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Birding near Atlanta Airport (1 Viewer)

kilianwasmer

Well-known member
Hi there,

we are going to have some spare hours on Atlanta airport during a stop-over. Are there any locations nearby (or easily and quickly reachable by public transports in max. an hour) that you can recommend for some birding?

A nice park with bird feeders e.g. would be just fine - no hot spot needed. It would be our first "visit" of the Eastern US so most birds are new and we just want to stretch our legs during the stop-over.

Regards

kilianwasmer
 
Not sure if you've started your trip yet...
I haven't birded northern Georgia much; the coastal area is an area I'm more familiar with but I have a "Birding Georgia" book by Giff Beaton published in 2000. The two nearest places to the airport are the Sweetwater Creek State Park, NW about 22 miles by interstate and the E.L. Hule facility and Newman Wetlands Center also about 22 miles away to the south. I don't know that either would be easily accessible by public transportation.
Close by, (less than 5 miles), is the Charlotte Nature Preserve but I've read negative comments about one's safety there.
Alternatively, you might consider the Atlanta Zoo. It is likely to be reached by public transportation, is about 8-9 miles away and has food, drink and enclosed options if the weather is bad. Certainly, there will be birds, especially in the aviary!
Sorry I can't be of much help. You might try posting here:
http://www.gos.org/gabo.html

Steve
 
Take the MARTA train from the Airport station (end of the south line) to the Five Points station. From there walk to the Centennial Olympic Park (people are friendly and will help you find it if you don't have a map handy.) A gentleman gave a talk at the Georgia Nature Photographers Association meeting last year and showed several images he had taken there. If you can rent a car then a trip to the wetlands center to the south might be worthwhile.
 
Many thanks for all the recommendations.

We have been visiting Centennial Olympic park. It is a convenient place for birding on stop-over. Unfortunately when we were there it was quite windy (and chilly) and construction works were in progress so birding was limited.
 
Hi, I have a similar plan, as we will have a 10-hour stopover in Atlanta. However this park recommended here does not seem very attractive, it's quite urban. I was looking around the MARTA map for places where buses go and found out an undeveloped area around 33.686 N, 84.515 W - from street view it looks like it is not fenced out and there are no signs forbidding access.

But I have no idea how these things work in the US, as I heard people are quite strict about private land here. Can I just go there and walk around? Is it dangerous?
 
Well, technically you would be trespassing although the worst likely to happen would be you would be told to leave. However, an alternative you might consider would be to hire a Uber ride to Panola State Park. Zoom out from your mapped location and look a bit to the east. When will you be traveling?
 
Well, technically you would be trespassing although the worst likely to happen would be you would be told to leave. However, an alternative you might consider would be to hire a Uber ride to Panola State Park. Zoom out from your mapped location and look a bit to the east. When will you be traveling?

That's one thing I don't really understand - how do you know that you are "trespassing"? From street view, there are paths into the area that are not signed in any way. Or do you have to presume that unless you are explicitly invited to an are, you are not allowed to go there?

We will be there on January 20 - on the way back from Argentina (we have only limited time on the way there on December 24 and it's too late in the evening anyway). Do you have any idea how much would the ride to Panola park be? The public transport is really cheap, that's what makes it quite attractive even though the chances for much birding in January don't seem that great.
 
My suggestion to you is to go to Lake Horton which is about 35-40 minutes south of the airport. You might be surprised how little time 10 hours is in Atlanta when it comes to logistics between flights though. There is also an excellent boardwalk through a swampy area in Clayton County which I think may be managed by the water authority.

Marcus
Fayetteville, GA
 
We ended up going to Cascade Springs Reserve, which has really good connections with public transport and seemed like an easy place to go. First we had to wait for the sun to come up in downtown Atlanta, because at 6 a.m. it was pitch black. Then it was still freezing and bird activity was low - however the small forest of the reserve was quite nice and mainly the area around the creek in the southwest corner was quite lively. The best birding however we found on a nearby cemetery - a quite, publicly accessible tract of open terrain is priceless in these lands.
 
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