Birds and Birding on the Mississippi Coast

by Judith A. Toups, Jerome A. Jackson, Susan R. Drennan (Foreword by), Dalton Shourds King (Illustrator)

Overview

Birds and Birding on the Mississippi Coast by Judith A. Toups and Jerome A. Jackson If you're a birdwatcher, this book will be a delight. If you can already identify the bird but wish to know where to sight it, then this quick-reference book will be a friend and companion. It is the first to focus attention on sighting the 357 species of birds known to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It fills a long-standing need for a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to sites in the coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson where this wide range of birds can be located. Compiled and recorded by two noted birders, this book includes a chapter on the region's past and present ornithological history, accounts of the breeding pattern and distribution of coastal birds, instructive narratives, and maps of dozens of birding sites both on the mainland and the barrier islands. The authors also include a sample itinerary for a field trip, a bird-finding calendar, and an easy-to-use population graph. This exemplary bird-finding guide will meet the requirements of birders at any level of experience. One chapter entitled "How to Find 50% of Mississippi's Birds in the Shortest Period of Time-A Birding Challenge" offers a first for books of this genre: bird-by-bird, place-by-place, hour-by-hour plans for finding 184 species in one day are spelled out for those birdwatchers driven by the challenge and the demands of a time schedule. This is the book to take along with your bird-identification guide. It has a complete index of coastal birds and birding sites. With a foreword by Susan R. Drennan and illustrations by Dalton Shourds King, this book is sponsored by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. Judith A. Toups (1930-2007) was a Mississippi-based birder, conservationist, and columnist for the Biloxi Sun Herald. Jerome A. Jackson is a conservationist and professor of marine and ecological studies at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604733853
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	09/09/2009
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Judith A. Toups wrote a popular weekly newspaper column, "Birding on the Coast," for more than ten years.


Jerome A. Jackson is editor of Bird Conservation, regional editor of American Birds, and a professor of biological sciences at Mississippi State University.

Editorial Reviews

"Essential for any birder on the Mississippi Coast, this book tells us where, when, and how to find the birds there. Toups and Jackson are the experts in this area, and they have gone to great lengths to tell us how to go birding there and what they have found so far. So if you plan to go birding on the Mississippi Coast, or if you just wonder what it would be like to go birding there, this is the book for you!"

—Thomas A. Imhof

"The Mississippi Coast—among the most fascinating of birding areas—is now given the in-depth treatment for which we have been waiting."

—Roger Tory Peterson

"If there are any others than Judy Toups and Jerry Jackson whose experience, understanding, and writing skills make them better candidates to discourse on the birdlife of the Mississippi Coast, I've never met them."

—Peter Dunne

"Long needed, this book gives current information on the distribution of bird life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Where else can you find three species of beautiful kites, plus Sandhill Cranes!"

—Lula and Ben Coffey Jr.

From the Publisher