Audubon Delta - Mississippi Coastal Stewardship Program

09/03/2026

🌅 As the beach-nesting season comes to a close…

🐥We celebrate a beautiful success—our final Black Skimmer chick of the season spread its wings and took flight! This milestone is a reminder of what’s possible when we share the shore with care and of the resilience beach-nesting birds show as they face environmental challenges.

🏖A huge thank you to our dedicated volunteers and staff who monitored nests, protected habitat, and educated beach visitors, and to our supportive community for giving these birds the space they needed to grow.

🪶Here’s to another season of hope, hard work, and happy endings despite the challenges faced! Let’s carry this spirit of stewardship into the months ahead and beyond!

⭐️Stay tuned for more information about how the Least Terns and Black Skimmers fared this year!

08/31/2026

📣Come see us this Saturday, and let's spot some shorebirds together!

🌊🪶Join Audubon staff for a peaceful morning bird outing along the shore. Whether you’re a seasoned birder or just curious, this beginner and family-friendly opportunity is the perfect way to connect with nature. Bring your curiosity, your binoculars (if you have them), and your love for the outdoors — all are welcome!

✨ What birds are you hoping to see? Let us know in the comments!

08/28/2026

📣Exciting News!

🦉We are thrilled to share that one of our amazing volunteers, Ken, will be the featured speaker at the next Gulf Coast Research Laboratory's Science Café🦅

📅 When: Monday, August 31, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
📍 Where: 703 East Beach Drive, Ocean Springs, MS
💲 Cost: Free & open to the public

📸Topic: Owls, Eagles, and Other Neighbors — a captivating look at our feathered friends through Kenneth’s lens as a talented nature photographer.

✨You won’t want to miss this inspiring evening!

Click the link below to learn more!

https://www.usm.edu/gulf-coast-research-laboratory/gcrl-science-cafe.php



Great Horned Owls. Photo: Ken Groue

08/27/2026

✨🦉The mystery bird was a Great Horned Owl!

That moonlit beach visitor was none other than a Great Horned Owl — one of nature’s most powerful nocturnal hunters. Seeing one standing calmly by the ocean is rare, but that night, the shore was its kingdom.

📣Shoutout to everyone who participated in our mystery! Thanks for playing along and sharing your guesses!




Great Horned Owl. Photo: Roger van Gelder/Audubon Photography Awards

08/26/2026

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Sunday, August 30th

The Fall 2026 MOS Meeting will be held jointly with the Jackson Audubon Society, in Natchez, Mississippi, September 11-13. Our main field trip, on Saturday evening, will highlight seasonally abundant wading birds at St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge. Other field trips in the area may targ

08/25/2026

🌛 Guess Who Showed Up at the Beach at Night?

🎥Our night cam spotted a mysterious figure standing on the moonlit sand… tall, still, and watching the waves roll in.
Its silhouette was striking — tufted “ears,” piercing eyes, and an air of quiet authority.

👀Any guess what bird claimed the shoreline?

Which do you think it was?
A) Snowy Owl
B) Great Horned Owl
C) Osprey
D) Barred Owl

👇Drop your guess in the comments! 👇

Stay tuned for the answer!

08/21/2026

🪶Wings Across the Seasons: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 Audubon Coastal Bird Survey Highlights

From crisp autumn mornings to breezy spring days, our dedicated volunteers and staff put in the work — completing 285 surveys across 26 transects. The results? Absolutely incredible:

✨ 108,978 individual birds documented
✨ 190 species spotted
✨ Laughing Gull soared to the top again — seen on 87% of surveys with 38,945 individuals (36% of all birds counted!)
✨ Followed by Brown Pelican (10,933) and Black Skimmer (10,458)
✨A new species was added to the total: a Parasitic Jaeger was observed on Horn Island.

Every count tells a story — of migration, resilience, and the beauty of our coastal ecosystems!

❓What birds have you seen? Let us know in the comments!

08/19/2026

🌊🪶 Celebrate World Shorebirds Day with Us!

🌞Join Audubon staff for a peaceful morning bird outing along the shore. Whether you’re a seasoned birder or just curious, this beginner and family-friendly opportunity is the perfect way to connect with nature.

💙Bring your curiosity, your binoculars (if you have them), and your love for the outdoors — all are welcome!

✨ Let’s spot some amazing shorebirds together!

08/18/2026

📸Enter your photos!🦅

Birdability Week's favorite celebration of gloriously imperfect bird photography is BACK!

Today we officially open submissions for the 3rd Annual Birdability Week Offbeat Photo & Video Contest, and we cannot wait to see your wonderfully weird bird moments.

Did your camera focus perfectly... on the twig instead of the hawk?
Did a bird choose exactly the wrong moment to do what birds do?
Did your "majestic wildlife photo" somehow become 98% bird butt?

Perfect.

This year's contest celebrates the funny, awkward, unexpected, and delightfully chaotic side of birding yet again. Whether it's a split-second photobomb, questionable feather styling, spectacularly bad timing, or a feeder camera catching absolute bird (or squirrel) nonsense, we want to see it.

The contest is free to enter, open to birders around the world, and accepting submissions now through September 20.

Because not every bird photo belongs on the cover of a magazine. Some belong in the Birdability Offbeat Photo & Video Contest. :)

Share your best (or worst) shots with us and let the bird chaos begin.

Oh, and did we mention prizes?



Image description: A graphic with two of our favorites:
• Sue Gager Palmer's impeccably timed terns... expressing themselves mid-flight.
• Sean Krepski's unforgettable "Bird Butt," a 2024 finalist that proved sometimes the best bird angle is, well... the other end (in this case some very rusty tail feathers)... along with information about the contest that is also shared in the post above.

08/14/2026

📣Calling all bird enthusiasts!

🍂The fall Audubon Coastal Bird Surveys (ACBS) start August 20 and last through the end of October!

🔭ACBS is a community science program that engages volunteers in the monitoring efforts of coastal birds and their habitats!

📝Under the guidance of the ACBS coordinators, volunteers will count, identify, and document coastal bird species at multiple survey sites in Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock counties in MS.

👇Click the Better Impact link below to learn more about each survey site and to sign up!

https://app.betterimpact.com/PublicOrganization/fb88f60d-ae22-4234-a99a-51c2607450d9/1

*NOTE: Must be at least 18 years old to create a volunteer account.

💙We highly encourage people of all experience and knowledge levels to come out and enjoy one of the surveys! It’s a perfect opportunity to learn more about bird identification and meet new people!