Southern Hospitality

Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding Trail

By Doreen Cubie/Photography by Kim Hubbard

The tide was running out as I loafed on the beach, watching a flock of black skimmers do the same. Most of the birds seemed to be dozing in the early afternoon sun, their outlandish, scissorlike bills balanced just above the sand. Some of the juveniles, looking like sleep-deprived teenagers, were completely stretched out, their stomachs and chins flat on the ground.

We were all taking it easy on Tybee Island, just east of Savannah, one of 18 sites along Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding Trail. The waves and water were enticing, as were the outdoor tables at a beachside grill. Maybe later, I thought, I'll rouse myself to climb the 19th-century lighthouse just behind me, or tour the island's nearby museum.

It's no coincidence that all of these options are close at hand. "We planned this birding trail for novice or beginning birders and their families," says Terry Johnson, a wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who helped mastermind the trail. "There are activities and diversions for everyone."

Many of the birding stops, for example, have been combined with historical sites. While birders can pursue swallow-tailed kites, prothonotary warblers, and other southern specialties, nonbirders can explore Gilded Age mansions, Civil War forts, or rice and indigo plantations.

Running parallel to Interstate 95, the trail is designed to give travelers reason to stop. The state teaches birding basics to the staffs of visitors' centers, state parks, and historical sites. A periodic bulletin called the Bird's Eye Review alerts these staffers to the latest avian happenings, such as the fall migration of peregrine falcons or the spring arrival of endangered wood storks, the trail's symbol on signs at each site.

"We have nearly 300 pairs of nesting wood storks," says Pat Metz, who handles environmental education and public outreach for Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, at one time an abandoned World War II airfield. "Snowy egrets, anhingas, and black-crowned night herons also nest here in the rookeries." In spring and summer the refuge is one of the best places along the coast to see painted buntings. As I motored Harris Neck's four-mile driving loop last fall, more than two dozen wood storks sailed over my car, led by a small flock of white ibises. "Elderly and disabled birders love the driving tour," Metz says. "They can see almost everything in the refuge without ever leaving their cars."

As a result of the coastal trail's popularity, the state recently unveiled a second birding route. Located in southwest Georgia, the Southern Rivers Birding Trail reaches from Callaway Gardens in the north to the Birdsong Nature Center near the Florida border. In between, birders can see wintering waterfowl at Lake Seminole or search longleaf-pine savannas for Bachman's sparrows.

As for me, I was content to keep cruising the original. Leaving the mainland behind, I took a National Park Service ferry down the St. Mary's River to the Cumberland Island National Seashore. Squadrons of brown pelicans soared overhead. Two bottle-nosed dolphins kept pace with the boat for a while. By the time we docked at the 18-mile-long barrier island, I was looking forward to a little more birding and beach time, with perhaps a history lesson or two thrown in for good measure.

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by Doreen Cubie/photography by Kim Hubbard

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