Hello Birders,
We conducted our monthly birdwalk at the Noxubee NWR yesterday from 8-11:15
a.m. Then a group of us traveled to the Oktibbeha County Lake to look for
shorebirds. The lake is drying rapidly now, and it is difficult to get
close views of the shorebirds; so this part of the day was a bit lackluster.
We enjoyed birding visitors from Poplarville and Madison County. It is
always nice to meet birders who live in other parts of the state, and we
would love to have them back.
We invite everyone to join us for these birdwalks on the 1st Saturday of
every month.
Although we often visit the Noxubee NWR, we sometimes venture to other
birding spots around Starkville and Columbus areas. I will send an email
out about 1 week prior to each event with details for that particular
outing.
We counted 62 species at the refuge during this last outing. Highlights
were Wood Storks, a Roseate Spoonbill and a Peregrine Falcon (which seems
early). Here is the species list (it includes birds that I counted on my
own prior to the event):
Wood Duck 2
Wood Stork 52
Anhinga 25
Great Blue Heron 8
Great Egret 18
Snowy Egret 3
Little Blue Heron 7
Cattle Egret 22
Green Heron 7
White Ibis 41
Roseate Spoonbill 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 10
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Purple Gallinules 3
Common Gallinule 8
Killdeer 5
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Mourning Dove 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Ruby - throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 2
Red- cockaded Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Peregrine Falcon 1
Eastern Wood Pewee 11
Acadian Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 14
White- eyed Vireo 16
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 10
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 8
Fish Crow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 20
Purple Martin 2
Barn Swallow 12
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 13
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Wood Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 3
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Northern Parula 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 3
Summer Tanager 5
Northern Cardinal 15
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 11
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Common Grackle 2
Orchard Oriole 1
The Oktibbeha County Lake ebird list can be viewed by following this link -
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31006250. We saw 34 species.
Paul Mack was the only one to see a Dunlin, and other highlights included
Black Tern and Least Tern.
Sincerely,
Jeff Harris
