Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo Virginianus) leads the way to untold adventure in East Central Alabama.  From the edges of the black belt to the Southern Appalachians, the PPBT offers over 3.6 million acres to explore. Alabama is blessed with tremendous natural diversity that spans terrestrial habitats from the gulf beaches to the lower Appalachian Mountains.  The state also contains a wealth of water and wetland resources.  This great physical diversity produces numerous habitat types and the abundance of wildlife species they support.  Therefore, Alabama is consistently ranked among the top three to five states in terms of overall biodiversity. We are home to eight hydro-electric and control dams that created over 88,000 acres of watery habitat.  Acres of forest, both natural and planted, are home to over 400 species of birds. Several locations of long-leaf pines create the perfect home for the colonies of the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, a medium-sized, black & white woodpecker ranging throughout forested areas of Alabama and the Southeastern United States.  East Central Alabama is also in the pathway during Spring and Fall migration.  Our climate allows many traveling species to stop and call Alabama ‘home’.      

Click on either visitor guide option to begin your journey. From the Appalachian Mountains to the fertile soils of the Alabama Black Belt, the Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail encompasses acres of pristine forests, creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, granite formations and meteor-impact locations. **Although described as a plateau, the relatively flat nature of Alabama’s Piedmont Physiographic Region is only obvious in its southern region. The northern part contains many of the highest peaks in the state, including Mt. Cheaha, the state's highest point at 2,407 feet, and numerous northeast-trending steep-sided ridges. The most common rock types are slate, phyllite, marble, quartzite, greenstone, schist, amphibolite, and gneiss, some of which are among the oldest rocks in Alabama.  Chewacla State Park-G, (Site C-9) located just south of Auburn in Lee County, contains the oldest known rock in Alabama, a gneiss dating from 1.05 billion years ago.