With a full day of stops planned along the Mississippi Coast Birding Trail, we were on the road by about 4:00 a.m. and on the Mississippi coast by shortly after 8:00 a.m.
Our first stop was the Magnolia Birding Pier in Pascagoula. Besides a couple ospreys, there was not a lot of activity this day at this birding pier. It was extremely windy which I'm sure affected bird activity.
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| Osprey |
Our next stop wasn't far away, Point Park, also in Pascagoula. Apparently, me taking photos of birds was scaring the locals, according to the police officer that stopped to chat with us for a few minutes. He was friendly to us and so we continued our walk through the park.
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Red-breasted Merganser (a new species for me!) |
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| Brown Pelicans |
Our third birding stop was Lake Mars Pier in Ocean Springs. The pier itself is closed (Hurricane season was hard on the coast in recent years). Workers were active re-building it.
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| Brown Pelicans |
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| American Oystercatchers (another new species for me!) |
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| Juvenile Brown Pelican |
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| Great Egret |
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| Tricolored Heron (a new species for me) with the juvenile Brown Pelican |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Belted Kingfisher |
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| Osprey |
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| These first two alligators were quite a bit smaller than the third (maybe juveniles?) |
After a quick bite to eat, we continued along the coast, which is such a beautiful drive, to Pass Christian Harbor. There wasn't a lot to see there so we found a stretch of beach with a lot of birds and sat and enjoyed the sun and the sound of the gulls until our hotel room was ready. Not long after setting up on the beach, a flock of laughing gulls surrounded us!
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| A Sanderling looks tiny next to the Laughing Gulls |
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| A lone Ring-billed Gull |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Forster's Terns |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Laughing Gull |
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| Laughing Gulls - the one on the left steals the food from the other |
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| Willet |
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| Willet |
We got the notice that our room was ready and were able to find an opening to escape the laughing gulls' circle.
After supper we went back out to the beach to enjoy the sunset and found that it was low tide and flocks of birds were hanging out in the shallow waters.
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| Willets |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Black Skimmers with a lone Royal Tern and Laughing Gulls in the foreground and background |
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| Juvenile Ring-billed Gulls (with a Laughing Gull and a small Sanderling) |
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| Black Skimmers, a Royal Tern and Laughing Gulls |
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| A Marbled Godwit (another new species for me!) in the middle |
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| A lone Marbled Godwit with Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| Laughing Gulls with a Willet |
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| Laughing Gulls |
