They are drawing down Montello Lake and the egrets are thick out there taking advantage of easy pickings of fish and aquatic animals.  Crickets are singing with end of the season fever.  The moon is wonderful.

So much has been going on, I haven’t posted lately, but Marquette County is bringing in the beauty of the change of season.  New England astors are out, although not as thick as last year.  The orioles are gone!   I’ll worry about them all winter and look forward for their hollow whistle come spring. 

Some of the most beautiful trees in Marquette County are the oaks.  There are black oak, red oak, white oak, pin oak and burr oak.  Here is a beautiful one towards Westfield.  The crown is magnificent.  It’s probably 150 years old. 

Prairie Dock or Elephant Ears bloom all along the road and in many prairies this time of year.  The tall stems wave in the wind sprouting out of a bowl-like bunch of huge waxy leaves.   Settlers once used its long tap root to brew medicinal tea.

Where did summer go?  Gold finches are eating the seeds of prairie flowers and grasses.  I heard geese honking overhead yesterday.  The ferns are brown and the golden rod is peaking.