Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Audubon Sanctuary
Three-tenths of a mile west of the ferry dock is an area managed by the Mobile Bay Audu-
bon Society. Many trails run through the pine and oak woodlands that attract large numbers
of migrants. There is also a beautiful, spring-fed lake (rare for a barrier island) that has regu-
lar herons and alligators. A large swamp is also part of this sanctuary.
The trail that loops around the lake, through the swamps and wooded dunes, and then
through the banding area provides the best variety of habitats for spotting migrants. The
banding area and the woods just south of it are often very productive. One overhanging oak
tree on the very northern face of the dunes can also be a fertile area for warblers and vireos.
An area dominated by a very large magnolia tree with a bench underneath it can be very pro-
ductive for warblers, as well. A viewing stand overlooks part of the swamp; during spring,
this is a good spot for prothonotary warbler, northern waterthrush, red-eyed vireo, and green-
backed heron. On rare occasions, such as in spring of 1992, black-whiskered vireos have been
seen in this swampy area near the stand.
At the southern end of the sanctuary, there is a boardwalk that goes out into the dunes and
down to the rapidly eroding beach of Dauphin Island. During spring migration, the dunes are
a good area to see migrating warblers make their first landfall, sometimes in groups of sever-
al hundred. Loons can often be seen as late as April, cruising the waves just offshore at this
point. The usual array of shorebirds and terns and gulls can be seen here. In mid-March of
1992, I witnessed over 100,000 ducks, almost entirely lesser scaup, amass in the waters off
this beach between Dauphin Island and the Sand Island lighthouse, visible about 2 miles off-
shore. The ducks were gathered on the water, and when new waves of migrants high in the
sky arrived, the ducks on the water rose up in massive clouds to join them in heading over
the island to the northwest. It was a truly impressive sight.
Fort Gaines
Fort Gaines is a pre-Civil War era masonry fort on the very eastern tip of the island. Here
are good views to the east and south over the mouth of Mobile Bay. The island is eroding
very rapidly at this point, and a number of stone jetties that once were on the beach are now
some distance out in the water. It is ironic that the building of these jetties was meant to pre-
vent beach erosion, but they actually sped up the process. These jetties now provide space
for shorebirds. The parking lot at the very end of the road gives you a view of these jetties;
look for brown pelican, least, royal, gull-billed, Caspian, Sandwich, Forster's, and common
terns, a variety of gulls, black skimmer, American oystercatcher, willet, and double-crested
cormorant. In winter look at the cormorants carefully, for a few great cormorants have been
