Spring Lake Nature Park

This small city park is an amazing gem for wildlife of all kinds, but especially birds! The park contains spring-fed creeks, a beautiful sandstone cliff formation with a waterfall, a well-maintained, and handicapped accessible trail system, and a diverse array of flora and fauna typical of central Illinois. There is an abundance of wildflowers and wildlife in the park’s varied terrain. The park is home to riparian, prairie, and forest birds, many you would be surprised to find in a small urban park, like Hermit Thrush and Veery, Ruby and Golden Crowned Kinglets, and Wild Turkey. Because they have well maintained birdfeeders, with the usual array of cardinals, nuthatches, and goldfinches, one hardly has to get out of the car to see a plethora of birds. There are also deer, beavers, squirrels, snakes, frogs, and butterflies. Two towering cottonwood trees are arguably some of the largest in the state, well over 200 years old.