The Magic Hedge

Hello Patient Readers. It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I was wrapping up a very large illustration job, and so much of my time has been spent huddled over my drawing table. Although I haven't been able to get to the Field for a bit to volunteer, or work on my own painting, I did get to go birdwatching for the first time with my daughter. Isabel is only 9 months old, but she loves being outdoors. We met our friend Renate at The Magic Hedge.

The Magic Hedge is a birding spot I have known about for years, but have never been. It's a wonderful little preserve on the lakeshore by Montrose Harbor. It's well known as a birding hot spot, so Renate and I were eager to check it out. It was beautiful. It was large and dense enough that most of the time while we hiked its trails, we could neither see or hear the buzzing city. It was dense with aster, goldenrod, and drying seed heads of prairie dock and purple cone-flower. The trees were radiating with the golds and oranges of fall. Isabel was nestled up against me in her Ergo carrier, and took it all in; a wonderful way to ring in autumn.