Where Eagles, White Pelicans Soar
By DAVID RAINER
A chance encounter by Eldridge Belcher of Gardendale turned him into an eagle enthusiast in an instant.
Belcher and his wife, Vicki, had stopped at the Guntersville State Park office. While Vicki was inside, Eldridge was just hanging around the waterfront behind the office.
“All of a sudden an eagle swooped down and grabbed a fish,” Eldridge recalled. “It looked like an airplane coming down. That was it. From then on, we’ve been hooked.”
Eldridge invested in a portable telescope and became a dedicated eagle watcher, spending almost every weekend during the winter in search of the majestic birds that inhabit the state in ever-increasing numbers – 77 nests at last count – thanks to Alabama’s Bald Eagle Restoration Project.
“This is fun, just to see them,” he said. “It’s just the excitement of looking for them. We’ve got to find them.”
Belcher has seen the effect on other people, as well. On one trip he was looking through his telescope when a lady approached him.
“She said, ‘Can my mother look?’” Belcher said. “I turned around and her mother must have been in her 90s. I said sure she could. She looks through the scope and sees an eagle for the first time in her life.
“She turned around and said, ‘Son, I can go see Jesus now.’”
Mark Jackson, one of the park rangers at Lake Guntersville State Park who leads eagle-watch tours during weekends in January, said those types of encounters are what makes his job so rewarding.
“That’s what does it for me – older people and young people who have never seen an eagle in the wild,” Jackson said. “When the eagles cooperate, I love to see their reactions.”
Jackson said another reason it is so special to see an eagle is that it’s just like trying to view any other wildlife – nothing is guaranteed.
 “Some days they just fly more than others,” he said. “The best weather is when it’s cold, cold, cold. They’re just like deer. When it’s cold they have to move and feed more to keep warm. They leave their nests up in the creeks and fly out on the main lake to catch fish.”
Currently, the lodge at Lake Guntersville State Park is undergoing an extensive renovation, which is expected to be completed in late spring. With the refurbished facilities, the park will return to its comprehensive eagle program next winter.
“With the lodge open, we’ll do full-fledged eagle weekends at the park,” said Talmadge Butler, Park Manager. “We’ll bring in speakers and run field trips. We’ll start on Fridays and run a full program through the weekend.”
For those who aren’t able to travel to the chain of reservoirs along the Tennessee River in north Alabama, there is plenty of watchable wildlife in south Alabama, especially along the Gulf Coast.
Although most people are familiar with the migration of waterfowl like ducks, geese and coots, Roger Clay, Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries office in Daphne, said there are plenty of other species to view.
One of the favorites for coastal bird watchers is the white pelican, which shows up along the coast in October and hangs around until April.
“They’re a pretty spectacular bird, significantly larger than the brown pelican that everyone is familiar with,” Clay said. “You’ll see them in a sort of synchronized flight, sort of a follow-the-leader style and when they bank they almost disappear.”
There are also seven bald eagle nests in Mobile and Baldwin counties, while numerous other raptors take advantage of the abundant food sources.
“Osprey nests are common in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and the northern harrier will winter here,” Clay said. “Hawk numbers, in general, are boosted in the winter and early spring. You can’t drive down a country road right now without seeing a red-tailed hawk.”
For those who enjoy watching backyard birds, Clay suggests that people should perform maintenance on nest boxes right now, which includes cleaning and repairs.
“Bluebirds will start nesting along the coastal counties in February,” he said. “And people think you keep a hummingbird feeder up during the warmer months. But if you keep it up during the offseason, you might get a few of the western hummingbird species like the black-chinned or broadtail. Just keep the feeder cleaned and filled.”
When the spring flowers are in full bloom, wildlife lovers can experience a birders’ bonanza.
“The migration of the neotropical birds heats up in April along Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan,” Clay said. “It’s no coincidence that the Alabama Ornithological Society has its meeting down there in April. We’re talking about all sorts of species from warblers to indigo buntings to blue grosbeaks.”
Those birds make a perilous journey across the Gulf of Mexico from Central and South America. After they hit the coastline they eventually spread statewide. However, if a birder is lucky, one can experience a spectacular event along the coast called a “fallout.”
“A weather system with a northerly wind will trigger a fallout,” Clay explained. “When the birds hit the mainland, which would be Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan, they literally just fall out of the sky and look for food. It’s pretty spectacular. And the birds, especially the males, will be in spring colors. They’ll have their bright plumage, which is quite a sight.”
Visit www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/birding-trails/ for more information on the six birding trails across Alabama.
Those interested in next season’s eagle weekends can visit www.alapark.com for information on Lake Guntersville and Joe Wheeler state parks.
###
|
