By Bob Butters
In early November, my wife and I went paddling at one of our favorite locations for such, Stevenson, Alabama’s Crow Creek Refuge.
Crow Creek, here a shallow backwater of Lake Guntersville, is one of the best places I know of in the South Cumberland region for birding, but this seemed to be between peak seasons, and we didn’t observe a whole lot of bird life. But we did see a sizable flock of American white pelicans hanging out in the middle of the creek where, with the drought still in progress at the time, the water was barely a few inches deep.
White pelicans once only migrated through this area on their way to winter along the Gulf coast, but now they’re increasingly seen during winter in the Tennessee Valley region of North Alabama. Learn more.
Besides pelicans, we spotted several greater yellowlegs and a few great egrets, as well as the occasional kingfisher and killdeer, along with quite a few Canada geese. We also saw a few great egrets, which are also becoming more common in this region, mainly from spring through fall.
While they hadn’t arrived at the time, large flocks of sandhill cranes have become common at Crow Creek during the winter, feeding in nearby fields during the day and spending the night along the shorelines.
Read an article I wrote a few years ago, Crow Creek: A Birder’s Paradise in Alabama.
View a map of the Jackson County Wildlife Management Areas, which includes Crow Creek.
