. The waterfalls, which are one of Japan's highest, are a major tourist attraction in the fall.

Frosty fringe
Colorful fall leaves are covered in a morning frost in a yard in Moreland Hills, Ohio

Presidential mums
Mums are in bloom in Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington DC

Floating colors
A reflection of colourful autumn trees is seen in the Vltava river, Prague, Czech Republic.