Kettle Moraine State Forest - Pike Lake
https://ebird.org/hotspot/L297908?yr=all&m=&rank=mrec
Habitat: Open Water (Pike Lake), Marsh, Northern Hardwood Forest, Successional Oldfield, some small areas of Native Restored Grassland.
Best Birds: All three swan species can occasionally be found on the lake: Tundra, Mute, and Trumpeter. Common Loon is a regular. Big rafts with a good variety of dabbling and diving ducks are pretty common and can include Hooded, Common, and Red-breasted Merganser, as well as Horned Grebes. A Bald Eagle can often be seen in a tree along the south edge of the lake.
Starting at the beach parking lot, take the trail to the north which hugs the lake’s edge. This stretch can be very good for warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and the back loop of the boardwalk for Winter Wren. There is a trail off the south end of the beach parking lot. Follow this trail over a small wooden bridge and there is a large open area surrounded by lowland shrubs. Check here for Am. Woodcock around dusk in April. The bike and hiking trails west and east of the park office take you through successional oldfields where you can get many field and edge birds. As many as eleven sparrow species can be found there including: Clay-colored, Field, Lincoln’s and Swamp Sparrow. You may also find Purple Martins, Eastern Towhee, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Kingbird, and Least Flycatcher in this area.
The Black Forest Nature Trail can produce both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. The nature trail and the green trail areas are good for the thrushes, and many of the vireos such as Red-eyed, Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, and Philadelphia. Some of the other birds found in this area are Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Least Flycatcher. 29 species of warblers have also been seen in the park including Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Pine, Northern Waterthrush, and Mourning Warbler.
Directions: The entrance to the Pike Lake Unit is located just east of Hartford, WI along Hwy 60 and just south of the intersection of Hwy 60 and Kettle Moraine Rd.
Good views of the lake can be had from the beach parking lot (43.308411, -88.322334 and from the Reef Point on the west side of the lake 43.314994, -88.340036. The Black Forest Nature Trail’s parking lot east of the office is at 43.31878,-88.30870.
Site Address & Additional Information:
3544 Kettle Moraine Rd., Hartford, WI
Pike Lake Wisconsin State Park System | Wisconsin DNR
Dennis Panicucci
