Birds of a different feather: rare species flock to the Magnolia State.

Mississippi is a bird lover's paradise. Rare birds, with names as musical as the songs they sing, flock to the Magnolia state, which is one of the last stops on the Mississippi Flyway--a highway for migrating birds that stretches from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

"Mississippi has major advantages," says Ann Curry, associate manager at the Mississippi Development Authority and Tourism and Fishing. "We not only enjoy the full benefit of being in the path of the Mississippi Flyway, but we are a coastal state with marshes and barrier islands that offer a haven for coastal species and migratory birds alike." About 40% of all North American migrating waterfowl use the Mississippi Flyway.

And where there are birds, there are bird watchers--or birders. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Prothonotary Warbler, Least Bittern, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, Wood Stork and Painted Bunting are just some of the birds that draw wildlife connoisseurs. "Many of these birds are vagrants or 'accidental' occurrences from outside their natural range," says Nicholas Winstead, Partners in Flight coordinator at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. "Our state regularly receives visits from species that do not usually occur in this part of the country."

raptor review

For anyone who has ever been fascinated by a hawk's swooping flight or an owl's mysterious gaze, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson presents "Hunters of the Sky," a traveling national exhibit showcasing the majesty and complexity of these birds of prey.

"This is the first raptor exhibit at the new facility and will be the largest exhibit that the museum has ever mounted," said Dee Gardner, manager of public relations and marketing at the museum.

Not only can visitors to the exhibit learn about raptors--eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, and condors--but they can also enter the raptor's world through interactive displays such as a wind-tunnel demonstrating a bird's flight, bird's eye-view footage shot from gliders, and a 'hooting' booth where visitors can listen to and imitate an owl's call.

The exhibit, which opened June 23 and runs through December 30, 2007, also features birds during its First Tuesday Lecture Series and Fun Fridays. In addition, each Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., live hawks fly in a demonstration of how hawks hunt for their food. Visitors view these birds up-close and learn about them from their handler, David Hall, from the Wildlife Outreach Foundation.

The museum attracts visitors from all 50 states as well as many foreign countries. "We have a lot of families and grandparents with their grandchildren. We also attract outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers of all ages," said Gardner, who hopes to see 50,000 visitors during the raptor exhibit's run.

For more information about "Hunters of the Sky" or the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, see www.msnaturalscience.org or call 6011354-7303.

--Ann Shivers McNair

Eight top bird meccas in Mississippi

Grand Bay Natural Estuarine Research Reserve

Grand Bay is in the extreme southeastern part of the state, near the small community of Pecan. The reserve's most well known winter resident is the osprey. Other birds that value this wildlife paradise are the Clapper Rail, the Common Loon, the American Oystercatcher, the Seaside Sparrow, the brown and white pelicans, Peregrine Falcons, and the beautiful Cedar Waxwings. These birds may be most visible wading or resting in the mudflats adjacent to the salt marshes or in the shallow waters of the freshwater marshes. Grand Bay is on the Mississippi Migratory Flyway.

Clark Creek Natural Area 

Clark Creek, sometimes called Tunica Falls, is a natural haven with some 50 waterfalls that range in height from 10 to 30 feet. Near Woodville, it has been called "a rare bio-diverse Mississippi jewel," a treasured sanctuary for hiking, photography, botanizing and nature lovers. Visitors can catch sight of colorful neo-tropical birds during the April and May migration. Birds seen here include the Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Hooded Warbler and Mississippi Kite.

Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge 

Near Gautier, Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge is the world's only sanctuary for the endangered Mississippi Sandhill Crane--one of the most rare and smallest bird populations that exist. The 120 non-migratory residents of the refuge are pampered at this renown wet pine savannah. A small number of the migratory Greater Sandhill Cranes visit during the winter. The refuge also winters about 20 percent of the world's population of Henslow's Sparrows. Birdlife is moderately abundant and most diverse during the fall and spring migration. Wading birds visit the bayou, songbirds frequent the trees and shrub vegetation, and Northern Harriers and Redtailed Hawks hunt over the savannahs in winter. Neo-tropical migratory birds can be spotted in the spring and fall.

Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge 

Noxubee in Brooksville is an important sanctuary of more than 254 species, including Bald Eagles, Wood Stork, swallows, White Ibis, warblers, egrets and herons. The refuge provides a haven for the endangered Redcockaded Woodpecker, which is actively managed and present for year-round viewing. Noxubee contains seven trails, three overlooks, and a permanent telescope at Goose Overlook. Brochures, maps, and bird lists are available at the refuge office and state-of-the-art education center.

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex 

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex is located strategically on the Mississippi Flyway and is the largest refuge complex in the state. Located near Hollandale, it spreads out over 100,000 acres, embracing seven refuges. It includes both the youngest refuges, Holt Collier and Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuges, and the oldest refuge, Yazoo National Wildlife, in Mississippi.

These refuge areas offer a mixture of marshes, swamps, sloughs and bottomland hardwood forests. Combined with the surrounding area of catfish ponds and croplands, they work in unison to draw an unusual variety of migrating birds on their way up and down the Flyway. From hiking trails, observation decks and driving routes, visitors can see many species of waterfowl, Great Blue Herons, Anhingas, wading birds, Prothonotary Warbler, Bobolink and American Bittern.

Tara Wildlife Management

Tara Wildlife Management is a privately owned sanctuary in the Eagle Lake community 30 minutes northwest of Vicksburg. With its 12 miles on the Mississippi River and 17,200 acres of oxbow lakes and bottomland hardwood forests, it is great place to see Wood Storks, Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Roseate Spoonbills and songbirds like Painted Buntings. This beautiful habitat attracts corporate retreats, conservation workshops, and seminars, and it is the annual host to the Stork and Cork Mississippi River Birding Festival (see page 102).

Gulf Island National Seashore Park-Horn Island

Horn Island is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park, a federally designated wilderness area, and is a scenic birding destination that provides an excellent feeding, resting, and wintering habitat for numerous types of neo-tropical migrants and wintering waterfowl, such as the brown pelican, white pelican, and cormorants.

Horn Island is also home to the Least Tern, Black Skimmer, Bald Eagle and Osprey. Among the less common species on the island are the Peregrine Falcon, Gull-billed Tern, Gray Kingbird, and Snowy Plover.

The Pascagoula River

The Pascagoula River Wildlife Management area is among the healthiest riverine ecosystems in the southeastern United States. The management area runs along most of the 81 miles of the river, which flows from the converging Leaf and Chickasawhay rivers to the Gulf of Mexico.

"The Pascagoula river system is like an interstate highway for migrating birds," says Bruce Reid of the National Audubon Society. "It is a long throughway with a large block of forest running north and south. In the spring, after flying 20 hours and 600 miles over the Gulf of Mexico, the Pascagoula River provides migratory birds like the swallow-tailed kite a place to stop, land, and feed."

bird festivals

Stork and Cork Mississippi River Birding Festival August 24-26

Tara Wildlife, in association with Audubon Mississippi, presents this three-day bird celebration in late August each year. Here you can explore forests and wetlands and witness the late summer congregation of Wood Storks, White Ibises, Great Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills and other wading birds.

Lectures and demonstrations will be held throughout the weekend on managing bottomland forests, black bear restoration, outdoor photography, and gardening for wildlife. Open-air bus interpretive tours and Mississippi riverboat tours are also offered. Call 601/279-4261 for more information.

Hummingbird Migration Celebration: September 7-9,2007

Each fall thousands of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds migrate from Canada, weaving their way through the fields and woods of Strawberry Plains Audubon Center near Holly Springs, to their winter homes in Mexico and Central America. Strawberry Plains marks the migration with a three-day event each September-the Hummingbird Migration Celebration, one of the nation's largest nature festivals.

The festival features expert naturalists from the Hummer/Bird Study Group, demonstrations with bats and other wildlife, bird viewing in the historic Davis House sunroom, a trade show, and tours of native plant gardens. For more information, call 662/252-1155.

Wild Wing River and Nature Festival April 13-22

This nine-day event is a cooperative ecotourism program sponsored by the cities of Lucedale, Moss Point, Pascagoula, Gautier and Ocean Springs, and Jackson and George counties. It focuses on migration in the Pascagoula River Corridor. Visit www.wildwingfestival.com for more information.

new website highlights Mississippi river birding hotspots

Audubon launches resource for discovering birds, wildlife, and America's river

The Mississippi River corridor is rich in birds and wildlife, and Audubon's new Great River Birding Trail website enables birders and others to discover many of the best places to see them. It offers in-depth information on parks, refuges and other natural areas, including site descriptions and photos, driving directions, and lists of species visitors may spot at each site.

"Our new website makes it easy for people to get out and enjoy the incredible variety and beauty of birds on the Mississippi," said Bruce Reid of Audubon's Mississippi River program. "The Great River Birding Trail is more than a terrific resource for birders, it can help people everywhere discover the importance of the Mississippi River ecosystem and the need to keep it healthy."

Audubon is leading an aggressive ten-state initiative to address the multiple conservation challenges facing the Mississippi. Problems include loss of wildlife habitat, declining bird populations, and water quality degradation. Audubon has begun conservation work within focal watersheds covering more than 2 million acres along the river and launched a targeted Gulf Coast conservation initiative. "Birders and others who visit our new website and ultimately travel the trail will be showing their support for America's River, and that's the kind of support our partners and all Americans who cherish the Mississippi need to see," added Reid.

"The Great River Birding Trail is a good overview and guide to areas that the Mississippi River firmly anchors, featuring selected sites along the greatest flyway in North America," said Jeff Wilson of Bartlett, Tennessee, one of the most experienced birders along the Mississippi River. "The website highlights some birding locations little known or greatly under utilized by the general public. Interested birders and wildlife enthusiasts will find it a quick and useful guide to new outdoor adventures."

The Great River Birding Trail was born in 2000, when Audubon began mapping birding sites from the Mississippi River's headwaters in northern Minnesota to the river's mouth at the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Currently, website visitors can view birding locations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and parts of Louisiana. Work is underway to add additional sites up and down the river. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is primary sponsor of the project, with additional support from Arkansas Delta Byways, Entergy Mississippi, the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, Mississippi State University, the Mississippi Division of Tourism, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

To view the Great River Birdign Trail Website, visit www.greatriverbirding.

For more information on the state's best birding sites and festivals, contact or visit Mississippi Development Authority/Tourism Division, www.visitmississippi.org, 866/753-6477; Audubon Mississippi, www.msaudubon.org, 601/661-6189; Great River Birding Trail website, www.greatriverbirding.org; and Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, www.mdwfp.com/museum, [phone].