In mid-April we birded along the trails of the beautiful Cochran Shoals unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to look for songbird migrants returning to Georgia for the spring nesting season.
Last weekend, several of us Atlanta Audubon Society members were back at the unit to catch glimpses of departing neo-tropicals. With their nesting season over, the migrants are now headed as far south as South America for the winter. As they move out, they are feverishly fattening up, storing energy for their arduous journeys.
Here are excerpts from my notes:
“As on any bird walk, we’re happy to see many birds, but most of our attention is on the warblers, those sprightly, elusive little birds that provide delightful song and color in summer ... early autumn is a good time to see them as they head south. ...
“Not surprisingly, at the start of our walk we see and hear tufted titmice and Carolina chickadees, which are common, year-round birds in Georgia ... but our leader, Nathan Farnau, notes that when these birds are around, warblers and other migrants are probably close by, too ... the resident birds, especially chickadees, know the ins and outs of their home turfs, such as the best feeding spots and best hiding places from predators ... the migrants home in on chickadee calls and follow them to those places. ...
“In short order, we spy several warbler species -- magnolia, black-and-white, chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, black-throated blue -- darting about in the dense foliage of sweetgums and oaks along the main trail by the river ... some, such as the magnolia warbler, don’t nest in Georgia but are only passing through ... some others nest in high elevations of Georgia’s mountains. ...
“An energetic male American redstart, another warbler species, hops from branch to branch of a tree in pursuit of prey ... he elicits ‘ahs’ from us as he flashes his gorgeous orange-and-black tail and wings to flush out prey. ...
“I have to be really fast with my binoculars to see many of the warblers ... they move quickly and tend to stay hidden in thick foliage ... and with good reason: sharp-shinned hawks and some other raptors may time their own migrations to feed on migrating warblers and other songbirds. ...
“Identifying warbler species can be frustrating since several have similar markings, especially this time of year, when they have shed breeding plumages ... we had difficulty, for instance, trying to determine if we were looking at a Wilson’s warbler or a hooded warbler hopping about in a shrub ... ‘By its tail movement, it’s a Wilson’s,’ said Nathan, explaining that the hooded warbler flicks and spreads its tail; the Wilson’s has a characteristic tail wave or flip. ...
“I decide I must pay more attention to birds’ tails.”
In the sky: The moon will be first quarter on Oct. 3, rising out of the east around lunch time and setting in the west around midnight, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Mars is high in the east a few hours before sunrise. Jupiter is in the east around dusk. Saturn is low in the east a few hours before dawn. Mercury and Venus are not easily seen now.
If you go
Cochran Shoals Unit -- Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
Cochran Shoals is one of the largest and most popular units of the national recreation area. Thousands of people come there each week to jog, hike and ride bicycles along the three-mile fitness trail. The trail also is excellent for nature observation.
Entrance is along Interstate North Parkway just west of the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County, eight-tenths of a mile from Exit 22 on I-285. Restroom facilities available. $3 parking fee. National park visitors center located at Island Ford Unit, 1978 Island Ford Parkway, Sandy Springs. 678-538-1200, www.nps.gov/chat/index.htm.
