ݮƵscientists track bird movement to support coastal resilience
Contact: Meg Henderson
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Do birds of a feather really flock together? Scientists from Mississippi State’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture and Audubon Delta are tracking two iconic Mississippi coastal birds, and the research will inform future land management and conservation efforts.
The team is tracking black skimmers and least terns to gain new insights into these species. Since bird activity is key to healthy ecosystems, their well-being is intricately tied to humanities’ welfare.
“After the Deepwater Horizon event 15 years ago, discussions with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Marine Resources revealed how little we knew about how these birds use the land. Understanding their foraging patterns and migratory behavior is key for present-day preservation and future crisis response,” said Mark Woodrey, an ݮƵassociate professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture and scientist in the university’s Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.
Abby Darrah, Audubon Delta senior coastal biologist, and her colleague Collin Stempien, senior coordinator of Mississippi field operations, are the boots on the ground for this project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and MDEQ. They are collecting data the ݮƵteam will analyze and use to identify important breeding and foraging habitat features. ݮƵwildlife, fisheries and aquaculture graduate student Jacob Wessels assisted them this summer as part of his doctoral research.
Black skimmers, marked by black and white plumage and a red and black bill, are perennial residents on Mississippi’s coast. Despite their prevalence, they are not well understood.
The scientists are monitoring movement patterns of individually GPS-tagged black skimmers in real time. Wessels said the trackers showed the birds traveling between the mainland and barrier islands to nest and forage. They also documented two black skimmers flying from Louisiana to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula—a first for this species.
“Over time, this data can help us refine population estimates and inform future restoration and management efforts,” Darrah said.
Mississippi’s beaches host the largest breeding population of least terns—North America’s smallest tern species—compared to surrounding states. Despite conservation efforts such as signage indicating their nesting areas, least tern populations have declined significantly since the late 1980s, Woodrey said.
Their tiny size requires using radio tags, rather than GPS trackers. These tags transmit unique signal bursts detected by Motus towers—part of the global network led by Birds Canada. The team receives location data when a tagged bird flies within a minimum range of 10-15 km from a tracking station.
The field team is in its second season of collecting data. Next, the ݮƵwildlife, fisheries and aquaculture cohort—including Associate Professor Kristine Evans and Assistant Research Professor Melanie Boudreau—will complete data analysis, generate heat maps and develop science-based recommendations. Although they can project potential outcomes, Ray Iglay, associate professor and MAFES scientist, said they still have much work to do to unravel the mysteries of these enigmatic coastal birds.
“Our purpose is to bring data-driven evidence to MDEQ and others to say which areas we should conserve and explain why,” he said.
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Editor’s Note: The views and conclusions contained in this story are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions, views or policies of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Nothing contained herein constitutes an endorsement in any respect by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.