Today we visited again the birding site of the Colbert's Ferry. Yesterday we saw it only in the half-light of dusk while it was snowing. Today we wanted to picnic there in full sunlight and look for birds. We went to a grocery store and bought picnic supplies and started toward the entry ramp to the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway. At Colbert's Ferry we were rewarded this time with five species of woodpeckers, two Yellow Shafted Northern Flickers (Colaptes Auratus Auratus), several Red Headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes Erythrocephalus), two Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus Varius), a Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes Carolinus), and a Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides Villosus). What Fun !
As we walked around, we spotted several of our favorite birds, many Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus Bicolor), Pine Warbler (Setophaga Pinus) and the ruby topped Common Redpoll (Carduelis Flammea). We had just as much fun at Colbert's Ferry today as we did last night.
We traveled about seven miles further along the Natchez Trace Parkway and turned toward a birding site where others had seen Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus). Although we did not see any eagles, we did see hawks and vultures. We found a picnic table and ate our lunch. It felt cold, even in the sun. In the cove there were fifteen American White Pelicans (Pelecanus Erythrorhynchos) and twelve Common Terns (Sterna Hirundo).
After lunch, we began the drive home. We followed the Tennessee River and drove across one more dam, the Pickwick Dam. That makes four Tennessee Valley Authority dams on the Tennessee River that we visited.
Our holiday birding vacation was great fun. Exploring the birding habitats and the birding opportunities provided by the dams on the Tennessee River in northern Alabama has been interesting. Not only did we see a lot of handsome birds, we were delighted to learn that the good people of northern Alabama were willing to help strangers in an emergency. Robert and I want to go back to northern Alabama in the future, in the springtime, to observe a whole different sub-set of birds.
Below is our Trip List.
- Red Tailed Hawk
- Turkey Vulture
- American Crow
- Mourning Dove
- Rock Dove
- White Throated Sparrow
- Tufted Titmouse
- Red Headed Woodpecker
- Pied Billed Grebe
- Slate Colored Dark Eyed Junco
- Great Blue Heron
- Canada Goose
- Ring Necked Duck
- Snow Goose
- Gadwall Duck
- Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
- Pine Warbler
- Eastern Bluebird
- Northern Mockingbird
- Northern Cardinal
- American White Pelican
- Double Crested Cormorant
- Ring Billed Gull
- Bald Eagle
- American Kestrel
- Killdeer
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red Bellied Woodpecker
- American Coot
- Bluejay
- Carolina Wren
- American Robin
- Carolina Chickadee
- European Starling
- Common Loon
- Herring Gull
- Hermit Thrush
- Eastern Phoebe
- Black Vulture
- Bufflehead Duck
- Common Tern
- Great Egret
- Cedar Waxwing
- Song Sparrow
- Yellow Rumped Warbler
- Northern Flicker (yellow shafted)
- American Goldfinch
- Field Sparrow
- Cooper's Hawk
- Purple Finch
- Common Goldeneye
- Canvasback Duck
- Sandhill Crane
- Northern Shoveler
- Red Winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- White Breasted Nuthatch
- Downy Woodpecker
Berry and Robert
Photo courtesy of wikipedia
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