Coastal, Eastern Shore-Mobile Bay Causeway & Blakely Island Loop | Mobile | Best Seasons: Fall | Spring | Summer | Winter
Battleship Park is a military history park and museum on the western shore of Mobile Bay, thus providing the birder with a mix of habitats for waterbirds, grassland birds and urban species. As you drive into Battleship Park, look for a paved walkway to your right leading to an observation deck overlooking Pinto Pass. During low tide, this area is filled with herons, egrets and occasionally ibis, especially in late summer. Black-necked Stilt may be around almost any time of the year. In summer, Gull-billed Tern is present and Least Bittern often fly across from one marshy area to the next.
During migration the mudflats are filled with shorebirds. Look for dabbling ducks in the shallows and bay ducks farther out in the deeper water to the south. There may be numbers of Yellow-crowned Night Herons here with many immatures in late summer and Black- crowned year round. Continue around to the parking lot to the east side along the bay, checking for gulls and terns. Here are picnic tables and an overlook. Loggerhead Shrike is a possibility.
The north end of the parking area allows for a different vantage point on the lawn for plovers and sandpipers that you might have missed from the other side. Immediately following heavy rains, the lawns of the park can be excellent for shorebirds including Black-bellied Plover, Least Sandpiper, and Short-billed Dowitcher.
GPS: N30.68529 W-88.01731
USS ALABAMA
Battleship Memorial Park
Battleship Parkway, Mobile Bay
P.O. Box 65
Mobile, AL 36601-0065
(251)433-2703
If following directions provided in the Coastal Birding Trail booklet, cross over the bridge going westward and turn into the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park on the left (south) [1.6]. An admission fee is charged per vehicle to enter Battleship Park, which entitles you to use the restrooms in the gift shop.
Amenities Available:
Nearby Sites
Airport, Dauphin Island
Dauphin Island Airport is set in a salt water marsh in which may be found Clapper Rail (common), Virginia Rail and Sora are fairly common(fall and winter), though secretive. Yellow Rail is very rare in winter as is Black Rail most of the year. Nelson …
Bayfront Park
Look for gulls and terns on the pilings in the bay and shorebirds along the shoreline. From the shoreline, walk the boardwalk to an inland marsh. Look closely for Least Bittern and Clapper Rail. During fall and winter, Virginia Rail and Sora are regu …
Bellingrath Gardens
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Blakeley Island – Mud Lakes
Depending on water levels and time of year, the first pond on the right (south) often offers the best conditions for viewing waterfowl like Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, and Northern Shoveler, and various shorebirds, gulls and terns. Th …
Blakeley Island – North Blakeley Disposal Area
The Mud Lakes on Blakeley Island are well known to Alabama birders as one of the best spots in South Alabama for shorebirds and waterfowl. The Island, at the western end of the Mobile Causeway, along the east side of US 90A, can be reached from eithe …
Blakeley Island – South Blakeley Disposal Area
At the top of the dike, scan the large ponds in various stages of management; you must stay on the perimeter dikes. Best areas usually are in the northwest and southwest corners of the pond. This is a regular site for Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, w …