Winter Bird Watch

"Female Cardinal"

Nov. 16th, 2009

Join the National Audubon Society in watching and enjoying the birds that call Mississippi home in winter. Beginning Saturday, November 16th and every Saturday through February 13th, the Pascagoula River Audubon Center will host its annual “Winter Bird Watch”.

Birders of all stripes, especially beginners, can visit PRAC and watch and learn about birds that visit the coast during winter. This program follows on the heals of the Center’s Fall Fly By that was designed to highlight birds that migrate through Mississippi. The Winter Bird Watch is designed to show that birds can be enjoyed throughout the year. Many backyard birders enjoy the return of favorite winter birds like American Robin, American Goldfinch and Cedar Wax Wings. But there are so many more winter birds that are not as easily seen that you can learn and enjoy. Favorites at the Center include Pine Warbler and the many sparrows that spend the winter in south Mississippi: favorites include White-Throated, Swamp, Chipping and Song Sparrows.

Visitors to the Center will learn about basic bird identification and how to feed and attract birds to their own backyards at the Center’s demonstration feeding stations and native plant gardens. Learn how to make birdhouses and feeders and how to make and use suet: a great way to attract non-seed eating birds. Visitors can also learn how they can participate in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, scheduled for February 2010.