BAS Field Trip to Lanark - Home of the Alabama Wildlife Federation
Saturday, March 13th, 7:00 a.m.
Tim Gothard, Director of Alabama Wildlife Federation, has extended an invitation to Birmingham Audubon Society to join the River Region Bird Club for a visit to AWF's home at Lanark in Millbrook, Alabama, on March 13,  2010. This beautiful property has over five miles of well-planted hiking trails that take you from creek bottoms to hill sides. Expect a $5.00 charge. Read more about Lanark at http://www.alabamawildlife.org/lanark/. We can reasonably expect to see the usual winter birds, such as kinglets, juncos, and perhaps a hermit thrush or creeper, and if we're really fortunate, a very early spring migrant or two.
Travel Plans: There are several options for joining us on this trip. First, we will meet at McDonald's on US-31 in Hoover across from the Galleria at 7:00 a.m. From there we will travel south on I-65 to exit 179 where we will turn right and regroup about 8:30 a.m. at the Prattville McDonald's, located just west of the interstate on the north side of the road. If you prefer, you can meet us at Lanark. Take exit 179 and turn left (go east) on Cobbs Ford Road approximately ¼ mile and turn left on Edgewood Drive (first paved road to the left past Chevron). At the "T" in the road go right approximately ½ mile and turn left onto Lanark Road (Gravel road with small white sign that says "to Lanark"). Follow the dirt road and signs to the Nature Center where there are restrooms and plenty of parking.
At 9:00 a.m. we will gather under the pavilion where Tim will give some brief remarks about the property, its mission, and future plans. After that, Lanark will be ours to bird and explore.
This is a full day trip so bring your lunch and snacks as well as a full tank of gas and appropriate clothes. For more information call Jessica Germany at 205-595-0814 or email
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. On the day of the trip or for last minutes changes call her at 205-901-7247.
On the Path of Phillip Henry Gosse - Selma Area
Saturday, March 20th, 7:00 a.m.
Meeting Place: Our meeting place this time is different -- McDonald's at I-65, Exit 246, signposted AL-119 and Cahaba Valley Road. At the bottom of the exit ramp, turn west toward Helena and be in the left lane. McDonald's is on the left at the second light, just past the road to Oak Mountain.
Departure Time and Logistics: We will leave promptly at 7:00 a.m., so please arrive early for breakfast and carpooling. Have a full tank of gas, a picnic lunch, water, snacks, and binoculars. We will regroup in Selma at 8:30 a.m. at McDonald's on US-80 West, which is West Highland Avenue. From Birmingham, you will be traveling south into town on Hwy-22. When you come to the intersection with US-80, turn right, west. McDonald's is about a mile on the left.
Destination: King's Landing and Pleasant Hill in Dallas County south of the Alabama River, on the trail of naturalist Philip Gosse.
In April of 1838, a young Englishman named Philip Henry Gosse boarded a schooner in Philadelphia and set out on an adventure that would take him around the Florida Peninsula to Mobile and from there, by steamboat, up the Alabama River to Dallas County. While on the river, he met planter Reuben Saffold, who arranged for him to be engaged as a plantation school teacher. Gosse disembarked at King's Landing, a few miles downstream from the town of Cahawba, and walked the ten miles to Pleasant Hill, where he lived and taught until Christmas. During his eight-month stay, he meticulously recorded what he saw of the natural world around him as well as his observations of the people, their customs and manner of living. His journal was published in 1855 in the popular 19th-Century form of "letters," first as a magazine serial and later as a book entitled Letters from Alabama U.S., Chiefly Relating to Natural History. Gosse's prominence in the scientific world of his day was recognized when he was invited to become a Fellow in the Royal Society the following year. His enduring prominence today is being recognized by The University of Alabama Press in the naming of their new Gosse Nature Guide Series.
Letters from Alabama U.S. makes fascinating reading, and we suggest you delve into it before joining us for the field trip. We are planning stops at King's Landing, the cypress swamp, the prairie knoll at old Buddy Bohanan's plantation, the Dallas County Public Lake for picnicking, Judge Saffold's house "Belvoir," the site of Pleasant Hill, and Mush Creek.
We will leave Selma early enough to be home by dark -- except for those who wish to follow the yellow brick road that leads past the Golden Clubs in bloom at Dobine Creek to the Marion Fish Hatchery -- in which case, please join us for dinner south of Brent at the Sawmeal Restaurant's seafood buffet.
Trip leader: Elberta Reid (879-1935) with Saturday morning caravan leader: Maureen Shaffer (205-822-8728 (H)) or (222-2662 (M)).
Click here to read the 1985 field trip report to the Selma area written by Bettye James.
Audubon Sessions Sanctuary Workday
Saturday, March 27th, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon
Lunch afterwards at the Golden-Rule BBQ in Irondale
The Sessions Sanctuary is interesting undeveloped property in Mountain Brook on Shades Creek that was donated to Birmingham Audubon as a bird sanctuary by the late Mr. & Mrs. Tram Sessions. The BAS Sanctuary helps protect the Cahaba River watershed.
Please join us for the workday at the Sessions Sanctuary on Saturday March 27th at 9:00 a.m. Bring your work gloves and if you have them a pair of plant clippers. Plans are to meet at the end of Forest Glen Drive, near the Sanctuary. We will do some work removing invasive plants and enjoy a tour of the property to observe plant, animal and bird life.
To reach the sanctuary, proceed in a northeasterly direction approximately 1.7 miles on Montevallo Road, away from Mountain Brook Village (south of the Zoo). Turn right onto Montrose Road - there will be a traffic light at this intersection. Drive approximately 0.3 miles and bear right onto Old Leeds Road at St. Luke's Church (on left) for approximately 0.4 miles. Veer to the left onto the Forest Glen Drive and proceed 0.7 miles to the end of the road. Forest Glen widens at the dead end adjacent to the creek, providing convenient parking. Please do not block any driveways.
For more information contact John Swan, 933-6469 or Ellen Mc Laughlin, 595-0806; Co-Chairs Sessions Sanctuary Property
April Field Trips:
Tom Imhof Zoo Walk
April 3, 2010 (1/2 Day)
Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve
April 10, 2010 (all day)
June Field Trips:
Little River Canyon
June 5, 2010 (all day)
July Field Trips:
Black Belt Birding
July 24, 2010 (all day)
Black Belt Birding
July 31, 2010(all day)
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Activities 
