Orchids (and more) in October in Ottawa County, Michigan

 2023 October 6 

Bass River Recreation Area in Ottawa County Michigan.

                       Ladies' Tresses orchid

   I found a total of seven Nodding Ladies' Tresses still blooming on October 6, 2023.  

Closed Gentian

Aster with a bee.

This past week we have had some amazing clouds.

2022 January 7 - Two walks on a snowy day at Hofma Preserve and Stearns Creek Park

Wednesday January 5, 2022, Ottawa County Michigan and surrounding areas were under a Winter Storm Warning.  The morning was clear, in the afternoon the snow started falling and kept coming for the next two days.  There were breaks in the snowstorm and the sun would peek out at times.  I'm not sure what the total snowfall amount for our area was but last night at Stearns Creek Park the snow was more than 18 inches deep on the trail.

Yesterday I was lucky to go on two walks.  One in the morning at Hofma Preserve with my daughter and one in the evening with Mike at Stearns Creek Park.

First Hofma Preserve.  I really like walking here.  It has so many different features like the float bridge that takes you over Pottawattomie Bayou to Hofma Park, the overlook tower, and the addition of an old tree farm.  There are miles of trails and so many interesting places.

If you look closely, you can see the float bridge in the picture above.

We named this the Barred Owl trail, we have seen the owl here twice.  We actually saw it fly off yesterday while we were near the swampy area.  Sometimes you might hear its "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all" call. 

Stearns Creek Park walk was in the evening, it took over an hour to walk two miles through the deep snow.  When we got back to the car it was getting dark so not many pictures.  The snow was up past my knees (18 inches +) and on some trails, no one had walked on them since the fresh batch of snow.

No tracks on the trail.  It is difficult to tell but believe me it was a lot of work walking through this beautiful snow.  Also, very peaceful.

It was a good day to be outside. The temperature was around 20 degrees F. and very little wind.   I hope you enjoyed the walks.

Mid September 2018 - Beauties of the Meadow, Gentians and Ladies' Tresses and more!

September 07  Port Sheldon Natural Area  Ottawa County

Port Sheldon Natural Area has 440 acres including gently rolling terrain, swampy woods, several ponds and Ten Hagen Creek, and wildflowers.

   Virginia Meadow Beauty
This was the main reason I took a walk here in September, to see the beauties of the meadow!  There were hundreds of these plants in various stages of bloom.  I had the whole park to myself, never saw another person.

The Meadow Beauty ring this pond with hundreds of plants.

No blue sky on that day, but the plants were very impressive.

September 10  Black Lake Park   Norton Shores  Muskegon County

Black Lake Park is a 58 acre parcel, located near the southern boundary of Norton Shores, between Wood Road and the eastern shoreline of Little Black Lake. The park provides passive recreation opportunities for nature lovers with a number of bird, animal and plant species to observe.

 Little Black Lake

 First time I have come across a Stinkhorn, and no I didn't give it a sniff.

Bass River Recreation Area - Ottawa County, Michigan - September 11, 2018

 Bass is high on my list of favorite places to explore in Ottawa County.

Bass River Recreation Area, a 1,665-acre site in central Ottawa County, consists of open meadows, open brush land, mature hardwoods, small ponds and 300-acre Max Lake. It has approximately three miles of frontage on the Grand River. The park is used primarily for boating, hiking, mountain biking and horse back riding, as well as hunting.

         Bottle Gentian   
     I think it should be named Stunningly Beautiful Gentian!

    Here at Bass we also find the white variety of the Stunningly Beautiful Gentian

Also in this awesome place we see orchids!  Nodding Ladies' Tresses

We saw a Monarch chrysalis, caterpillar, and adult butterfly.

We even saw two Monarch cocoons on one plant, and nearby two caterpillars on one plant.  I tried to capture it in a photo, it isn't very clear so I circled each in red.  Caterpillars on the left, cocoons on the right.  There were aphids covering the plant stems.

 Mike and I have been keeping up our evening walks, usually at Connor Bayou, occasionally we head to Hofma Park and Preserve.  September 15 we walked at Hofma Preserve, again, no blue sky but some of the trees were showing just a bit of color. 

Next time I will finish up the month of September, and soon we should be seeing the fall colors!  Thanks for stopping by.