SIGNS OF TRANSITION ARE ALL AROUND US

Photo of mystery birds - courtesy - Morgan Rigby  (Biloxi)
Identification to be announced!
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July is a month of transition for local birds and is thus of great interest to those who watch them. Before summer has reached the halfway point that humans have long recognized, we can recognize that, for most birds, the time for egg-laying is ending, the post-breeding dispersal of certain species is underway, and the southward movement that marks fall migration has begun.

Although a few of our permanent residents, such as Mourning Doves, will lay eggs in any month, most birds put some sort of seasonal parameters to what they do and when they do it. Even those permanent residents that are double- or even triple-brooded, like chickadees and titmice, generally call a halt to the egg-laying in early July.

The successful raising of young is what a bird's year is all about, and time is often of the essence. Migratory land bird species (the song birds we know as summer residents) have a finite time period in which to bring forth young; most of them will raise only one brood a year, but there are exceptions (the Prothonotary Warbler is known to double-up in our warmer climate, but not so at its northern breeding limits).

In a migratory species such as the Least Tern, the incubation period is about 21 days and the period of dependency is about 30 days. Given that the Least Tern departs this area in late August and early September, it doesn't take a mathematician to determine why they are single-brooded. In a season that's been rife with early disasters (storms, flooding, intrusions, fireworks), there may be some stubborn attempts at nesting after the first week of July. But generally, success or failure of a pair, and even of a population, is determined before that.

In addition to the neighborhood birds we've been watching on a daily basis, we should now be watching for local summer resident flycatchers, warblers, vireos, tanagers, etc. which have been off nesting in the bottomlands. Once young have fledged and learned their own set of ropes, they show up almost anywhere.

The most anticipated representative of the bottomland and woodland contingent is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which fools many people into believing that it is a transient species. Actually, it is a widespread breeding species in southern Mississippi. Birds arriving from the tropics in spring make stops at feeding stations but seldom stay more than a few days. They then go off to nest.

It is in July that we begin to see them again at feeders over longer periods of time. At this time, we should note that immatures outnumber adults (females and youngsters look much alike), and that adult males are loners with no sense of family ties.

The time for hummingbird hordes, and therefore the time when attention to feeders brings rewards, is between late July and early October; it begins with local breeders in July and grows spectacular with surges of southbound migrants from the eastern half of the continent, most making their way to the tropics via the Texas coast.

Locally breeding swallows, such as Barn and Cliff Swallows and Purple Martins, will be assembling over marshes, swarming under bridges, and forming huge concentrations before moving southward. We should be watching for such transitional signs.

July also brings us a hint of how herons and egrets, gulls and terns, and other (mostly) colonial nesters have fared over the summer. Most nest where we don't see them --- on islands or in remote woodlands --- but post-breeding dispersal seems to deposit them back into shallow ponds, on beachfronts, and along highway medians. My particular favorite is generally confined to the beaches; look for the Reddish Egret and its crowd-pleasing behavior. Beginning now!

It's a great time to look skyward, hoping for a show of kites, either Mississippi or Swallow-tailed, which tend to gather in fairly large kettles over open areas.

Adult plovers, sandpipers, and other shorebirds that have nested in the far north don't stay there any longer than necessary; many are on their way south in early July, and some species will become numerous late in the month or at least by early August. That Semipalmated Plover that appears on the beach in late July might well have nested where full-grown trees are inches tall, far beyond the Arctic Circle.

Some very early transient song-birds will soon be back in our midst. The Yellow Warbler is the most numerous and conspicuous among them, but be looking for an early Golden-winged or Cerulean Warbler to add some far greater excitement to the month.

This article was published in July 2003

Editor's note:

JAY MORRIS 1958 -2016.

The first of July,  2016 brought some sad news.

Jay Morris was a great man, and one of Judy’s favorite students. According to him, his life was changed forever because of her. She taught him how to be a bird watcher, and he took it to another level. Not only did he listen to every lesson she taught, he then went on to write about it. Judy frequently invited Jay to be a guest columnist and she predicted “he will pen my article one day”. She was right. Jay has been writing the Sun Herald’s birding column for the last 18 months and had a dedicated following. 

He was a history major, and a musician with a great voice. These attributes enabled him to remember every date on which he saw his “first bird”, with whom he saw it, and how the bird sounded. Kim Anderson described him as ‘a big man with a big heart’. And that was Jay. In his last year of failing health, he was quietly helping others  - providing food for friends in need (we hope the rib recipe has been written down). And making us laugh. Jay was funny, and he made birding fun, as did Judy.  We miss you both. “Nothing gold can stay”

Jay co-edited September's articles for "A Year With Judy Toups". At some point (to be announced) a celebration of his life will be held at Clower Thornton nature reserve in Gulfport. He was passionate about this place, surveyed it regularly, and was instrumental in many improvements to the trails.