Sandy Cheeks on Dauphin Island Beach

09/11/2026

There's a reason serious birdwatchers from around the country know the name Dauphin Island.

Location.

The barrier island sits directly along a major migration route, making it an incredibly important stopping point for birds moving across the Gulf Coast.

The Audubon Bird Sanctuary on the eastern end of Dauphin Island protects maritime forest, wetlands and other habitat used by migrating birds.

And during migration, that habitat can become extremely important.

Birds making long journeys across or around the Gulf of Mexico may arrive exhausted and needing somewhere to rest and feed before continuing north.

Audubon describes Dauphin Island as one of the Gulf Coast's legendary migration "fallout" locations. Under the right weather conditions, large numbers of migrating birds can arrive in a relatively concentrated area.

The sanctuary itself dates to 1961. Its landscape includes pine forest, wetlands, dunes and freshwater habitat.

And protecting these wooded areas hasn't happened accidentally.

Local conservation organizations have continued acquiring and protecting additional habitat because development can permanently remove the places migrating birds depend upon.

There's something fascinating about walking these trails while realizing what's happening overhead.

Some of those tiny birds have traveled distances that would exhaust most humans in an airplane seat.

Then they reach Alabama.

And this little barrier island becomes their rest stop.

Fort Morgan across the bay is another important migration location, making the mouth of Mobile Bay one of the most interesting wildlife areas on Alabama's entire coast.

09/11/2026

Hurricane Katrina came ashore on August 29, 2005, and when the water went down the west end of Dauphin Island had a hole in it. Open Gulf on one side, Mississippi Sound on the other, and a gap between them that kept widening. By 2010 it was about a mile and a half across.

The fix came out of a different disaster. With the Deepwater Horizon spill moving toward the coast, the State of Alabama needed that gap closed to keep oil out of the sound. Permits that normally take months went through in eight days. Crews built a berm roughly 8,400 feet long, a sand core armored with about 110,000 tons of stone, at a cost of around 17 million dollars paid by BP.

It is a rock berm, not a seawall and not a jetty. Sand started piling up behind it, and by November 2014 you could walk the full length of the island for the first time in nine years.

The island is still moving. In June 2026 the governor announced 38 million dollars in RESTORE Act money for a west end beach project.

09/08/2026

Off the southern tip of Alabama, where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, lies a peaceful and unspoiled barrier island that feels a world away from the bustle of the mainland, the lovely Dauphin Island. Long and narrow, ringed with quiet white-sand beaches and swaying sea oats, this little island has a slow, old-fashioned charm that has made it a beloved retreat for generations of Alabama families. Unlike the busier beach towns, Dauphin Island has stayed quiet and low-key, a place folks call the Sunset Capital of Alabama for its glorious evening skies over the water. The island is a paradise for nature lovers, for it sits right along one of the great bird migration routes, and each spring and fall it fills with countless songbirds resting on their long journeys, drawing birdwatchers from all around. At the island's eastern end stands historic Fort Gaines, a great brick fortress that guarded the mouth of Mobile Bay and played its part in the famous Civil War battle fought in these waters. There is a fine aquarium too, and miles of quiet beach for shelling, swimming, and simply watching the waves roll in. For those who love a slower kind of coast, far from the crowds and the neon, Dauphin Island is a hidden gem, a place where the pace is gentle and the beauty is quiet and real. It is the kind of place where families return year after year, building memories on the sand. To watch the sun sink into the Gulf from that quiet island is a joy not soon forgotten. Families come back to that quiet shore year after year, and its gentle beauty never fades. Dauphin Island is one of the most peaceful and beautiful hidden treasures on the whole Alabama coast.

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