Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
across the highway from Ft. Toulouse Road, and a Wal-Mart is just to the south from the
turn. A short drive of approximately three miles through pastureland and marshy woods will
bring you to the entrance to Fort Toulouse; keep a lookout for red-tailed hawks and American
kestrels along the road, particularly in winter. The park is open during daylight hours. There
is a $1 entrance fee for adults, 50 cents for children, and camping is available from April
through October.
At the western end of the parking lot, there begins the William Bartram Arboretum nature
trail, which will take you through the hardwood forest and the swamp to the Tallapoosa River.
Also at the end of the parking lot is a dirt road which is the path that leads through a field
to the reconstructed Fort Toulouse. The park provides several major habitats for birds: hard-
wood swamp, upland hardwoods, and open field. Because of the small size of the park, all
three areas can be extensively explored within a few hours.
The Bartram nature trail is a boardwalk that goes through the upland hardwoods and
then descends to the swampier woods below. It is named in honor of the naturalist William
Bartram who traveled through Alabama in 1775-1776 and passed very close to the confluence
of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers; possibly, he walked through these same woods. Along
the upper part of the trail, every species of woodpecker found in Alabama, except for the
red-cockaded, can be spotted. Frequently sighted in the summer are great crested flycatcher
and northern parula warbler which feed and nest among the Spanish moss in the larger trees.
Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, and tufted titmouse are ubiquitous. Where a bridge on the
trail spans a small ravine, look for hermit thrush in winter and wood thrush in summer. In
winter, the woods also provide occasionally large flocks of yellow-rumped warblers, white-
throated sparrows, and rusty blackbirds. Further down in the bottoms along the river, protho-
notary warbler and hooded warbler can be found nesting during the summer. During winter,
this trail can lead to such birds as hermit thrush, winter wren, house wren, and even Bewick's
wren, which is quite scarce in Alabama. Rufous-sided towhee is seen regularly, thrashing
about in the leaves on the forest floor; brown thrashers are almost always seen.
In the woods along the edges of the fields, look for the secretive Lincoln's sparrow in
winter. Winter also brings in large numbers of white-throated sparrows and occasionally fox
sparrows to the fields of Fort Toulouse. Flocks of eastern meadowlarks are common. Belted
kingfishers can be seen flying over the fields from one river to the other and in the trees along
the banks. I have been lucky enough to see male and female bobolinks in a field at Toulouse
as they stopped to rest on their spring migration to the northern United States. There is an
Indian mound west of the reconstructed Fort Toulouse, and the woods on top of it often con-
tain a number of birds; this mound is of the Mississippian phase, circa 1100-1400 A.D. In the
