Alabama Audubon starts Black Belt bird watching boost in Selma

More than a dozen nature lovers gathered at Selma’s Old Live Oak Cemetery May 2 for a morning of bird watching.  

Alabama Audubon Executive Director R. Scot Duncan said the gathering is just a sample of the ecotourism that his organization hopes to bring to the Black Belt.  

Alabama is the fourth most biodiverse state in the lower 48, behind California, Texas and Arizona. From mountains in the north to beaches in the south, Alabama supports more than 450 species of birds. And folks are willing to travel to put their binoculars on as many types of birds as possible.  

The Black Belt is a sweet spot for spotting birds, Duncan said. Duncan, a biologist who taught at Birmingham-Southern College for 20 years, said he and a colleague spotted 95 different species of birds during a recent scouting trip of the Black Belt. They even found an eagle’s nest.   

Alabama Audubon is so sold on the Black Belt that they have placed a Black Belt coordinator in Greensboro to promote preservation and tourism efforts in the region.  

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“Bird watchers are well-to-do,” Duncan said. “They are older, middle class or higher. And they have shown they are willing to drop some coins to pursue their hobby.”  

The annual Black Belt Birding Festival attracts scores of well-healed bird watchers to a Hale County farm where the cutting of hay sends crickets swirling into the air. Mississippi Kites and Swallow Tail Kites swoop in to feed on the crickets, to the delight of binocular-wielding bird watchers who line the field.  

Selma Dallas County is a great place for birding. The old live oaks in the aptly named Old Live Oak Cemetery are home to many species of birds, and the birders saw many and heard even more on May 2. An anhinga, a large water bird, even made a cameo for the birders by turning slow circles over the cemetery.  

Later that morning, Duncan spoke to several dozen folks at the Selma Dallas County Library. The biologist spoke about Alabama’s rivers, which can also generate ecotourism dollars. Removing dams or creating ways for fish to go around them could increase the number of species of fish in Alabama rivers, which could in turn attract anglers.  

The economic impact of fishing tournaments has been well documented in the Black Belt, and Selma is rehabilitating its marina in hopes of getting in on that action.