Piney Woods Birding Trail

The Piney Woods Birding Trail is set in the Southern Red Hills/Pine Hills of southwest Alabama, an area that has been historically “underbirded.”

Northern part (Clarke, Monroe, and Conecuh Cos.) underlain by sands and claystones that produce some of the steepest topography in the Gulf Coastal Plain (buhrstone questa provides dramatic views of river valleys and is home of the endangered Red Hills Salamander).  Densely forested with dominantly pine (loblolly) is ideal habitat for the Hooded Warbler, Brown-headed Nuthatch.

Southern part (Washington and Escambia Cos.) is underlain by fossiliferous limestones that produce a gentle rolling topography.   Agriculture dominates, but long-leaf pine habitat has been preserved in eastern Escambia.  Management practices in the Conecuh National Forest make habitat that  is ideal for Bachman’s Sparrow and endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

Tombigbee and Alabama River systems have eroded the hills producing wide, flat flood plains with mixed deciduous and pine forests with numerous lakes and swamps.  Bottomland deciduous forests provide nesting habitat for the Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites, Swainson’s and Kentucky Warblers, American Redstart, and Yellow-throated Vireo.

Wading birds like the brilliantly colored Purple Gallinule and its only slightly less colorful cousin the Common Moorhen, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Herons and Great Egret are present along lake margins and slow-moving streams.

Bald eagles and Ospreys are relatively common sights at the public fishing lakes, and even Common Loons visit the deeper of these lakes in winter.

Spring migration and breeding season should produce the best birding as trans-Gulf migrants move through the area during April and May.