Great Parks in Southwest Michigan

Writer Tina Lassen offers these suggestions:

1. Duck Lake State Park (beach)
2. Pine Points Recreation Area (tubing)
3. Saugatuck Dunes State Park (trails)
4. Grand Mere State Park (National Natural Landmark)
5. Kal-Haven Trail (biking)

Read the whole article (with links) on the Pure Michigan Connect blog.

Morel Season

I've been searching for morels several times over the last few weeks. So far, I've only found one, the half-free morel pictured above. Fortunately, a friend found a large number of morels in Kalamazoo and invited us for dinner so I was able to enjoy this spring treat.

Mother goose

Happy Mother's Day!

Peak wildflowers?

For me, it's hard to define the peak moment for spring wildflowers in Kalamazoo. The season changes so quickly, as the woodland plants race for light. The flowers of early May tend to be bigger and showier than the early spring ephemerals. White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) seems to be the poster child for Spring.



Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) is an annual, while most of the other spring wildflowers are perennials.



Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata) send up stiff clusters of distinct flowers.



Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) are another favorite.



The Celadine Poppies were so impressive that I couldn't resist posting another photo.

Peak, or not, it's certainly a good time for a stroll through the woods.

Celadine poppy

The Celandine poppy, or golden wood poppy, (Stylophorum diphyllum) put on a spectacular show this week.

Until I moved to Kalamazoo, I didn't know this eye-catching wildflower. When I first saw it, I thought it was an escaped garden flower, since I had never seen it living in western New York or in Wisconsin. Much later, I read that it isn't native to those states. (See this USDA distribution map). Even in Michigan, these plants aren't widespread, occurring mainly in the western counties. They are beautiful.

Spring bee

I'd been under the impression that bumble bees in Michigan overwintered, like honeybees, but only the queen bee hibernates. This makes it likely that the early spring bumblebees are all queens.

I think this one may be a Bombus impatiens but I could be wrong. According to MSU Extension, Michigan has over 15 species of bumblebees. This Bumblebee Identification tool and this Bumblebee ID chart can help distinguish the species.

Bumblebees and other native bees are important pollinators.

National Geographic Guide to Birdwatching Sites

National Geographic Guide to Birdwatching Sites: Eastern U.S.
by Mel White
1999

This guidebook, illustrated with impressive photographs, covers the Eastern United States from Texas to Maine. The book presents specific birding locations in each of several regions. Their North Central region includes Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky & W. Virginia. I've selected some sites relatively close to Kalamazoo.

"The [Great Lakes] are a barrier, too-- a fact that birders put to good use in spring migration. Northbound land birds arrive at the lakes, look out over seemingly endless stretches of water offering no food, no place to rest, and often decide to take a break before continuing. As a result, impressive numbers of birds can pile up along shorelines, especially at isolated patches of trees such as Indiana's famous Migrant Trap, in Hammond, or Ohio's equally famous Crane Creek boardwalk, east of Toledo. In places like these, on any day from mid-April through May one is likely to find birders scanning the trees in anticipation of a 'fallout' day when 20 or more species of warblers may be found in just a few hours."

Birding locations near Kalamazoo

1. Warren Woods State Natural Area
migrant songbirds in spring

2. Warren Dunes State Park
spring migrants
raptors (fall or spring migrations)
waterbirds (summer)

3. Migrant Trap (Lakeshore Park and Sanctuary) Hammond, IN
(parking lot west of Hammond Marina
mid-April-May
flycatchers, vireos, thrushes, warblers, sparrows


4. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore & Indiana Dunes State Park
spring & fall migrants
waterbirds


5. Washington Park Michigan City , IN
waterbirds

6. Kingsbury Fish and Wildlife Area, IN
"top inland shorebirding site"

7. Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area, IN
marsh birds

8. Maple River State Game Area, MI
wading birds
shorebirds

9. Lake Erie Metropark and Point Mouillee State Game Area
Fall hawk migration (late September)
waterfowl


10. Chicago lakeshore, IL
Montrose Point "Magic Hedge"
Lincoln Park Bird Sanctuary
Paul Douglas Nature Sanctuary
Spring & Fall migrants

11. Point Pelee, Ontario
famous birding spot
mid-April to early June: "breathtaking number" of songbirds


Available from public libraries, or from booksellers like Amazon