Alabama's Special Birds - Page 3

Alabama plays host to a wide variety of birds throughout the year, from neotropical migrants and nesting terns and herons on the Gulf Coast islands, to threatened species of pinewoods on the coastal plain, to wintering ducks, eagles and cranes in the Tennessee Valley, to birds of the Appalachians at the southern tip of their ranges in the northeastern corner. Even some of the most common birds are notable: the Yellowhammer (an old name for the Yellow-shafted Flicker, the local subspecies of the Northern Flicker) gives the state one of its nicknames and serves as the state bird, and the mockingbirds that gave To Kill A Mockingbird its title are everywhere. If you know where to look, some great birding can be found in Alabama.