autumn sunshine fluff

I'm sitting outside in the sunshine, working. Every once in a while I see a round white fluffy thing floating by on the breeze. ( Tiny seeds with a ball of white hairs spread out around them - they look like these thistle seeds but are more likely from some nearby tree. Cottonwood, maybe. )

I look up, and up there, many many of these fluffy things are drifting by, glowing even brighter in the sunlight as they pass near the sun.

My camera does not pick them up well against the sky.

I chase a few, and catch one, and take it inside to get some close-up photos of it. Then I release it back outside, and it floats away.

What to call them? "Parachute seed" doesn't seem to do them justice, these delicate light floaty spheres.