Seasonal Changes at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge

Although it seemed at first that it might take a while for the Southeast to recover from the ice storms of last February, spring weather has pushed its way into most of these previously frozen areas.  As many readers are already well aware, I frequently visit Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge to enjoy the natural sights.  I did just that a few days ago.  The woods at Noxubee are beautiful right now, with plenty of blooming trees, such as flowering dogwood.  The cypresses that grow all around the two main lakes have just started unfurling their leaves, and the oaks and redbuds have nearly completed their leafing-out.

Flowering dogwood

The birdlife at Noxubee is in the process of a changeover, with winter residents—such as ducks and most of the sparrow species—leaving the area, and the summer residents—including Purple Martins, Northern Parulas, some types of wading birds, and warblers—settling in.  That is exactly what’s happening right now at Bluff Lake.  In this photo from earlier in the month, you can see an enormous raft of American Coots: 

However, near the end of the month, the coots are nearly all gone from the refuge:

Instead, what can be seen from Bluff Lake right now are the Great Egrets beginning their breeding period.  They roost and nest in the cypress trees over the water.  Cattle Egrets, Little Blue Herons, White Ibises, and several other species also use these trees, but the population of Great Egrets at this location has really exploded in recent years, likely as a result of the trees growing taller.  The smaller Cattle Egrets still nest at the lake, but their numbers are a bit lower than they were a decade or two ago.

Great Egrets at heronry

Little Blue Herons are very common at the refuge, as well, even though they never appear in numbers as high as those of Cattle and Great Egrets.  These Little Blues can be seen foraging in one of the marshy shorelines of Bluff Lake.  Their slate blue coloration is distinctive, and they are unlikely to be confused with other herons in this part of the country.  Unlike the adults, though, juvenile Little Blue Herons are almost entirely white, with touches of gray on their wingtips.  They acquire a patchwork white-and-blue appearance as they gradually molt into adult plumage.

Little Blue Herons foraging in the grass

 

Little Blue Herons

Other spring water birds of note are Blue-winged Teal.  Although these small ducks generally do not overwinter in northern Mississippi in large numbers, flocks of them do pass through regularly during spring and fall migration.  The photo below shows two teal swimming in the shallows of Loakfoma Lake.  The male duck has a prominent white crescent-shaped marking on the face, while the female has buff-colored scallop markings on the wings and flanks. 

Blue-winged Teal

If you spend some time scanning the cypress and pine snags over the water or near the shore, you may spot a Bald Eagle or two.  These huge raptors nest at the refuge every year, and can often be detected by their startlingly chirpy, piping calls.  In the middle part of the 20^th century, Bald Eagle populations experienced sharp declines as a result of DDT poisoning, but they have since rebounded, and it now seems that nearly every large body of water in the Southeast may have a pair of eagles nearby.  But Bald Eagles’ commonness doesn’t take anything away from their amazing charisma, in my opinion.  No matter where I am, I love seeing them.

Yes, spring is here.  The temperatures are still fluctuating quite a bit, which is normal, but the heavy rains and strong storms, blossoming and leafing-out plants, and breeding and migrating birds signify the change in seasons. Be sure not to miss it!

Ice Storms

The ice storm that hit during the third week of February threw everything off-kilter for a while.  The ground was crunchy (and, later, slick) with a layer of ice, the roads were impassable, tree limbs sagged, and being outdoors was tolerable for only a few minutes at a time.  I had taken down the bird feeders in the backyard, mainly because I was concerned about freezing rain coating them and clogging up their openings.  If the ice rendered them unusable for the birds, then there would be no point in keeping them up.  However, my mom and I did put birdseed inside the rotting stump (mainly for the benefit of the tree-dwelling birds) and on the frozen ground (for the shrub- and ground-dwellers).  This turned out to be a reasonable solution, and it meant that I didn’t have to worry about continually scraping ice off the tube feeders.

Obviously, the storm system was highly unusual for this region, so it’s probably fair to say that it caused most of the birds and other wildlife to struggle.  Most of the time, birds don’t actually need the food that we put out for them; we feed birds because of the enjoyment we get from watching their activity.  During extreme weather events, however, feeding can sometimes help.  Seed-eating birds, such as sparrows and finches, may have a hard time finding food after a storm buries ground vegetation under a sheet of ice.  

Insectivorous birds may have it even worse.  Freezing weather kills most of their prey, making it difficult for them to find anything to eat.  I was reminded of this fact just a few days into the freezing weather event, when an Eastern Phoebe turned up dead on our front porch.  The bird seemed to be extremely thin, with its keel—the part of the sternum to which the flight muscles attach—very bony and prominent, which makes me suspect that it starved to death.  An American Robin was found on the driveway a couple of days later, dead for the same reason, I would guess.  I stored these birds in the freezer until I could give them to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University.  They’re going to be part of the ornithology collection.

The deceased Eastern Phoebe

 

The American Robin specimen -- after I'd bagged it for the freezer

Although some omnivorous and insectivorous birds will come to feeders for mealworms, I didn't have any of those available, and phoebes tend to feed more on flying insects than on crawling ones, anyway.  I doubt that anything I could have done would have prevented the deaths of the phoebe and the robin.  Other birds, however, seemed to benefit from the easy pickings in the backyard.  The cold weather drew out many small groups of birds, including some species that I don't see very frequently in this area.  For example, the makeshift feeding station attracted at least fifteen Fox Sparrows.  On normal days, I'm lucky if I see one or two of these large, rust-colored sparrows in the neighborhood.  Some of the sparrows even serenaded us with snippets of their songs.

Fox Sparrows foraging with White-throated Sparrows

Like this Fox Sparrow, most of the songbirds fluffed their feathers out in order to stay warm!

A couple of Rusty Blackbirds also showed up.  Although I occasionally see larger flocks of this species, it isn't an especially common bird around here, either.

Rusty Blackbirds -- with a Fox Sparrow in the background

In the fields between the creek and the end of the driveway, a few Killdeer scavenged for whatever dead insects they could find in the icy grass.  I see Killdeer flying over the neighborhood on a semi-regular basis, but it's less typical of them to forage in these fields.  I think that the grass is usually too high for them.

Killdeer in the field

 

The other species were more common birds for this area, but they were still enjoyable to watch.  Here are some photos of the avian activity in our yard:

Perhaps surprisingly, Brown Thrashers came to eat the seed.

 

American Goldfinches fed on the ground.

A female Eastern Towhee showed up at one point.

White-throated Sparrows (front) were fairly numerous, but I saw only one Song Sparrow (back).

 

Northern Cardinals always put in appearances, even during foul weather.

"Snowbird" is actually a nickname for the Dark-eyed Junco.

Cardinals and juncos used the stump feeder.

 

And Purple Finches did, too.

Although this event is definitely not one that I was eager to experience, I think it provided some interesting perspective—enabling me to think about ecosystems and bird communities in ways that I hadn't considered before.  I'm sure that the birds appreciate the much warmer temperatures that have followed this historic event, though!

Fox Sparrow seemingly enjoying the sun!

A Nature Stroll for a Birder's Soul

What’s your favorite cure for the winter doldrums?  I can’t settle on one answer, but, as you might guess, among my top choices would be a trip to Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.  I visited that area on the drab and overcast afternoon of December 30.

The Bluff Lake Boardwalk was the first stop.  Kinglets, wrens, chickadees, and Yellow-rumped Warblers called and flitted about in the thickets and cypress trees.  A surprisingly unperturbed Hermit Thrush watched me from some low branches near a Smilax vine.  Hermit Thrushes are fairly common in these types of habitats, but they generally don’t make themselves as obvious as this bird did.

Hermit Thrush

The boardwalk winds through some of the woods on the north side of Bluff Lake, ending at an observation deck that provides views of the egret rookery.  Most of the egrets have migrated south and won’t be back until spring, so the main attractions right now are the waterfowl and the Bald Eagles.  I saw cormorants, coots, Pied-billed Grebes, and some distant Mallards, but no eagles.  However, an Anhinga swam lazily by, demonstrating why it is also called “snakebird.”  Anhingas lack waterproof feathers and are not particularly buoyant, so their bodies tend to stay submerged.  This one resembled a miniature Loch Ness Monster. 

A swimming Anhinga

From the Bluff Lake Boardwalk, I went to Webster Memorial Grove.  There is a short woodland trail and an observation deck over part of Loakfoma Lake.  Gloomy clouds hung low in the sky, portending rain.  Although this is not always a very productive spot, there were blackbirds and Canada Geese flying overhead, a Barred Owl hooting from the woods, and a Common Yellowthroat darting around in the reeds.

Loakfoma Lake

After spending about twelve minutes at Webster Memorial Grove, I went to Cypress Cove Boardwalk, which is on the west side of Bluff Lake.  There were only a few ducks and coots on the water, but that might have been because a Bald Eagle—an apex predator—surveyed the area from a cypress snag.  The eagle was actually preening when I arrived, and seemed more relaxed than watchful.  Still, I suspect that waterfowl don’t like to take too many chances around eagles.  

Bald Eagle

American alligators were the other apex predators putting in appearances that afternoon.  These two medium-sized ones were basking on logs near the lake edge, adding yet another slight undercurrent of danger to the scene.  Alligators are fascinating animals, but you should never be too complacent around them, especially if you see them in an area where people congregate on a regular basis.  The more accustomed they are to humans, the more dangerous they can be.  Fortunately, the boardwalks at Noxubee NWR are pretty safe spots to watch them.

Alligators basking

As the daylight waned, hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants came in to roost.  In the photo below, you can see one cormorant flying, while the others appear as dark specks in the background trees.  I made one last stop at Goose Overlook, also on the west end of Bluff Lake, to see the Canada Geese, Mallards, blackbirds, and sparrows that are usually present during the winter.  After that, it was too gray and dim to see much of anything, so I headed out, feeling refreshed in the soul. 

Double-crested Cormorants roosting in cypress trees