Starkey Hill Interpretive Trail Highlights

This spot, where forest adjoins wetland, is a good place to stop, look and listen. Starkey offers a diversity of habitat for many forms of life. Chipmunks dart across the trails. Deer feed in the shadows. Newts, turtles and waterfowl inhabit the wetlands, along with the more audible spring peepers and bullfrogs. Look up to the treetops for birds and squirrels. You might even see a porcupine. Look down for harmless snakes. The air is busy with insects—butterflies, bees, wasps and other pollinators. You’ll know if mosquitoes are around, but you may not be aware of ticks (be sure to check yourself after a walk for these potential Lyme disease-bearing bloodsuckers). Listen for the drilling of the woodpecker and the songs of birds common to Starkey’s woods—the red-winged blackbird, American robin, Northern cardinal, song sparrow, chickadee and American goldfinch.

To learn more about these and other birds and their calls, click on the Cornell Ornithology Lab link below and search for the bird you want to see and hear.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

A local resident

Outta my way!
Large snapping turtle
(photo Gayle Jeffery)

The Starkey Hill Interpretive Trail is jointly managed by the Guelph Hiking Trail Club and the Grand River Conservation Authority

Grand River Conservation Authority

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