I headed to a fish hatchery last weekend to see some birds.

Specifically, I went to the Department of Natural Resources' Buford Trout Hatchery on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Forsyth County, just downstream of Buford Dam and Lake Lanier. Of course, one would expect that fish would be the main purpose of visiting a trout hatchery. The Buford hatchery raises thousands of brown, brook and rainbow trout in its "raceways" each year for release in the upper Chattahoochee and other North Georgia trout streams.

Charles Seabrook / Special (ENLARGE)

Purple martins congregate at their 'condo' at Buford Trout Hatchery while vultures soak up the sun in a dead tree.

Charles Seabrook / Special (ENLARGE)

Scores of large-flowered trilliums like this one were in spectacular bloom last weekend along the Jarrard Gap Trail.

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But I was there primarily for the birds. On the hatchery's grounds is an excellent bird-watching trail from which numerous species — including both year-round residents and spring migrants — can be seen or heard this time of year. The birds did not disappoint last weekend. At the outset of our walk, led by local bird expert Karen Theodorou, we craned our necks to get a glimpse of one of the spring migrants, a brilliant red scarlet tanager high in a leafy sycamore tree.

A short time later, on the banks of the hatchery's Family Fish Pond, we spent several minutes watching a dozen or so purple martins congregating at a martin house "condo." Baby martins peeked out from the entrance holes. To me, watching adult purple martins is endlessly entertaining as they dart and spiral about in pursuit of flying insects. The males, with their glossy blue-black plumage and mellow, pleasing notes, are singularly attractive.

A short distance away was another eye-catcher — some two dozen black vultures and turkey vultures roosting in a large dead tree. Several of them had their wings spread out to soak up the morning sunlight before taking off and soaring high in search of food.

Then, a solitary songbird landed on the tree with the vultures — a male indigo bunting, seemingly unintimidated by the big birds all around him. Its neon-blue feathers literally glowed in the bright morning sunshine. Later, we made our way to a beaver pond, where we stood on an overlook and watched a mother wood duck and her fluffy babies swim by. Red-winged blackbirds flitted among the reeds and cattails. As they flew over the pond, the male red-wings flashed the bright red-and-yellow "epaulets" on their wings, a beautiful sight.

In a wooded area, we saw or heard a dozen warbler species, many of which have been arriving in Georgia in waves over the past few weeks. One of those we saw was the blackpoll warbler, which has one of the toughest migration routes of any songbird — flying from winter grounds as far south as Brazil to summer breeding grounds as far north as Canada.

Altogether, we saw or heard 62 bird species in less than three hours at the trout hatchery.

What's in bloom

To treat my spring fever, I was one of several Georgia Botanical Society members who went looking for mountain wildflowers last weekend along the trails around beautiful Lake Winfield Scott in the Chattahoochee National Forest near Suches in Union County. Led by botanist Linda Chafin of the State Botanical Garden in Athens, we found a variety of colorful wildflowers in lush bloom — including six species of trillium and two species of wild mandarin — along the Jarrard Gap Trail. The trail climbs from the lake's campground, winds through a rich southern Appalachian hardwood cove forest and terminates at its junction with the Appalachian Trail. Its wildflowers can be spectacular this time of year.

A stunning sight was a lush colony of blooming large-flowered trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) covering a shady slope. Most of them were a gorgeous white, but some were pink. "A lot of white flowers turn pink with age," Chafin explained. That is also true of silverbells, which also were in beautiful bloom along the trail.

For more information on Lake Winfield Scott, visit www.fs.fed.us/conf/lkwncmp.htm.

Ebenezer Creek

Kim Hatcher, who works for the DNR's state parks division, saw our list in February of the "35 Natural Places in Georgia You Must See Before You Die." One of them is Ebenezer Creek near Savannah, designated a National Natural Landmark. It harbors 1,000-year-old bald cypress trees with huge buttresses 8 to 12 feet wide. Kim and husband Harris paddled the seven-mile-long stream for the first time the other day: "This creek has some of the most impressive cypress and tupelo trees you'll ever see," Kim said. "Some hollowed-out stumps are so large that we joked about camping inside them. We saw plenty of sliders [turtles] sunning on logs, reflecting off the calm, black water. Bright yellow prothonotary warblers treated us to their pretty song. Spanish moss swung in the breeze. Ebenezer Creek is exceptionally beautiful and an easy paddle for beginners."

In the sky

The moon will be in first quarter May 11, high in the south at sunset, says Fernbank Science Center astronomer David Dundee. Mercury is low in the west just after dark. Mars is in the western sky just after dark. Jupiter rises out of the east about midnight. Saturn is high in the southwest at dusk and appears near the moon on May 12.