Crenshaw County Public Lake
The Crenshaw County Public Lake is a beautiful tract of open, mature pines, well-suited for Bachman’s Sparrows, Brown-headed Nuthatches, Pine Warblers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Bobwhites, Prairie Warblers, Kingfishers, swallows, kingbirds, and flycatchers galore. Waders are found near the water, and in late winter, rafts of dabbling ducks may be found on the water. The grassy hill between the lake and the woods can be extremely productive in all seasons.
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Conecuh National Forest
The 83,000 acres of the Conecuh house scores of Red-cockaded Woodpecker colonies and hundreds of Bachman’s Sparrows in the pine forests. You'll find breeding Anhingas, Purple Gallinules, Common Moorhens, King Rails, and Least Bitterns in its wetlands, and Swallow-tailed Kites and Painted Buntings thinly scattered throughout the forest. Packed with breeding birds and a haven for wintering songbirds and waterfowl, the Conecuh deserves to be listed in the highest echelon of birding sites in Alabama.
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Chattahoochee State Park
Chattahoochee St Park sits along the Florida State line. The park is managed for timber, but contains extensive water in the form of a lake, a swamp, and several other wetland areas. There is excellent birding all year, with breeding Anhingas, Purple galinules, Common moorhens, Least bitterns, King rails, kites, and many wetland songbirds. Wintering birds are numerous. Best place in the state for a stray Limpkin or Short-tailed hawk. Waders are common all year.
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Blue Springs State Park
Blue Springs is a small park on AL 10 in Clio. It presents a small lake and scattered copses of mostly mature hardwoods. It’s used for swimming and picnicking by local residents. The springs themselves are now contained in concrete, but the park’s small lake does attract swallows, a few waders, and some songbirds. The woods here can be good for migrant songbirds in spring and fall, and check the skies for soaring hawks and vultures, especially in later spring and fall.
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Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center
This is an excellent birding site, but because it is the property of Auburn University, and because of the educational programs held here throughout the year, visitors should contact the center or call for permission before exploring the grounds. There are multitudes of pinewoods birds, including numerous Bachman’s Sparrows, and good numbers of wetland birds in the wet areas. Swallow-tailed Kites breed nearby!
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Omussee Creek Park and West Bank Recreation Area
This complex of two riverfront parks offers nesting Anhingas, Moorhens, Misissippi Kites, and multiple wetland-loving songbirds. Omussee Creek and the West Bank Dam make a very fine half-day jaunt and couple well with Chattahoochee State Park, just 20 minutes south along AL 95.
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Dothan Area Botanical Gardens
The garden is free and open year-round. The paved paths pass through manicured lawns, a rose garden, open pine woods, mixed hardwoods, and small ponds. The gardens are easy to bird, with excellent access, and very good sight lines. The gardens are one of the best locations in the immediate Dothan area to see spring and fall migrants, and should host decent numbers of wintering songbirds.
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Landmark Park
There are three sections of this park that are of interest to birders. The entrance area contains a small farm plot, a home site, outbuildings, and several late 19th-century buildings. There is an upland wooded section with woodland trails, and an elevated boardwalk around a severely overgrown bottomland and wetland area. Sightlines are difficult in the wooded and wet portions; this is a site for birding by ear. Birding is easiest in the winter when the hardwoods are bare and birds are more visible in the more heavily wooded portions of the park.
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Lakepoint State Park
The state park is adjacent to Eufaula NWR. It is situated on the shoreline of Lake Eufaula, and incorporates a marina, lodge, golf course, meadows, pine woods, grassy fields, and water treatment lagoons. You can find birds ranging from bluebirds and juncos to nesting Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Brown-headed Nuthatches. There are also waders, shorebirds, and wintering waterfowl. Any visit to the Eufaula NWR should include time to bird the state park.
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Frank Jackson State Park
A compact park fronting a large lake, Frank Jackson State Park boasts a view of agricultural fields, multiple nature/hiking trails, picnicking areas, a boardwalk to Memorial Island in the lake, and considerable acreage of mostly mature mixed hardwood forest. Trails give access to songbird areas, while the forest edges attract migrants. Expect to see waterfowl and gulls on the lake in the colder months.
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Pike County Public Fishing Lake
Despite its ramshackle appearance, the Pike County Lake is open for business and has a good level of bird activity. A wide variety of songbirds abound in the surrounding woods and scrub, while herons and egrets hunt the lake’s margins. Kingfishers and swallows are regular sights over the water, and waterfowl are present in modest numbers in winter. Birding the second-growth woodlands and creekside vegetation along the ¾ mile-long entrance road can be quite worthwhile.
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Walter F. George Dam
The best word to describe the WF George Lock and Dam reservation is sprawling. There is the lock and dam complex at the Georgia state line, with deep water for winter birds and a sod farm next door for shorebirds – the best such site in the Wiregrass region. Then there are four additional recreation areas, all open woods with water frontage, for woodland songbirds and a few waders. Add in the farm and field habitat along the drive from Eufaula and this adds up to over 25 miles of interesting and diverse birding through 3+ seasons.
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