Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn was at Scarborough Bluffs. It was a cold morning – I wore long johns and a warm coat as well as toque and mittens. As it turned out, the temperature rose a little during the walk and there was no wind to speak of – a lovely day for a walk.

I was unable to photograph the highlight of the walk – we saw an immature golden eagle – but Miles was able to get it with his much longer lens. You can see two photos of the eagle on his nature walk report for today.

There are quite a few walnut trees up top, and apples, as well as lots of crack willows. Crack willow bark looks like this (above)…..

We’re pretty much at the end of the asters in our area. The panicled aster below has all gone to seed.

However, there was still a little flower life remaining in this heart-leaved aster….

and in this New England aster…..

It’s easy to think there won’t be much plant visual interest this late in the fall, but that is far from the truth. For instance, look at this Spindle tree….

and this wild cucumber vine…

We went down to the bottom of the bluffs by the lake. We saw plenty more birds down there than up top….