Peninsula State Park
Located in Door County, Peninsula State Park features 150-foot limestone bluffs surrounded by eight miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The surrounding cold waters keep the adjacent land cool, so spring here arrives slowly. Mid-May through mid-June offer the best chance of seeing a variety of spring blooms.Start your adventure by strolling Tennison Bay Campground. You'll see Bellwort, Trout Lily, and Yellow Lady's-slippers. For a more strenuous hike, try two-mile Eagle Trail for terrific views of Sarsaparilla, Solomon's-Seal, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Large-flowered Trillium. This trail winds around Peninsula's coastal bluffs, formed 430 million years ago as mud on the floor of a tropical sea. The rock formation is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a 650-mile rock ridge that runs from Niagara Falls in eastern New York, across southeastern Canada, to northeast Wisconsin. Hemlock Trail is another favorite spring walk. Here, you'll observe a sedge meadow wetland marsh (an excellent staging ground for migrating warblers), a Cedar Hemlock forest, and a 4,000-year-old shoreline, which features an abundance of the federally-threatened Dwarf Lake Iris.
A flower enthusiast's visit would not be complete without a visit to the Nature Center's deer enclosure, a demonstration site with hundreds of blooming trilliums every May.
Peninsula State Park is Wisconsin's most popular camping destination and the park is celebrating its 100th year in 2009. It serves as a gateway to other public and private natural areas in Door County, many with exceptional populations of common and rare species. When visiting, ask for a full-color wildflower brochure, complete with a map and trail tips.
(To get to the park from Green Bay, take State Highway 57 north toward Sturgeon Bay. For further information, call 920-868-3258.)
Richard Bong State Recreation Area
Dedicated as the second Important Bird Area in the state, Richard Bong State Recreation Area is a great place for birding in any season. With 234 documented species on the property, spring brings a parade of migrants and residents birds not to be missed. The park is a mixture of several habitats, chiefly grassland with some remnant or restored prairie. It also contains numerous wetlands and a spattering of woodlands that attract a wide variety of birds.The spring birding season at Richard Bong SRA begins mid-February with the return of the Red-winged Blackbirds and Sandhill Cranes. As March blows in and the ice retreats, the lakes, marshes and ponds fill with birds. As spring progresses, the wetlands attract a variety of shorebirds including an occasional Avocet or Red Knot. Herons, Grebes, Terns, Sedge and Marsh Wrens, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Kingfisher, Bitterns and Rails can also be seen in the park.
Whether you climb the observation platform to scan the wetlands or hike some of the 16 miles of trails at the park, you will expand your birding horizons. The grassland and brush habitat comes alive in March when the Bluebirds set up housekeeping on the bluebird nesting trails. Towhee, Thrasher and Catbird, Swallows, Upland Sandpiper and Field, Savannah, Grasshopper and Henslow’s Sparrows trickle in throughout April. May brings the last migrants to these habitats, Yellow warbler, Willow and Alder flycatchers, White-eyed Vireo and Chat. Not easily missed are the Bobolinks, the second most numerous birds on the property.
May is the time to visit the woodlands at Richard Bong. Scarlet tanager, gnatcatcher, vireos, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Wood Thrush and Cuckoos have settled in and the migrating warblers show up in great numbers. A day in the park in May could produce a list of over 80 species.
If you stop by the park visitor center, a full-time naturalist and fellow birder can answer questions or point you in the right direction. Even if the center is closed, the feeders and bird garden are usually full of birds.
(Richard Bong State Recreation Area is 8 miles southeast of Burlington, Wisconsin, on State Highway 142. The entrance is a little less than a mile west of State Highway 75. For further information, call 262-878-5600 or visit the Bong Naturalist Association online.)
Pattison and Amnicon Falls State Parks
Douglas County features a number of waterfalls, which are highlighted at both Pattison and Amnicon Falls state parks. Pattison State Park features three of Wisconsin’s ten highest waterfalls including the 165-foot-high Big Manitou Falls, the fourth highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains. In contrast to the thunder of Big Manitou Falls, twin 31-foot Little Manitou Falls provide for a more intimate, close-up experience. In addition to the waterfalls, more than five miles of trails are available for hiking. The beach and lake provide a focal point for the picturesque historic landscape framed by the original Civilian Conservation Corp buildings from the 1930’s and 1940’s.Amnicon Falls State Park has four waterfalls that accent the numerous rapids of the Amnicon River. A walking trail leads across the scenic Covered Bridge to an island surround by rapids and three of the waterfalls. The park is a very popular area for picnicking, wading in the river, hiking, and camping.
(Pattison State Park is located 12 miles south of Superior, Wisconsin on State Highway 35. For further information, call 715-399-3111. Amnicon Falls State Park is located 15 miles east of Superior, just north of State Highway 2 on County Road U. To reach them, call 715-398-3000.)
