River Oaks County Park

River Oaks County Park is a real sports park with a dozen soccer fields, softball diamonds, a model airplane field, and plenty of parking. The park also offers picnic shelters, some hiking trails and a boat ramp on Morrow Lake, an impoundment of the Kalamazoo River.

A year after the 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill, access to the river is still closed at River Oaks Park.

In winter, it was a nice park for solitude.

River Oaks County Park
9202 East Michigan Ave (M-96)
Galesburg, MI

Admission $5 daily. Season pass $25.

Milkweed

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) doesn't have the show-stopping flowers of the Butterfly Milkweed but the pale pink flowers are attractive enough. They're particularly attractive to butterflies, most famously the Monarch.

Milkweed is named for its thick white sap, which protects the plant from many herbivores since it contains bitter cardiac glycosides that are toxic in large doses. Certain insects, like the Monarch Butterfly, have adapted to tolerate this poison and, in fact, are able to incorporate it as their own chemical defense against predators.

The USDA has an informative pdf on the Common Milkweed.

Wild blueberry

Wild blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) are ripening now. These are highbush blueberries, closely related to the commercially-farmed berries grown near Kalamazoo. Michigan also has two species of lowbush blueberries that only grow a few inches high, while the highbush blueberry grows several feet tall. The sweet fruits are popular with birds, animals, and people.

Water lily spirals

The other day I was paddling on Portage Lake (from Coldbrook County Park) and I noticed these spiral stems on many submerged water lilies. At the time, I thought they were new blossoms and I wondered why they grew from a corkscrew stem. A little web surfing showed me I had been wrong in assuming they were new buds. Apparently White Water Lilies (Nymphaea odorata) emerge on straight stems but after pollination the stems twist into a spiral pulling the flower underwater where the seeds mature.

Rocky River (Three Rivers)

Three Rivers, a town about half an hour south of Kalamazoo, offers several choices for canoe trips. Last fall we tried the St Joseph River; yesterday, we paddled the Rocky River. Compared to the St Joseph River, the Rocky was narrower, shallower, and twistier with a better current.

We started at a bridge on Null Road in a suburban area northwest of town, where the river took us through a mix of manicured lawns and natural areas. Downstream, farmers were irrigating their fields with river water. We saw Blue Herons, muskrats, turtles, frogs and a Kingfisher and we watched a colorful Goldfinch take a bath at the river's edge. About two hours into the paddle, we came to the dock at Brewster's where we stopped for a cold beverage.

Near the end of the river the current picked up, with a few rapids. We scouted the whitewater from a footbridge in the city park and decided to portage. We did watch three boats run the rapids, none successfully. The water was shallow enough that the paddlers were able to just stand up and start again.

From there, the river ran through Skidmore Park where we saw an emu in the small zoo. Then a series of riffles led to the Saint Joseph River. The end of the trip was directly across the river at the Conservation Park boat ramp.




Boat rental and spotting are available from
Liquid Therapy
221 S. Main Street
Three Rivers, MI 49093
269-273-9000

Prairie Flowers

While the Kalamazoo Nature Center is my favorite spot for Spring wildflowers, I don't always think of it for summer blooms. I visited earlier this week and the prairie flowers were spectacular. Black-eyed Susan were at their peak. Monarch butterflies were drinking nectar from the Wild Bergamot. Butterfly Milkweed and Common Milkweed were in flower, along with both purple and yellow coneflowers.
Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta


Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea



Purple Prairie Clover Dalea purpurea



Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa


The prairie flowers can be easily seen from the Prairie View parking lot (on Westnedge about a half mile south of the main entrance) and from the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail. To walk the prairie, start at the Interpretive Center, cross the bridge over Trout Run stream, then head uphill. The bright colors of the prairie make quite a contrast from the cool dark woods.



Kalamazoo Nature Center
7000 N. Westnedge Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49009

American Kestrel

The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smallest bird of prey found near Kalamazoo. They eat grasshoppers and other insects in the summer and mice and small mammals in the winter. They nest in tree cavities, often in holes created by woodpeckers, and feed in open areas. They are often seen perched on telephone lines watching for prey. The species is widely distributed throughout North and South America.


The bird pictured is used in education programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.