Thinking that Louisiana Waterthrush on the sign would be nice.
When I arrived the park seemed quiet enough, though I quickly found a massive scout troop from Holmen, WI was setup in the main open space learning emergency response details and preparing for a hike. I moved past that them and had details in hand from the park ranger/interpreter on potential trail spaces for the coveted Louisiana Waterthrush. Being the bird was on the entrance sign I had high hopes.
I found the Big Spring trail that basically parallels the stream and the dirt campground road. Certainly not a space that puts you out in the middle of nowhere as camp sites and bathrooms are seen along with beefed up creek crossings for vehicles. The ton was much different that I would attribute to the less tourist nature of the space, meaning you likely would have come to this place to avoid historic tours and caves. This seemed like a space for solitude, hiking, and nature time and it proved that way as everyone present was generally quiet.
I quickly picked up some warbler activity on the spring cooridor, which peaked near the mouth of the spring when I picked up the distinct song of a male Cerulean Warbler. This tough to find bird was bouncing about in the tree tops just up the ridge as I struggled for a picture, just getting one before it moved along.
The long view of a singing male Cerulean Warbler.
At this same location I picked up the chip note of a Louisiana Waterthrush, but had trouble locking down a visual and eventually returned to my car for a lunch snack.
As I ate at a picnic table a Yellow Warbler claimed territory and a House Wren chattered constantly telling everyone it might now own the playground equipment. The scouts had dispersed a bit by this time and I picked another creek trail that looped out a longer ways away from the main park body. The scouts were present in many spaces, but were respectful and seemed to be enjoying the space.
I had word of a stream crossing being out, but decided to stay on that section anyway in hopes of sticking close to the stream for Waterthrush sightings. I soon had the unmistakable run-on song of a Winter Wren fill the area. I found the little bird bouncing about the deadfall and underbrush. I'm starting to get a feeling based on prior reports in the southern part of the state that Winter Wren is trying to establish in these southern valley/canyon spaces well south of their typical range as I would expect this bird to be well north by now.
I eventually came to the end of the trail and picked up chip notes and visual of a Louisiana Waterthrush working the stream edge. An excellent few birds in this park to add to my park list and help provide a great location for challenging species.
So good I put up 2 pictures of this awesome Louisiana Waterthrush. Such a fun bird to find in small creek/streams that run over rocks and provide space for them to pick bugs and such from the water.
I ran into a scout leader trying to get to the trails end so he could setup as an "injured" hiker for scout rescue and directed him on the path needed to avoid the bridge out situation. On my own return to the parking lot I ran into the crew looking for him and they asked if I had seen a hiker, etc... I put them in the direction he was likely to be assuming this would be how a real world scenario might play out. Hiker goes missing, volunteers look for the hiker, and ask others along the way what I might have seen prior to their arrival.
I wrapped up my visit with a few more State Park first of year birds like Yellow-throated Vireo and Warbling Vireo. It was a short visit with limited trail efforts, but I enjoyed all of my time and was excited to add a couple warblers to my state park year list that I had hoped for this southern section of the state.
American Redstart working the trees and singing away.
A Red Admiral butterfly.
The Great: Another off grid location where cell signal is not going to penetrate. The spring fed stream was really nice and provided some crystal clear waters for some excellent warbler territory. I got the feeling that some elevation hiking was available to me with some switchback trails, though this day I was not able to put that into practice wanting to get to a 4th park on the day.
The Meh: The park bottom area with camping and general parking does feel a bit cramped and I imagine on busy days it might really feel cramped. I think the loop trails and ridge trails might alleviate this, but I can see it being hard to feel very lost much of the time. Seems the brand of visitor to a park like this though may be tilted a bit towards those that enjoy hiking and solitude more than some other spaces.
The Verdict: I like this park for the unique species findable and the potential for other fun valley bottom or elevation hikes. I can see a return trip in coming years though I suspect I picked up the couple of really key birds for this location already. Definitely worth a visit and a couple hours of hiking and the valley bottom seemed it could hold a lower temperature than high elevation open spaces so perhaps a nice respite from the heat.
No comments:
Post a Comment