Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
shelter, and places to hide. With fewer fish, the lake has become less attractive to ducks and
waterfowl, and to the eagles. As an example, in one day in January, 1988, I saw 75 eagles
leave the roost in Town Creek Canyon during the morning, and I watched hundreds of pied-
billed grebes, American coots, gadwalls, hooded mergansers, common goldeneyes, lesser
scaups, and buffleheads on the lake. Rafts of several hundred coots together were not un-
usual. Common loons were plentiful on the lake, and sometimes they used to gather by the
dozens and even the hundreds along the US 431 causeway leading north from the town of
Guntersville. I even saw one snow goose. In January 1992, I saw only 16 eagles leave the
roost, fifty coots, one loon, and one bufflehead; that was all. A friend saw a few dozen loons
along the causeway. The release of the carp occurred after January 1988. Hopefully, condi-
tions on the lake will return to a situation more favorable to birds soon.
Lake Guntersville State Park has a number of hiking trails that go up the mountainside and
along the shore of the lake. Deer are extremely abundant and quite tame. In the woods of the
park, during the winter one can find many bird species such as brown creeper, yellow-bellied
sapsucker, golden-crowned kinglet, American goldfinch, northern junco, and pine siskin. In
the pine woods around the cabins and the campgrounds, look for pine warbler, brown-headed
nuthatch, song sparrow, Bachman's sparrow, and chipping sparrow. In summer, both scarlet
and summer tanagers can be sighted in the hardwood forests. Check the sewage treatment
pond beside the road to the campground for ducks. Great blue herons can almost always be
found at the edge of the lake north of the picnic grounds on SH 227, north of Town Creek
bridge, but also due to the carp, their numbers seems to be declining as well. Sometimes large
numbers of wintering gulls gather on the lake, mostly ring-billed and herring gulls.
If your luck is not too good with the birds along the shore of the park, you can try the dam
that forms the lake or the causeways that go into the town of Guntersville. Go back to Gun-
tersville (watch for birds along the SH 227 causeway) and head north on US 431; the highway
will cross over the lake on a combination bridge and causeway. On the northern end of the
causeway, there are places to pull off the road. On the east side, Marshall County maintains
a small park along the road. In winter, eagles, gulls, and loons (sometimes in the dozens and
even hundreds) can be seen from the causeway, although there is no way to predict where the
best spot along the causeway will be at any particular time. About 10 miles north of town, a
road to the left leads to the dam. This road is marked with a sign and is 3.5 miles long. There
are picnic areas and open fields next to the dam. Access to the walkways along the top of the
locks is available to the public; these walkways stretch both above and below the dam to give
views of the lake and river. Some eagles roost here during the winter, and recently, a pair set
up a nest on the south bank. In winter, common loon, ring-billed gulls, and various species of
duck can also be seen from the dam area.
