BIRDS

MMNS Ornithology Research
Contact Nick Winstead

Research Interests
Research and monitoring activities carried out or administered by Museum Staff are focused on species of greatest conservation need, as outlined in Mississippi's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Research and monitoring bird populations are essential to adequately determine the conservation actions needed and to evaluate and adjust as needed actions taken on behalf of bird conservation. Several efforts to monitor bird populations are underway in Mississippi including the Breeding Bird Survey, which targets most birds, and several others that are specific to bird groups with special monitoring needs such as Bald Eagles, secretive marsh birds and colonial waterbirds. Examples of past and current research interests and monitoring efforts include: 

• Reproductive success of Interior Least Terns along the Mississippi River.
• Distribution, ecology and management of Swallow-tailed Kites in Mississippi.
• Winter bird community dynamics in coastal pine savanna habitats.
• Winter ecology of plovers in coastal Mississippi.
• Breeding secretive marshbird use of select wetlands in the Mississippi Delta.
• Annual secretive marshbird monitoring at select wetlands across the state. 
• Annual statewide Bald Eagle nest monitoring.
• Annual statewide colonial waterbird colony monitoring.

Links of Interest
Bird Conservation Plans 

• North American Bird Conservation Initiative
• North American Waterfowl Management Plan
• Partners in Flight
• U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan
• Waterbird Conservation for the Americas

Joint Ventures in Mississippi

• Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture
• Gulf Coast Joint Venture
• East Gulf Coastal Plain Joint Venture

Bird Monitoring
Monitoring bird populations is essential to adequately determine the conservation actions needed and to evaluate and adjust as needed actions taken on behalf of bird conservation.  Several efforts to monitor bird populations are underway in Mississippi including the Breeding Bird Survey, which targets most birds, and several others that are specific to bird groups with special monitoring needs such as Bald Eagles, secretive marsh birds and colonial waterbirds.

• Opportunities for Improving North American Avian Monitoring
• Breeding Bird Survey
• If you are interested in participating in bird monitoring efforts in Mississippi, please call 601-354-7303 or email for more information.

Ornithological Societies 

• Mississippi Ornithological Society
• The American Ornithologists' Union

Books of Interest

• Toups, J.A., and J.A. Jackson.  1987.  Birds and Birding on the Mississippi Coast. Jackson, Mississippi.  University Press of Mississippi.
• Toups, J.A., J. Bird and S.J. Peterson.  2004.  Guide to Birding Coastal Mississippi and Adjacent Counties. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.  Stackpole Books.
• Turcotte, W.H., and D.L. Watts. 1999.  Birds of Mississippi.  Jackson, Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi.

Available Downloads

• Mississippi Ornithological Society's Checklist of Birds of Mississippi, 2004