Dauphin Island, Alabama

We spent a great week at Dauphin Island, Alabama - Beautiful Place!! The long bridge over to the island gives you a great view and then there's the welcome tower at the T-intersection!

 

LOTS of birds this year! Last year we were a little late, but this year the migration is still going strong. There are 3 main birding areas, The Audubon Bird Sanctuary, The Shell Mounds, and The Goat Trees. Also, Cadillac Square Park is a good place.

The Audubon Bird Sanctuary (adjacent to the campground)

 

　

We arrived here last Friday and after setting up camp, we walked over into the bird sanctuary. There's an entrance gate right up from our campsite. There were several kinds of birds around, but most prolific were Black-throated Green Warblers. There must have been 20-30 of them flitting around.

Black-throated Green Warbler

 

 

On Saturday, we checked out the other locations which are only a couple of miles away.

The Shell Mounds

 

Across the street from the Shell Mounds is a house with a lot of 'Bottle Brush' plants growing in the chain link fence along the back of the lot. The lot next door is vacant, so birders have easy access. The Bottle Brush plants were alive with warblers, orioles, and hummingbirds.

Bottle Brush Plants

Orchard Oriole (male)

 

 

 

The Goat Trees

 

On Sunday we had a day of rest and worship. We attended Dauphin Island Baptist Church and had a great worship service. The people were very friendly and we were well received.

After church we went to a Cracker Barrel in Mobile for lunch and to a WalMart for a few needed items.

Monday was a beautiful day, sunny and in the high 70's - good birding all day. Monday night brought severe thunderstorms & flooding which lasted until late Tuesday evening. Rain, rain, rain & more rain with lots of thunder & lightning! The whole AL/FL panhandle was flooded with some reports of well over a foot of rain. We saw several news pictures of homes flooded and roads & streets washed away. We thank God that it wasn't that bad here on the island - maybe 6-7 inches. A lot of the campsites were under water, but ours was fine. On Wednesday all the birding trails in the bird sanctuary were standing in water (but we were still able to get in).

 

Lots of Water!

 

All during the week we had bird feeders out and always had visitors. Lots of competition!

Indigo Bunting

Brown Thrasher

 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Tuesday was pretty much a washout, but Wednesday & Thursday (today) we hit all the birding spots (with a run to WalMart mixed in there). LaVerne saw a Painted Bunting twice, but it was too quick for a picture. All in all, we now have over 60 birds on the bird list. Here are a few more pictures of some of the birds we saw.

Bay-breasted Warbler



 

Magnolia Warbler 

 

Scarlett Tanager 

 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 

 

Summer Tanager 



The migration is an interesting thing to see. A flock of a species will arrive, stay a day or two, then move on. As mentioned above, on Friday when we got here there were a bunch of Black-throated Green Warblers plus Gray Catbirds. We did see a few catbirds in the next day or so, but we never saw another one of that particular warbler. Some others that were not here, but came while during the week were Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Louisiana Waterthrushes, and several other species of warblers.

Tomorrow is moving day -- we're headed to High Island, TX which is across the bay and north up the coast from Galveston. It is a smaller place and more isolated - which is why we made the WalMart run today. High Island is another birding migration hotspot and we're looking forward to getting there! Hope there are as many birds there as Dauphin Island!