COLORFUL SNOWBIRDS BEGINNING TO ARRIVE

*Scissor-tailed flycatcher- photo (Oct 2013)  courtesy Sharon Milligan
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For this week's field trip, go to the end of the article

It happens every year, but somehow I never tire of the changes in birdlife that come about in October. In the course of a few days, we seem to switch gears from focusing on transient species headed south, to the daily arrivals of birds that will remain with us for the winter.

Common as some of them are, the winter birds in their mostly-modest cold-weather plumage are every bit as exciting as the dazzling Magnolia Warblers and Scarlet Tanagers to which we turned our attention early in the month.

Now the woods are charged with the drummings of woodpeckers, the whinings of sapsuckers, the name-callings of Eastern Phoebes, the scoldings of House Wrens, the chatters of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, the lisps of Golden-crowned Kinglets, the clucks of Hermit Thrushes, the arguments of Solitary Vireos, the ticks of Yellow-rumped Warblers, the ringings of Swamp Sparrows and the yelpings of Song Sparrows.

Now the air space above lakes and marshes is dominated by Tree Swallows, their snow-white underparts a take-to-the-bank field mark, and the thermals are claimed by Red-tailed hawks and Northern Harriers. Now the beaches have been returned to a motley group of gulls and terns and shorebirds. Now the wintering rails have invaded the marshes and fields.

Now the utility wires are lined with starlings, not martins, and the open perches are crowned with kingfishers and kestrels. Now the beachfront pilings are owned by Double-crested Cormorants, Brown Pelicans and Great Blue Herons.

Offshore, ducks race past, too fast and too far for identification, and loose formations of White Pelicans, ibises and geese make the sky busy.

Soon the quiet ponds and lagoons will support a colorful mélange of dabbling ducks, and the waters of the Mississippi Sound will host the loons, the Horned Grebes, the Red-heads, the Canvasbacks, the scaups (both of them), the Buffleheads, the Red-breasted Mergansers and the Common Goldeneyes.

Way out, near the islands, scoters and oldsquaws will be there for those who find the Sound and the Gulf at their best in winter, and Northern Gannets will join our  Brown Pelicans in high-diving exhibitions.

For now, we are in a period  of transition when a day in the field can net both an Eastern Wood-Pewee (a summer resident) and an Eastern Phoebe (a winter resident) and perhaps, for the lucky, a Western Kingbird, or a *Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and maybe even a Vermilion Flycatcher.

It is the time of year when we may hear the yank-yank-yank of a Red-breasted Nuthatch above the rubber-duck squeakings of a multitude of Brown-headeds, or fuss-up a Grasshopper Sparrow amidst a full complement of Savannahs.

It’s the right time to remember that the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the RARE one in winter, and the hummer at your feeder could be a Rufous, a Black-chinned, or something even more illustrious here in the east. Editor's note: Nine western hummingbirds have been recorded on the MS coast at time of writing (2016). Four of them, Black-chinned, Rufous, Calliope and Buff-breasted occur virtually annually, sometimes in multiple numbers. The other five (Allen's. Anna's, Broad-tailed, Broad-billed and White-eared) are rare to accidental.

The time is right for a Groove-billed Ani, a White-winged Dove, a Black-headed Grosbeak, a White-crowned or Clay-colored sparrow, a Green-tailed Towhee. a Yellow-headed Blackbird.

More than 280 species have been recorded here on the coast in October, and more than 270 in November, making these two months among the most productive of them all. Get in on the euphoria. Go birding!

This article was published in October, 1988

Mississippi Coast Audubon Society field trip - all are welcome!

Saturday, October 29, 2016:  Hiller Park near Biloxi Back Bay, Harrison County.

Leader: Dave Reed vickianddave1@gmail.com

Look for late migrants at some of the local parks in the area.  We will start at Hiller Park on Biloxi Back Bay followed by Popp's Ferry Causeway Park and James Hill Boardwalk.  This is an easy-walking tour with some nice camera opportunities in a variety of habitats.

Place and Time:  Meet at the Hiller Park Tennis Courts (MAP) at 7:30 AM. 

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KEEP EYES PEELED FOR HAWKS

Red -Tailed Hawk - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan
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October, especially when it is bright blue and breezy, is optimum for watching birds of prey - everything from ospreys to eagles to harriers to Buteos to Accipiters to falcons. In the loosest of terms, we often refer to them, one and all, as "hawks."

Many of them are passing through; others will have reached their winter destinations right here on the Coast. We have about two weeks remaining, give or take, to catch our share through the objective lenses of binoculars.

Because of our geographical "lay of the land," so to speak, we get a very watered-down version of what amounts to one of the greatest of migration phenomena - that of thousands of birds-of-prey moving north in spring and south in fall.

In the eastern United States, incredible sights like that are more apt to be found at famed "hawk watch sites" such as Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania; Point Pelee in Ontario; Cape May, New Jersey; Duluth, Minnesota; and Charleston, South Carolina; and at certain locations along the Mississippi River, to name a few of thousands of similar locations.

Birders near to those places plan their birding time around hawk migrations, making pilgrimages in hopes of catching what could be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Some years ago, I just happened to be in Ontario in mid September, and was taken to the local hawk watch there - a place known as Hawk Cliffs - where I was overwhelmed by the numbers of hawks in the air. They were skirting the shores of Lake Erie with a natural reluctance to fly long distances over large bodies of water. By all accounts, the show was only moderately good, but I enjoyed one of the most indelible memories of my birding lifetime.

We here take the leftovers. That's because these diurnal raptors (that's another term for day-flying hawks and their relatives) ride the thermals and updrafts, often at great heights, using north/south coastlines, mountain ranges, and river courses as compasses. This area is just not on the itineraries of most of them.

However, there have been days when the leftovers are quite tasty. In my opinion, October's northerly winds and clear skies afford the most favorable fall conditions. One wants to be out in the open, with a viewing area unobstructed by tall buildings or dense stands of trees; places such as the edge of a marsh, along the beachfront, in rural areas, etc. come to mind.

Since most of these birds are to be seen aloft, it is advisable to look skyward more often, and with bigger expectations than during any other month of the year.

What might be seen? Reinforcements of our locally-breeding ospreys. eagles. Bald Eagles which breed in summer to our north join our winter-breeding southern Bald Eagles. The Northern Harrier (once known as the Marsh Hawk) - like the foregoing, it is a one-of-a-kind species which breeds to our north and plies our marshes throughout winter.

Then there are the Accipiters; in that they have short rounded wings and long tails, they are often easiest to identify at a distance, when our reliance on a bird's shape comes to the fore. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is, hands-down, the most likely Accipiter to be seen during migration (bear in mind that although the Sharpie is known for its rapid wing-flapping, it often soars with the best of the Buteos). The Sharpie is the hawk most likely to raid a feeding station. Although it breeds sparingly in the state, the Cooper's Hawk is uncommon as a permanent resident, and is only moderately more numerous in winter. The third member of the genus Accipiter is the Northern Goshawk, which is unlikely to be seen this far south.

It is the Buteos that account for the biggest show in fall; the southward bound (by way of the land-bridge to Mexico) flights of Broad-winged Hawks, followed by Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks is to be watched for. Throw an occasional Swainson's Hawk into the mix and we have the potential for great excitement.

The fastest fliers, the falcons, are unmatched for the thrills they provide. (By the way, they are not closely related to hawks and eagles.) To see a warrior Peregrine Falcon making passes over a beach full of gulls, terns, and shorebirds, is worth spending some time at beach-bird gathering places. The smaller, and slightly more conservative Merlin is another of the rarer falcons. The American Kestrel, which is a benign fellow in contrast to its congeners, should be re-occupying wires and fence posts in numbers. All three falcons may be seen throughout winter, but it is the American Kestrel that we see most frequently.

There could be days when several of the foregoing species are to be seen in the sky at the same time; when wind directions are right, they are on the move, so keep a keen eye peeled for them.

This article was published in October 2001

LET'S THRASH OUT THE PROBLEMS OF THRUSHES

Hermit Thrush - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan
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For details on this Saturday's field trip,  go to the end of the article

One of the complexities of bird-identification is the "alikeness" of certain birds. The potential birder, when confronted by a bush full of look-alikes, often takes the road of least resistance and gives up the world of birds as seen through binoculars.

This surrender to seemingly overwhelming problems in deciding what-is-what can happen to some people when they first flip through a field guide... and they never make it to the great outdoors!

The solution to the problem of look-alike birds is to bypass the similarities and concentrate on the differences.

One group of birds that plays havoc with one's self confidence is the thrushes, specifically those five species which are, for all intents and purposes, brown and white below, with a variable number of spots on the breast. A glance at a page of spotted thrushes will underscore the fact that the similarities outnumber the differences that demand attention!

Since this is one of two periods each year when one may encounter any or all of the five "spotted" thrushes (the other is during April), it pays to be prepared for such a contingency.

We are talking here about Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush and we'll presume that the reader has a field guide opened to the page on which these five thrushes are illustrated.

Proceed by separating them into two groups -- those that have reddish-brown in their plumage (Veery, Hermit Thrush, Wood Thrush) and those that don't (Gray-cheeked Thrush and Swainson's Thrush).

Should you encounter a thrush in the woods, your first "cut" should be based on the presence or absence of reddish-brown in some part of the upper plumage (head, back, tail).

Of the three "red" thrushes, further elimination can be made by the location of the reddish-brown in the plumage If it is an overall type of distribution, your bird is most certainly a Veery (notice that the Veery is also shorter on breast-spotting than any of the other thrushes).  If your bird has reddish-brown confined to the head and upper back, you are looking at a Wood Thrush (notice that the Wood Thrush is the most heavily spotted of the thrushes); if the reddish-brown occurs on the tail only, the bird in question is a Hermit Thrush (notice its habit of cocking its tail, then slowly dropping it).

The two remaining thrushes lack any suggestion of reddish-brown in their plumage and it is these two - the Gray-cheeked and the Swainson's, that gives birders, especially beginning birders, problems.

Let's assume that the bird in your field of view has been judged to be one of the "non-red" thrushes. Concentrate on the facial area first. If it is a Swainson's Thrush, your bird will have obvious buffiness around the eyes and cheeks. That point, plus a "warmth" to the brown of its plumage, identify it.

If the bird at hand has no warmth to its plumage and no suggestion of buffiness, it can be identified as a Gray-cheeked Thrush, even without getting a good view of the gray cheek or noting the lack of an eye ring.

By process of elimination, the gray-cheeked Thrush has been successfully identified! Often a birder does not have a long time to study a bird; in fact, the long-look is a distinct luxury, so the birder must be prepared, beforehand, to look for vital points, and that includes the lack of certain characteristics as well as the presence of certain others.

All of these thrush sightings occur in areas of brush and thickets and are mostly confined to woodlands (although one should remember that migrating birds are sometimes found in strange places). Most times they will be seen close to the ground or on the ground, but they often feed high here in the fall on trees which produce fruits and berries, such as sweetgum.

Apart from the months of October and April, when all five thrushes occur, one should be aware that a thrush seen in the middle of winter here on the Coast is virtually certain to be a Hermit Thrush; one seen here during the breeding season, must, on the basis of seasonal distribution, be the Wood Thrush.

Following is a list of the five thrushes, which gives the inclusive dates of occurrence on these species on the Mississippi Coast:

Veery: April 15 to May 26th and August 30 to October 29th

Gray-cheeked Thrush: April 1 to May 31 and September 12 to October 29th

Swainson's Thrush: March 31 to May 30 and September 13 to October 29th

Hermit Thrush: October 2 through April 25th

Wood Thrush: March 26 to November 1

Now that the reader has a new perspective on identifying thrushes - go get 'em!

This article was published in October, 1983

Mississippi Coast Audubon Society field trip - all are welcome!

October 15, 2016:  Logtown and Possum Walk, Hancock County

Leaders:  Joe Pettigrew (petigru@aol.com) and Millie Page

A variety of habitats rich in fall migrants, and they are pouring in!  Logtown is on the Mississippi Coast Birding Trail:  more info at http://mscoastbirdingtrail.audubon.org/logtown.html.

Place and Time: Meet at the Stennis Exit (I-10 Exit 2) in Bay St. Louis between7:15 and 7:30 AM

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NO REASON TO WRESTLE OVER WRENS

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

                                                                                                                      

Photos Courtesy Sharon Milligan

For this week's field trip - see end of article
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I coined a phrase a couple of years ago, but the idea it carries is far from original among birders. "Elimination is the key to serenity" -- that's the phrase. Although it's not exactly in the realm of a quotable quote, I quote it quite often, and practice it whenever I am birding.

A great deal of bird identification is done on the principle of elimination. The process generally leaves the birder with just one choice, or possibly two, in the identity of any given bird.

There are many groups of birds that become a "piece of cake" once some simple keys are given. One such group is wrens, which are often called the little brown birds that are the bane of the beginning birder.

We are in that time frame when the wren we see could be any one of six; our resident wrens are being joined for the winter by four other species.

Let's assume that your book is open to the pages of wrens. Notice that there are seven species that occur in the eastern United States, but only six of them occur in Mississippi .. eliminate the Rock Wren (although I fully expect that one day the Rock Wren will be part of Mississippi's bird life, this column will deal with probabilities, not possibilities). Editor's note: Judy's prediction was correct- a Rock Wren was found by Jake Walker at Grand Bay Estuarine Research Reserve on 3 October, 2012.

The first big "cut" among the wrens is the presence of absence of an eye line. Notice that after eliminating the Rock Wren, there are three that have eye lines and three that don't. Those that do are the Carolina, Bewick's and Marsh Wren.

Let's assume that the reader is a beginning birder laboring over his first wren, and that wren is one with an eye stripe. Next check the back; is it plain or does it have stripes? No stripes? Eliminate the Marsh Wren. You are left with two choices - Carolina or Bewick's Wren. Look at the undersides - if they are buffy, eliminate Bewick's Wren and consider the probability of the Carolina Wren. Since immature Carolina Wrens are sometimes quite lacking in buffy undersides, take another step to be sure. Note the tail - if it is not edged in white, the bird cannot be a Bewick's Wren and you'll be back to old faithful, the Carolina Wren, the most abundant of our wrens and a year-round resident.

Suppose the wren in your fieldglasses does not have an eye line. Eliminate the three already mentioned and consider only the House, Winter and Sedge Wrens. Notice that the Sedge Wren has stripes in the manner of a Marsh Wren. If your bird has stripes and lacks the eyeline, it must be the Sedge Wren!

But you say it has no back stripes, that it looks like a plain little brown bird? Eliminate the Sedge Wren and concentrate your efforts deciding where it's a House Wren or a Winter Wren. Look at the tail. If it is short and stubby, the bird is a Winter Wren. If it is fairly long, it is a House Wren.

Okay, so you say you can't get a good look at the tail. Check the belly. If it's heavily barred, you are looking at a Winter Wren.

Experienced birders recognize most wrens before they are seen, because wrens have distinctive call notes and fussing noises that are as good a clue as a good look. Experience will soon disclose that the Marsh Wren, Sedge Wren and Winter Wren show some preference for exclusive or nearly exclusive habitats; that the Carolina and House Wrens are fairly ubiquitous in dry, bushy areas; and that Bewick's Wren is seen about once every five years here and the laws of probability should be kept in mind.

There follows a breakdown of wrens. Note their seasonal distribution and their preferred habitats. Such knowledge can be an aid, especially if committed to a corner of the mind and tapped the minute your next wren comes into view. The following list is given in the taxonomic order:

CAROLINA WREN: Common permanent resident, and widespread in thickets, scrubby bushes, gardens and around houses.

BEWICK'S WREN: Very casual in occurrence here (it was once fairly common), but should be looked for between September 17 and May 27 in much the same habitats as the Carolina Wren.

HOUSE WREN: Fairly common from October through April, but inclusive dates are September 24 to May 24. Occurs in open woods, thickets and scrub; less likely around houses and gardens during its stay here.

WINTER WREN: Uncommon in winter, from October 12 to April 15. While here it shows a preference for heavy brush piles around fallen trees and very dense thickets.

SEDGE WREN: Fairly common from September 20 to May 11; found mostly in sedge grasses close to marshes.

MARSH WREN: Common in fall, winter and spring. Localized and common as a breeding bird in the summer, but almost exclusively in salt marsh, and mostly on the barrier islands. In winter occurs in almost any stretch of salt marsh vegetation, especially spartina, occasionally cattails and other reeds.

Now, wasn't that easy?

This article was published in October, 1983

For many people, this is their favorite Mississippi Coast Audubon Society Field trip, and it’s this Saturday!  All are welcome.  

October 8, 2016:  Dauphin Island, Alabama

Leader:  Don McKee & Company (dmkee001@gmail.com)

The Coast’s premier migrant trap.  This site is part of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail.  More information and maps at http://www.alabamacoastalbirdingtrail.com/trails/dauphin_island_loop.asp.

Place and Time:  Meet at Cadillac Square, Dauphin Island, between 7:30 and 8:00 AM (MAP)