This last Saturday morning, my husband took the kids to soccer while I went on a bird hike with the
South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society. I recently became a member, though the hikes are open to others interested in birds. I was just at
Boot Lake in July while working on a segment for Our Town Elkhart. True to form, I did take at least one wrong turn getting out there--I guess I don't follow my own advice on checking the directions before leaving. It was neat to see the fall changes since my last visit was in the middle of summer.
We took the trail by the gate over to the left as we entered. It took us past the tree nursery, prairie, out to an overlook that is hard to see through the trees, and through the woods to a pier over the water. This let us a see a variety of habitats. Everyone was very friendly and talked amongst themselves as we walked.
There are nesting boxes throughout the area. I saw many frogs in them before. One of the hikers found a turkey feather and stuck it in a tree to delight someone later.
