A Guide to Birding in Georgia
Dawson County
Birding Locations
Legend
Su = summer
F = fall
W = winter
Sp = spring
YR = year-round

[Sept 2009] = Most recently checked by Ken Blankenship (webmaster)
[N/A] = Not yet checked by Ken Blankenship

  = 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 out in the field.

   = 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 productive birding virtually year-round (Jekyll Island, Phinizy Swamp Nature Park), while the best birding of the year may be seasonal at others (Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park).

   = Habitat and/or access at location is subject to change according to mixed land use or changes in ownership, such as cattle operations, agricultural fields, pine plantations (logging), and so on. Always adhere to good birding ethics concerning private property, and if the habitat at a location has experienced major changes or is no longer accessible, please email the webmaster.

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 and singing. Fall migration is more spread out; fall wood warblers can be notoriously difficult to identify (or 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         [June 2010]             
IBA, PM, May-June for breeding birds
GPS via Google Maps
34.3504448489, -84.1395238494
[DeLorme pg. 20, B-5]
See also Beaton's Birding Georgia
Heading north from Atlanta on GA 400, continue approximately 37 miles north of the perimeter (I-285) until you see the North Georgia Premium 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 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 Atlanta Tract in a powerline cut (GPS point above directs to this spot). Park here and bird the trails thoroughly through a scrubby, swampy habitat (PHOTO 1); this area with lots of blackberry thickets and early successional habitat hosts breeding species like Wood Duck, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-breasted Chat, and (uncommonly) Blue-winged Warbler. The pine and hardwood forest edges may host all four common Georgia vireos - Red-eyed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, and Yellow-throated Vireo as well as 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 Mergansers have nested here. In late fall and winter, the same fields host a selection of sparrows with Chipping, Field, Savannah, Fox, Swamp, Song, White-throated, and White-crowned all possible. Just before you reached the main entrance 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 on the first paved road. 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 Blue-winged Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, or Louisiana Waterthrush. When you're finished here, go 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, primitive restrooms, and a good map of the area that will help you plan your visit. You may hear Chipping Sparrow, Pine Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Hooded Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Brown-headed Nuthatch 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 nuclear site on your left), looking and listening for migrants and interesting breeding birds. Eventually, you will reach the waterfowl area; there is a nice blind here with a bench overlooking the pond. Looking out slightly to the left over the pond you will see an active Great Blue Heron rookery in spring and early summer. In winter, if you continue past the blind and bear left at a fork, you may find winter residents such as Red-breasted Nuthatch (uncommon), Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, and plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers. When you're done birding this area, leave the horse parking lot, turn right and you will eventually reach your farthest point at exactly 4.4 in 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 spot. 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, areas of dead snags hosting several woodpecker species including Red-headed Woodpecker, 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 successional habitat 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, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Kingbird, 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, the road will descend into transitional habitat where you may begin to hear Kentucky and Hooded Warblers singing, along with Acadian Flycatcher, Ovenbird, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, Eastern Wood Pewees, Yellow-throated Warbler, Northern Parula, Worm-eating Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, several vireos, and Great-crested Flycatchers. 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, or Nashville Warbler (rare). Dawson Forest is a very good spot to look for neotropical migrants in spring and fall, and in early summer you can easily encounter as many as 13 breeding species of wood-warblers! Other birds you may encounter during migration include species mentioned above along with Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, American Redstart, Swainson's Thrush, Veery, and more. On an amazing visit in May 2007, two migrant rarities were seen - Black-billed Cuckoo and Mourning Warbler! EXTENDED VISIT: You may wish to extend your trip to this area by visiting the Goethe Tract as well. Head back out of the main entrance, and when you get back to Hwy 9 turn left to head north instead of going straight towards the outlet mall. In 5.5 miles, you will get to the town square of Dawsonville. Go around the round-about and leave it heading west on GA Hwy 53. Exactly 4.8 miles from the square, look carefully and turn left onto Sweetwater Church Rd. This road will soon turn to gravel, and you will enter a nice wooded area of conifers and mixed hardwoods. When you reach a gate (sporadically closed) and a large open area on your left, scrubby habitat and pines dominate and you may have species mentioned earlier at the powerline cut near the Atlanta Tract main entrance minus any wet-habitat birds. Red Crossbills were found in the area of the gate in December 2007. The road becomes paved again at this point for 3.5 miles. Notice at 2.9 miles into this paved section from the gate, you will see Shoal Creek Rd on your left. Though this is the same road mentioned earlier, most vehicles cannot use it as a cut-through to the Goethe Tract because it fords Shoal Creek; after rain no vehicles should attempt this crossing, not even SUVs. Also note that the road (now called North Gate Rd south of its intersection with Shoal Creek Rd) will veer off to the left at a slight incline and become gravel again; a total of 2.5 miles further along and you will dead-end at the Etowah River. Birding along this route and species encountered should be very similar to those mentioned in the Atlanta Tract section above.
       
  PHOTO 1        PHOTO 2         PHOTO 3        PHOTO 4           PHOTO 5
Text by KB and Georgann Schmalz; Photos by KB.
Copyright 2012 Ken Blankenship. All rights reserved.