Black Belt Gosse Nature Walk: Moundville

This historic site was once a powerful Native American community that, at its peak, was America’s largest city north of Mexico. Located on the Black Warrior River thirteen miles south of Tuscaloosa, the park preserves 326 acres where, 800 years ago, Mississippian people constructed 29 massive flat-topped earthen mounds, arranged carefully around a vast central plaza.

Mound Parkway is a loop road circling the open areas and providing access to the mounds, museum, and park offices. At the head of the circle, scan the nearby marsh for red-winged blackbirds (all year), possible rusty blackbirds (winter), and shorebirds (migration and possibly winter). The open fields often have flocks of ground-feeding songbirds present—robins, bluebirds, grackles, cowbirds, and even Northern flickers—mostly in migration and winter. Bluebirds and Eastern phoebes (all year) hawk insects from around the fields and marshes, and red-tailed hawks are common all year. Check out the Alabama Birding Trails site for more info.