A Year at the Preserve: What to Look For, Month by Month

Coastal Alabama has a long, layered year rather than four clear seasons. This is a rough guide to what is worth coming for in each part of it.

January and February

Waterfowl on the bay — buffleheads, scaup, teal, wigeon. Loons and grebes offshore.

Winter songbirds in the woodland: yellow-rumped warblers everywhere, kinglets, hermit thrushes, sparrows in the field edges.

No leaves, no insects. Visibility through the woodland is at its best all year, and there is nothing biting.

Very few visitors. The best months for solitude.

Red maples flower in late January, often the first colour of the year.

March

Migration begins. Purple martins arrive early. The first warblers and swallows.

Live oaks drop and replace their leaves over a few weeks, which surprises people who assume they are evergreen.

Wildflowers begin in the open areas.

April

Peak spring migration. The best birding of the year, particularly the morning after a front passes.

Nesting begins for resident species.

Insects return. Repellent from now on.

May

Migration tapers, late movers passing through.

Nesting is in full swing — constant activity, birds feeding young.

Yellow flies appear, and they are the worst of the biting insects here. May and June specifically.

June, July, August

Jubilee season. Early mornings, calm water, easterly breeze. Rare, unforgettable, and worth understanding the conditions for.

Heat and humidity are the limiting factor. Go at sunrise or not at all.

Early shorebird migration begins in July — the year's first southbound movement, largely unnoticed.

Afternoon thunderstorms almost daily. Watch the sky and leave when you hear thunder.

Wading birds active along the shoreline, especially on a falling tide.

September and October

Autumn migration peaks for songbirds, spread over weeks rather than concentrated. Harder identification, more birds, fewer people.

Hurricane season runs through November. Trail conditions can change abruptly.

Beautyberry fruits heavily — bright purple clusters that birds strip within days.

Heat breaks, usually in October. The most comfortable walking weather of the year begins.

November and December

Wintering species arrive and settle. Waterfowl build on the bay.

Leaves drop from the deciduous species; the live oaks hold theirs.

Low sun through the trunks in the middle of the day makes this the best light of the year for photography.

Christmas Bird Count season — the longest-running citizen science survey in existence, and open to beginners paired with experienced counters.

The short version

Best for birds: April, then October. Best for comfort: November through March. Best for solitude: January and February. Best for something extraordinary: a summer morning with the right conditions. Hardest: July and August, midday.

Any month

The oaks are here in every one of them, and they are the reason the site exists. A December visit under bare deciduous trees with the live oaks still fully leafed is a different place from the same trail in June, and worth seeing both ways.