Birding Hotspots / Pearl River Waterfowl Refuge and Wildlife Management Area, Canton
Jackson Audubon Society
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) is responsible for the management of the Pearl River Waterfowl Refuge and Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The area lies northeast of Jackson in Madison County, just north of the Barnett Reservoir on Hwy 43 between the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Pearl River. Established in the 1960’s the area contains 6,000 acres of freshwater ponds and marshes, shrub swamp, hardwood flats and pine-hardwood ridges which support a diverse variety of birds and other wildlife.
Nesting birds in this area include Bald Eagle, Wild Turkey, Anhinga, Great Egrets, Barred Owls, Least Bittern, Mississippi Kite, Purple and Common Gallinule, Red-headed, Pileated, and Downy Woodpeckers, Wood Thrushes, Prothonotary, Kentucky, and Yellow-throated Warblers, and Summer Tanagers. In winter American White Pelicans, gulls, Forster’s Terns, and Double-crested Cormorants can be observed on the river as well the reservoir, and a wide variety of ducks can be present from fall through spring in the marshes along Pipeline Road.