Saturday morning Oct. 19 Liz Notman led eight of us out and back the trail on the western portion of the Upper Macatawa Natural Area. (Our planned walk on the eastern portion was nixed due to high water.) It was a beautiful cool morning with the clouds showing a pattern that has a name we couldn't recall.
We found 37 bird species along our way, thickest in the woods to the east, including Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret (3), Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Carol Cooper, who took these pictures, identified several wildflowers along the way including the teasel, chicory and New England aster below (plus the woolly bear caterpillar).
Photos by Carol Cooper
