The first day of autumn is a month away, but fall migration is already under way and growing more intense each day. Fall migration is prime bird-watching time, so polish up your binoculars, bone up on your field guides and get outdoors to enjoy this great annual spectacle of nature.
No matter where you live in metro Atlanta, there is probably a prime birding area near you. Here are some of my favorites.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Cobb County, one of the Southeast’s premier spots for spotting warblers, vireos, tanagers and other migrating songbirds. More than 20 warbler species have been seen here on a single morning during fall migration.
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, which includes more than a dozen units along the river from Buford Dam to the confluence with Peachtree Creek in Atlanta. The Cochran Shoals, Island Ford, Johnson Ferry, West Palisades and Vickery Creek units are especially recommended. The river is said to be second only to Kennesaw Mountain for seeing all kinds of migrating birds, including songbirds, raptors and waterfowl.
The Chattahoochee Nature Center, Roswell, which includes ponds, trails and a boardwalk through a marsh along the river.
Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve, Decatur, which has a loop trail and a boardwalk from which several migrating songbirds can be seen.
Henderson Park, Tucker, which has become immensely popular with birders for spying all sorts of fall migrants and observing the transition from summer birds to fall birds. It has a lake, marshy area and woods.
Fernbank Forest, Atlanta, an old-growth forest in the heart of the city that is a great spot for seeing warblers, thrushes, vireos and other migrants.
E.L. Huie/Newman Wetlands Center, Clayton County, the best place in the metro area for observing migrating shorebirds and more than 15 duck species that arrive in the fall and spend the winter here. The center has a boardwalk through a marsh and wooded area.
For directions and locations of these and other birding spots around Atlanta — and information about free guided bird walks — visit the Atlanta Audubon Society’s Web site www.atlantaaudubon.org. For information about prime bird-watching locations in Georgia, see Giff Beaton’s book, “Birding Georgia.”
Remember, the best time to see the birds is beginning at sunrise and a few hours thereafter, when the creatures are feeding and refueling to make the next leg of their migratory trek.
By the way, a new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that 15 percent of Georgians — more than 1 million of us — are bird-watchers.
In the sky
The moon tonight will be a thin crescent low in the west just after sunset. By Thursday, it will be first quarter, in the south at sunset and setting about midnight, says David Dundee, an astronomer at Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Mercury and Saturn are low in the west just after sunset, and will appear near the moon tonight. Venus, shining brightly, rises three hours before the sun. Mars rises out of the east about four hours before sunrise. Jupiter rises out of the east at sunset and sets in the west about sunrise. It will appear close to the moon Friday night.
