I went to Tower Hill State Park in south western Wisconsin right on the banks of the Wisconsin River. Tower Hill State Park consists of a large hill and sandstone bluff that overlooks the Wisconsin River flood plains. In many ways it is very similar to the natural areas of Burlington. It has mixed deciduous and coniferous forest on the similar to Centennial Woods, the floodplain forest and Wisconsin River create very similar natural communities to that of the Winooski and it’s floodplains, and atop the bluffs are scraggly cedars like at Rock Point. The biggest difference is the geology of the two places, south western Wisconsin is all sandstone and makes up a region called the driftless area. The driftless area is the section of land directly below the furthest reaches of the glacier that once covered much of Wisconsin leading to a very different terrain from the rest of southern and central Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin River is a major corridor for migratory ducks and birds and I visited right t the front end of the spring migration north. I saw a number of ducks such as wood ducks, buffleheads, and mergansers, however they were very wary of me and never let me get close enough for a picture. It also serves as prime fishing for predatory birds and I was able to spot a bald eagle and a pair of ospreys. Off in the floodplains were a couple of sandhill cranes making their journey north and of course geese and turkey were not hard to find.
I was also able to spot a lot of tracks which I believe belong to white tailed dear, coyote, and red squirrel respectively.
