Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery, one of the city’s largest green spaces, is an amazing refuge of natural beauty and serenity in the heart of the bustling city.
It’s also a good place to see birds, which is why several of us Atlanta Audubon Society birders took a morning stroll there last weekend amid the final resting places of many of Atlanta’s settlers, builders and most noted citizens.
In the morning light, songbirds sang exuberantly and flitted among the huge oaks, magnolias and other shady trees that help make the 48-acre cemetery a renowned botanical preserve. Many of the songsters performed while perched atop some of the ornate sculptures, tombstones and monuments that grace the cemetery and make it an architectural gem.
A brown thrasher sang from atop a marble angel. Flocks of colorful cedar waxwings — extremely social birds — were constantly landing in the tree tops.
Our birding, though, began just outside the cemetery. In the parking lot, three red-headed woodpeckers — striking for their black and white wings and solid crimson heads — fluttered at the top of a dead oak. Seeing one red-head is a treat; seeing three at the same time is a thrill.
Another treat was a male American redstart, a species of warbler, flitting among the tree branches in hot pursuit of insects. Few songbirds can match the male redstart’s vivid black and orange plumage. We watched as the bird flashed its colorful wings and tail feathers to flush insects.
A bonus was seeing several blackpoll warblers, which are migrating through Georgia now, on their way to nesting grounds up north. Weighing only as much as a quarter, the blackpoll has the most arduous migration route of any warbler. In the fall, it may fly nonstop for more than 85 hours over the Atlantic, from New England to its winter home in Venezuela.
In all, we saw or heard 33 species within two hours — a lively morning in the cemetery.
In the sky: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is visible this weekend in the southeast from 3 a.m. until dawn. The moon will be first-quarter by the end of the week. Mars rises out of the east at sunset. Jupiter is high in the southwest at dusk. Saturn is high in the east just after dark.
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