Legend
Su = summer
F = fall
W = winter
Sp = spring
YR = year-round

[July 2005] = Most recently checked by KB
[N/A] = Not yet checked by KB

  = Location is within +/- 10 miles of the indicated interstate highway. This is especially helpful for out-of-town birders who may be passing through Georgia while travelling and would like to get a quick birding fix. This is also helpful for birders planning a "Big Day," where staying close to a major interstate corridor is essential for covering the greatest diversity of habitats in 24 hours.

   = Location is a "Georgia Birding Hotspot." Though this designation is subjective, it generally means that the area should be given high priority when planning a birding trip to a region. Some Hotspots offer incredible, productive birding virtually year-round (Jekyll Island), while the best birding of the year may be more seasonal at others (Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park).

SBM = Shorebird Migration; this very generally refers to mid-March thru May in spring and mid-July thru mid-October in fall. Fall is the prime shorebird season. Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers likely only in fall. Peak passage of specific species is quite variable.
PM = Passerine Migration; this very generally refers to April and May in spring and August thru mid-October in fall. This includes all songbirds - wood warblers, vireos, tanagers, thrushes, flycatchers, etc. Peak passage of specific species is quite variable. Spring migration is much more concentrated and birds are often in colorful breeding plumage. Fall migration is more spread out; fall wood warblers can be notoriously difficult to identify (or even impossible to determine sex), with numerous juveniles which do not exhibit the same obvious field marks as adults. 
IBA = Important Bird Area; the aim of the IBA Program is to identify and conserve key breeding and feeding sites for birds. An Important Bird Area is a place that provides essential habitat for one or more species of bird, whether in breeding season, winter, or during migration. These sites are considered to be exceptionally important for bird conservation; see Georgia's IBA Webpage.

Dawson County  
1) Dawson Forest WMA  (Atlanta Tract)               [April 2008]                 
IBA, PM, May-June for breeding birds
See Beaton's Birding Georgia.
[DeLorme pg. 20, B-5]
Heading north from Atlanta on GA 400, continue approximately 37 miles north of the perimeter (I-285) until you see a large outlet mall coming up on your left. Turn left at a light just before passing in front of the outlet mall, onto Dawson Forest Rd. You will go through a round-about where you can access the outlet mall parking lot if you wish; instead, continue west on Dawson Forest Rd for a total of 4.0 miles from GA 400 where you will come to a stop sign at GA Hwy 9. Continue straight across the road, and in 1.5 miles you will come to the main gate for Dawson Forest WMA in a powerline cut. Park here and bird the trails thouroughly through a nice swampy habitat (PHOTO 1); this scrubby area with lots of blackberry thickets hosts breeding species like Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-breasted Chat, and (uncommonly) Blue-winged Warbler. The pine and hardwood forest edges may have Red-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, Great-crested Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ovenbird, Yellow-throated Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow--billed Cuckoo, and more. The shallow ponds here are great for butterflies and dragonflies, and a Hooded Merganser raised a family here in summer 2007. Just before you reached the gate, you passed a gravel road to the right that is marked with a low, engraved wood sign that says Shoal Creek Rd. Go back, turn left and head down Shoal Creek Rd through the woods, then across the power line cut. Once you get to the other side of the broad power line cut, look for a gate on the left. You can park off the road here and follow the trail past the gate around the back of the beaver pond until you reach a creek that bisects the trail; if you continue all the way up this trail, you will eventually end up in the horse trailer parking lot, which you could reach and do this route backwards by continuing straight past the original area described above and turning right. If you continue down Shoal Creek Rd beyond the gate on the left, you will reach a one-lane bridge over the Etowah River where you might find Acadian Flycatcher or Louisiana Waterthrush. When you're finished here, head back to Dawson Forest Rd and turn right, go through the main gate again and continue straight along the road just past the powerline cut until you see signs pointing to the horse trailer parking area on the right (mentioned earlier); turn here and park towards the back where you will find an IBA information kiosk and a good map of the area that will really help you plan your visit. You may hear Chipping Sparrow and Cedar Waxwing in this area in spring and summer, and you may take a trail that begins here into mixed pine and hardwoods for great migrants in season (PHOTO 2); Red Crossbills were detected in this area in March 2008. Walk past the gate and down the road (you'll notice a chain link fence that encloses the old reactor site on your left), looking and listening for migrants and interesting breeding birds. Eventually, you will reach the waterfowl area, which is the old reservoir for the power plant; there is a nice blind here with a bench overlooking the pond. When you're done birding this area, leave the horse parking lot, turn right and head into the property for exactly 4.4 miles (after keeping right at a fork the road changes names to Reactor Rd) to an area where you will see wide gravel pull-outs on both sides of the road where you can park, and a pair of wooden stakes on the left side of the road marking a horse trail crossing point just inside a pine woods. However, you really need to take your time getting to this area. Along the way, you will pass through some great pine-dominated edge habitat, with areas of older trees interspersed with open areas full of saplings, scrubby vegetation, and blackberry thickets (PHOTO 3); in late June and early July you can pick basketfuls of sweet blackberries here for jam or cobbler. You will also come to a high vantage point with low successive vegetation at an intersection with Clarke Road and Reservoir Rd (PHOTO 4), where it is a great idea to park safely on the shoulder and do some exploring along the roads. Birds you may encounter here include Yellow-throated Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Pine Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bunting, House Wren, Chipping Sparrow, and many other birds in migration. I have seen more Yellow-breasted Chat in these open areas combined in a day than anywhere else in the state (as many as 15!). Before getting to the horse trail crossing on the river, the road will descend into transitional habitat where you may begin to hear Kentucky and Hooded Warblers singing, with Eastern Wood Pewees, Yellow-throated Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Great-crested Flycatchers in the background. The road will change to gravel and curve sharply to the right; park in a turn-out on the left here and bird the edges of a nice open field that you can access by walking under a gate. You are now very close to the river and just down the road you will soon find the horse trail crossing described above, where a short walk will take you down to the river on a muddy bank for a look at the Etowah River, which is a popular kayaking stream in the area (PHOTO 5); Acadian Flycatchers and Louisiana Waterthrush are usually present spring-summer; Swainson's Warbler is possible along with other birds that prefer low scrubby areas such as White-eyed Vireo, Hooded Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, or in migration Canada Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, or Nashville Warbler (rare). Dawson Forest is a very good spot to look for neotropical migrants in spring and fall. Birds you may encounter during migration include species mentioned above along with Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Canada Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Veery, and more. On an amazing visit in May 2007, two migrant rarities were seen - Black-billed Cuckoo and Mourning Warbler!
       
  PHOTO 1        PHOTO 2         PHOTO 3        PHOTO 4           PHOTO 5
Text and photos by KB.