Birdwatching – The northwest loop of the North Alabama Birding Trail boasts more than a dozen sites located primarily in the Shoals area. Winding back and forth across three major sporting lakes along the Tennessee River, Wheeler, Wilson, Pickwick, these sites offer fantastic birding opportunities. Several sites are noted for their impressive congregations of winter birds – waterfowl, eagles, gulls – as well as a long list of rare or vagrant species to the state. Leighton Ponds, with its assemblage of flooded sinkholes, is one of Alabama’s best interior sites for shorebird migration. The Natchez Trace Parkway with its wooded, scenic byway offers Barred Owls and Wild Turkey. Another site on the historic Trace, Rock Springs, is renowned for its concentration of fall migrating hummingbirds. These sites and more make for great birding in the Shoals area. (256) 383-0783. www.northalabamabirdingtrail.com
Birdwatching in Tuscumbia
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Seven Springs Lodge, 1532 Mt. Mills Road, Tuscumbia, AL 35674. This facility offers horseback-trail-riding (bring your own horse and tack or rent from facility). Organized equestrian group trail rides held throughout the 3,500 acres of meadow and woodland, dotted with waterfalls and caves. Shiny, silver grain silos, outfitted as bunkhouses, along with campsites and horse stalls, make this site a popular overnight destination or weekend retreat. Open year round. Rattlesnake Saloon, situated within a Native American bluff shelter, provides lunch and dinner with evening entertainment – Th, F, Sa. (256) 370-7218 
