Calendar

Saturday, 8am-noonish

Mule Jail is an exclusive private hunting and fishing camp that dates to the early 1800’s and is located at the east end County Line Road. Biologists describe the area as some of the most pristine bottomland hardwoods & wetlands between Hinds and Rankin counties and has one of the oldest cypress trees in Mississippi. There is a 15-acre lake with trails and roads for birding. Ashley Ditto Matthews, a member of one of the families who owns property at Mule Jail has graciously offered to host our JAS group on a field trip.

Directions: Go to the intersection of County Line Rd & Old Canton Rd, Jackson and continue on County Line Rd for about 1 mile (5 minutes) to the gated entrance to Mule Jail. 

LEADERS: Dr. Wes Shoop and Dr. Benji Dillard

8am – NOONISH

FANNYE COOK NATURAL AREA MIGRATION WALK, Liberty Rd, Flowood, MS, Rankin County

This urban natural area was recently dedicated in honor of Miss Cook, an avid birder, wildlife conservationist and founder of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. The area includes 2,700 acres of wetlands in Rankin County on the north side of Lakeland Drive between Airport Road and the Barnett Reservoir and is Mississippi’s largest urban natural area, 3 times the size of NYC’s Central Park. It is the largest protected, natural floodplain habitat in the Jackson area. This area is a vital stop-over site for neotropical migrants passing through during spring migration and a dynamically active nesting area for our state’s breeding bird population.  It is not open to the public yet but we have permission to enter from Wildlife Mississippi, who manages the property. Wonderful habitat and should be full of migrants.

DIRECTIONS:  At the intersection of Lakeland Drive and Airport Road in Flowood, MS (at stop light), go north on Liberty Road (do not go south toward the airport). Continue on Liberty Rd until you see the gate and sign on north side of road. We will meet at the gate.  We will walk the roads and trail stopping to bird. EASY walking. Lat/Long: Google Maps:  32.341890, -90.091738

LEADERS: LIBBY & PAUL HARTFIELD

Saturday, 8am-10am

FAMILY BIRD WALK

Campground Entrance off Lakeland

Meet at Picnic area

Leader: Cullen Brown

$3.00 per person park entrance fee

Saturday, 8am-noonish

Coal Bluff Campground and Park is located on the Upper Pearl River and known for beautiful sandbars and views of the river. The bluffs and sandbars also serve as vantage points to see fall colors along the river. Birding along the entrance road, at isolated ponds and sloughs and along the nature trail should yield good birding. The campground has RV and primitive camping. The name Coal Bluff comes from the mineral lignite or “brown coal” found in the area.  The area is also home to the largest remaining population of the Ringed Sawback Turtle protected by State and Federal Laws. The campground is managed by the Pearl River Water Supply District.

Meet & Directions:  Meet at 8am at the Natchez Trace Welcome/Information Center on the Natchez Trace in Ridgeland to carpool to the campground about 40 miles north.  

LEADER: Billy Mitchell

4th Tuesday

Meet & Greet: 6:00pm

Business Meeting: 6:15pm

PROGRAM: CLOSING KNOWLEDGE GAPS ACROSS THE FULL ANNUAL CYCLE OF DECLINING MIGRATORY WARBLERS (based on Cerulean Warbler Research)

Doug’s talk is based on his Cerulean research at Arkansas State University (Master’s thesis) and University of Tennessee (PhD dissertation). “Nearly half of the ~200 Nearctic-Neotropical migrant bird species are declining in population, and understanding important drivers of these declines is challenging due to the vast geography used by these birds across the full annual cycle and difficulties tracking individuals throughout different life history stages. Furthermore, habitat requirements can differ between nesting, post-fledging, migration, and overwintering habitat requirements. The bulk of my research over the past decade has largely worked to address knowledge gaps including nesting ecology, post-fledging ecology, migration ecology, and overwintering ecology of Cerulean Warblers from across their breeding range to their South American non-breeding grounds. This presentation will summarize our recent Cerulean Warbler research as well as some recent Golden-winged Warbler research that was also designed to address critical knowledge gaps including estimating female survival, site fidelity, and migration.”

SPEAKER: DOUG RAYBUCK, PhD, Ornithologist & Research Wildlife Biologist at ERDC, Terrestrial Wildlife Team in the Environmental Laboratory, Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg

MEETING LOCATION:
Clinton Community Nature Center
617 Dunton Road, Clinton MS 39056
Phone: 601 926-1104

JAS BIRDING CAMP

AGES 9-12

LOCATION: Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

Registration opens March 1. Contact Museum at (601)576-6000

Saturday 8am-10am

Campground Entrance off Lakeland Drive, Jackson

Meet at Picnic area

Leader: Dr. Wes Shoop

$3.00 park entrance fee per person

(Monday-Friday)

LOCATION: MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE (MMNS)

TIME: 9am-3pm

AGES: 9-12

COST: $200.00

JAS members will provide instruction on all aspects of birds
and birding in partnership with MMNS.
Call the Museum to sign up (601)576-6000. Space is limited.

Saturday  2pm-6pm

Phillips Catfish Ponds, Yazoo City, MS

This trip is limited to 10 birders – sign up via email to: brown2cu@gmail.com  Please let us know if you need to cancel your reservation as there will be a waiting list. 
Description: This trip will focus on identifying the numerous shorebird species that migrate through the Mississippi Delta! Focusing our efforts on drained ponds at a local catfish farm, we will likely encounter common migrants such as Least Sandpiper, American Avocet, Pectoral Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Plover as well as potentially see some more difficult to spot species such as Baird’s Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Additionally, these habitats provide excellent foraging grounds for wading birds such as Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, and White-faced and Glossy Ibis, so we will focus on identifying this group of birds as well.

Meet: Participants will meet at the YAZOO WALMART, 2129 Grand Ave, Yazoo City, MS 39194) and caravan to Phillips Catfish Ponds. We will meet at 2 p.m. and plan on staying until 6 p.m. Participants are recommended to bring binoculars, spotting scope, foldable chair, water bottle, and a hat. Because roads around the farm are unpredictable in the late summer, we will likely walk between ideal ponds. As we get closer to the date, I will update participants on just how much walking we may have to do.

LEADER: CULLEN BROWN