Over the last few years,
Common Gallinules have become more common at Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge during the winter. While they have long been regular summer residents in the area, the overwintering is apparently a fairly recent development. Is it a bad sign? A good one? Neutral? I'm not entirely sure. I suspect that it may be related to climate change (in this case, increasingly warm winters in north Mississippi), so it's certainly a potentially concerning development, and worth monitoring.
During the winter, these Noxubee NWR gallinules spend most of their time around the edges of the lakes, and occasionally mingle with American Coots. Here are some photos:
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| The Gallinule is to the right of the American Coot |
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| Gallinule -- note the white lines on the sides of the body. |
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| Lots of foraging in the shallows! |
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| The lake. What you can't see is the biting wind! |
