Join Coastal Manager Cortney Weatherby and Program Coordinator Andrew Lydeard as they lead you through a morning tour of the Clearwater Tract in Upper Delta Wildlife Management Area. The Mobile – Tensaw River Delta is one of coastal Alabama’s best open secrets for birding spectacles in the entire state. It encompasses over 200,000 acres of cypress and tupelo bottomland hardwoods, marshes, rivers, and ponds and is home to more freshwater plant and animal species in the United States.
The area is often considered the gateway to America’s Amazon and is one of the most important wetlands for animals and humans alike within the entire country, especially for staging songbirds during the fall before they make their journeys further south. We will be caravanning for a few miles into the swamp, stopping occasionally to search for flocks of birds.
Trip Leaders: Your trip leaders will be Program Coordinator Andrew Lydeard (andrew@alaudubon.org / 703-606-8956) and Cortney Weatherby (cortney@alaudubon.org). Please reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or require special accessibility accomodations, so that we can better assist you.
Target Species:
Tennessee, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and American Redstarts
Least and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers
Swainson's, Wood, and Hermit Thrushes
Yellow-billed Cuckoos (maybe even Black-billed!)
Lincoln's, Swamp, Song, and Field Sparrows
Red-shouldered and Cooper's Hawks
Meeting Time and Place: We will meet promptly in the parking lot of the shooting range for the management area at 7am before caravanning as a group into the bottomlands of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
Registration fee: Alabama Audubon Members $35.00 // Non-members $50.00
Address: *Please note there is no street address for the shooting range. Type in "Upper Delta WMA Shooting Range" into your maps app or enter the exact coordinates from below.
Upper Delta WMA Shooting Range
Stockton, AL 36579
Exact Coordinates: (31.130596, -87.847946)
Accessibility : This is a caravan trip, and there will be minimal travel away from vehicles. At most, participants will stopping frequently and getting into and out of their vehicles as we look for birds at each location. We will travel less than 0.5 miles total away from our cars for the duration of the whole trip. While we will not be traveling far from our vehicles, please note that the roads are dirt/gravel with uneven terrain that may include sticks, rocks, and other debris not suitable for all people. There are no restrooms at the area, so please plan accordingly.
Please reach out to Andrew Lydeard (andrew@alaudubon.org) if you require any special accommodations, have questions, or cannot attend, so that we can better assist you on the day of the event.
Please note: This event will only be canceled by Alabama Audubon in the event of unforeseen circumstances or threatening weather. Refunds (if applicable) will only be issued at the discretion of Alabama Audubon.