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Blakeley Island

Permit for Blakeley visitation

Map of the Blakeley Island area

Ponds Currently Open

Blakeley Island Updates:

PLEASE NOTE!!  The number to use for faxing in your Liability Release forms to the State Docks for visiting Blakely Island and other State Port Authority properties has been changed. The new number is 1-251-441-7255.  Updated forms can be obtained on this website by clicking here.

02/27/02:  PLEASE NOTE!!  All birders at Blakely Island are REQUIRED to post a permit on the dash of their car.  For further details, please go the Blakely permit page.  Blakely visitation is now regulated through the State Port Authority and any vehicles not displaying the proper permits will BE TOWED!!  Please be sure to comply with the permit requirement so that we will not lose access to this birding hotspot. 

The 2-day prior notice requirement has now been changed.   It is no longer necessary to give 2-days notice, but you must notify the State Docks Authority prior to going on the dikes.  Weekdays call 251-441-7085, and on weekends call 251-441-7777 to notify the Docks of your intention to visit.  You must still file a permit before visiting!  Completed permits can now be submitted to the Docks Authority by faxing to 251-441-7255.

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The Mud Ponds on Blakeley Island are well known to experienced Alabama birders as a sometimes excellent spot for shorebirds and waterfowl during spring and fall migration. The Island, at the western end of the Mobile Causeway, on US 90 A, can be reached from either US 90 or I-10.

The Mud Ponds, owned by the Alabama State Docks and managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers are used to store mud and sand refuse from dredging the Mobile Ship Channel. The upper Ponds were formerly used as settling ponds for industrial waste water and can be extremely caustic. The water in the canal surrounding the elevated dikes is used to capture the leachate from the upper ponds and is likewise very caustic. Management of the dredge refuse sites requires tilling and grading the ponds to hasten the drying of the refuse. As a result different ponds may have good water for the birds at different times.

The Open Ponds section of this page will carry the notice of which ponds may be currently visited.

Access to the Mud Ponds is controlled by the Alabama State Docks and their procedures must be adhered to. These are described in the Permits section of this page and involve the submission of a Liability Release Form annually and before visiting. Your Instruction Sheet must be prominently displayed in the front window of your vehicle.

Do not leave the roads on the top of the dikes for any reason whatsoever! To do so will jeopardize all access to these facilities.

Be prepared for a long walk when visiting the ponds, it may be exceedingly hot and buggy, and there are no facilities nor cover on the dikes around the ponds. A scope is recommended.