Mississippi Birds: Pictures And Bird Identification Tips

For all the obvious reasons, many birders initially equate Mississippi birds with the Mississippi flyway. The state is literally the first and last stop for many of the migrating birds every season.

If they don’t recognize the name, they recognize the river. So it’s fair to claim that all birds known Mississippi. Do all the people of Mississippi know the approximately four hundred and twenty five Mississippi birds?

It’s hard to say. It’s probably safer to suggest that most people of Mississippi known their state bird, the Northern Mocking bird. It’s the most wide-ranging and recognized Mimidae species.

It lives year round in its territory, so most Mississippi residents with one or a few in their yard, greet it on a daily basis. Then there’s the response. Everyone soon becomes familiar with the Mockingbird’s propensity to sing, sometimes all day and night.

Even more amazing, mockingbirds sing in foreign languages. Experts estimate that mockingbirds possess the ability to mimic dozens of bird species as well as the sounds of bells, whistles, frogs and other sound producing objects within their range of hearing.

The gallery shows pictures of all types of Mississippi birds starting with most of the common backyard birds that share space with the state’s residents year round.

A few of the migrating birds such as the members of the Cardinal family, the Grosbeaks are presented. Finally, some of the water birds common along the coastal areas and the inland freshwater areas along the Mississippi river and inland lakes and ponds are presented.

Mississippi Migrating Birds

Speaking of singing, Mississippi, like many Gulf Coast states, also enjoys the pleasure of hosting a variety of neotropical songbirds on their way to and from their northern breeding grounds. Names such as warblers, tanagers, thrush all fall under the songbird rubric. Their vocalizations always brighten up a spring day.

Migration also brings the shorebirds to the Mississippi coast. Along with the year round residents and songbirds, they constitute the bulk of the state’s official bird checklist. The picture shows a Worm Eating Warbler, one such neo-tropical visitor.

Mississippi Birding Hot Spots

Regardless of the quantity of avid birders in Mississippi, there are some very quality birders. One such birder created a map of great birding places in the Mississippi Delta portion of the state for the benefit of tourists and visitors alike.

Move the mouse or your finger over the pins on the map and the names of the birding hot spots appear along with a brief sentence on the types of birds that are present in the area during different seasons. It is presented as a jumping off place for visitors to begin their Mississippi birding adventures.

It does not address birding in the lowlands of the southern areas of the state or the coast. The Mississippi Coastal Birding Trail is the birding hot spot that runs through all of the southern most counties in the state. Visitors to the beaches have a day trip or morning hike opportunity to see the birding sights.

The green Bird button at the top of the page points to information suited to answering basic bird identification questions.

Mississippi Birds: Woodpeckers

Eight Mississippi woodpeckers delight people all around the state. Of course there are times when their presence in the neighborhood is less than delightful. The Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker fits that description.

They are a very common species in residential areas. People know them as the woodpeckers that walk on the lawn searching for ants and other insects, their food of choice. Unfortunately some people also know them as he woodpeckers who find the walls of their house a perfect drum. These residents soon discover that their constant drumming on the walls can be a bit annoying.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers probably rank as the bird with the second highest annoyance factor. The fact that they drill wells in trees to feed on the sap causes concerns for some homeowners afraid that their trees might suffer permanent damage.

When it comes to the Picoides species, the people of Mississippi generally change their feelings from slight annoyance to slight concern. That’s because they host the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, the only woodpecker species on the Endangered Species List. It makes its home in the mostly longleaf pines of the Southern United States.

Habitat encroachment severely limited their range and breeding capabilities. Look for them at the DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi.

Mississippi’s two remaining Picoides species, the Downy and Hairy woodpeckers are common throughtout the state. They also look very similar.

Downy Woodpeckers, the smaller of the two, have a smaller bill. The picture shows a female without the red crown.

Hairy Woodpecker

Mississippi’s Pileated woodpecker population has been habitat adaptable, finding in home in the younger forests and woodlots that dot the state, including some residential areas.

Finally, Mississippi also hosts the two Melanerpes species most common in the South, the Red-bellies and the Red-headed woodpeckers.

Red Headed Woodpecker.