Reelfoot Lake WMA

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Cypress Wetland2500 acres in Fulton Co.

Cypress Wetland2500 acres in Fulton Co.

The Kentucky portion of the Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge comprises 2500 acres on KY 94 west of Hickman. An observation platform is located near the main entrance to Long Point Refuge off county road 1282 and KY 311. The staffed visitor's center offers historical and wildlife-related exhibits and is located between Samburg and Union City, TN on Hwy. 157 and east of Walnut Log.

The visitor's center is open weekdays and weekends only from mid-January through mid-April. Driving tours through Grassy Island Unit, two observation towers, a self-guided hiking trail, checklists, and brochures are featured. The Wildlife Management Area can be accessed by system roads and maps are available at the visitor's center.

The Reelfoot Lake area offers spectacular year-round wildlife viewing in a setting of haunting beauty. Extensive bottomland forests, marshes, and bald cypress swamps rim the lake, formed during the violent New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. A fissure opened between the Mississippi River and Reelfoot Lake's cypress bottoms and the Mississippi River flowed backwards for three days, inundating the bottoms and forming the lake. Native Americans have an alternate explanation for the formation of the lake.

Habitats attract river otter, white-tailed deer, beaver, coyote, as well as the great blue heron, great and cattle egret, osprey, insects, and songbirds in profusion. Hundreds of bald eagles winter here, with peak numbers occurring December through February; look for them perching along lakeshore, or following commercial fishermen. A smaller number of eagles are year-round residents.

Reelfoot Lake also attracts hundreds of thousands of wintering ducks and geese of the Mississippi Flyway, including mallards, gadwall, American wigeons, and pintails. Shorebird species to watch for include the semipalmated plover, marbled godwit, and pectoral sandpiper--scan the mudflats in spring and early fall. Breeding colonies of great blue herons and great egrets become active in spring.

Reputed "Turtle Capital of the World," Reelfoot Lake also features thousands of sliders, stinkpots, and mud and map turtles

Eagle viewing is best from December through February. Eagle tours are offered daily at Reelfoot State Park from December through February. Pontoon boat tours are offered spring through fall--check with visitor center for details.

White-tailed deer and wild turkeys may be seen year-round; shorebirds spring and fall; graceful Mississippi kites soar May through August. Birding is excellent year-round. Migratory blackburnian warblers appear in May; watch for dickcissels in fields, Swainson's and cerulean warblers in forest in summer. Breeding moorhens and rarely-seen purple gallinules inhabit marshes in summer. Winter waterfowl are best observed with a spotting scope.

Amphibians are abundant, including green treefrogs.

For additional information:

• Guide to Public Wildlife Areas by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources
• Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge (901) 538-2481

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