MSU Extension Gamebird Program

10/21/2026

New podcast episode! 🎙️🦆

Gamebird Extension Specialist James Callicutt joined Houston Havens with Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and Kevin Nelms with NRCS on the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about wetlands, waterfowl habitat, and the outlook heading into the 2026–27 season.

If you’re interested in waterfowl conservation and habitat management, give it a listen! Watch on YouTube in the link in the comments

The Mississippi Outdoors Podcast is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

10/15/2026

Can you identify these four waterfowl species by their wings and plumage?

🔍 What are you looking at?

Speculum: The colored patch on the secondary flight feathers.

Wing coverts: Layers of feathers covering the bases of other wing feathers.

Tertials: Inner flight feathers near the body.

Feather patterns can vary with s*x, age, and molt, so look at multiple characteristics when identifying a species.

Knowing what to look for can help you tell similar species apart!

Northern Pintail: Males have an iridescent speculum that often appears green or bronze, bordered by contrasting white and pale orange feathers. Their long, gray tertial feathers with bold black stripes are particularly useful for distinguishing them from male green-winged teal. Females have a more subdued bronze-brown speculum and intricately patterned brown body feathers.

Green-winged Teal: Both s*xes have an iridescent green speculum. Males can resemble northern pintails in wing coloration, including the rusty-orange border along the speculum. However, green-winged teal have smaller, more compact wings and lack the long, gray, black-striped tertials characteristic of male pintails.

Blue-winged Teal: Both s*xes have distinctive powder-blue upperwing coverts and an iridescent green speculum separated by a white band. These features closely resemble those of northern shovelers, making the primary flight feathers especially useful for distinguishing the two species.

Northern Shoveler: Like blue-winged teal, both s*xes have powder-blue upperwing coverts and a green speculum. However, northern shovelers have conspicuously pale to white rachises (feather shafts) on their primary flight feathers, a useful characteristic for separating them from blue-winged teal. Males also have distinctive chestnut-colored body plumage.

10/12/2026

As fall settles into Mississippi, northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) are forming coveys for the fall and winter. One of the best ways to detect these groups is by listening for their distinctive covey calls!

What is a covey call?

The covey call is a clear, whistled “koi-lee” or “hoyee” sound that helps bobwhites communicate with other coveys. These calls are especially common around sunrise in the fall, when coveys are leaving their nighttime roosts and getting ready to forage.

Why do bobwhites call?

• Locating other coveys: Covey calls help birds communicate their location to nearby groups.
• Maintaining contact: When birds become separated, vocalizations can help them locate one another and reunite.
• Establishing spacing: Calling between coveys may help birds recognize where neighboring groups are located.

Why should wildlife managers listen?

Covey-call surveys are an important tool for monitoring northern bobwhite populations. Observers listen for calling coveys during the early morning and record the number of calling locations. These observations help wildlife managers track population trends and evaluate habitat management efforts over time.

Quality habitat helps bobwhites survive and thrive throughout the year.

10/07/2026

October means fall migration is underway, and while waterfowl may get much of the attention, another migratory game bird is making its way south: the American Woodcock.

Woodcock breed across much of the northern United States and Canada before migrating south for the winter. Mississippi is an important part of that journey, with birds from both the Eastern and Central populations moving into the Southeast and Gulf Coast region. Most woodcock reach their wintering areas by December and January.

Why is Mississippi important?
Mississippi provides important migration and wintering habitat for American woodcock across much of the state. Woodcock use a variety of forested, early-successional, and moist-soil habitats throughout Mississippi, while the Mississippi Alluvial Valley represents one particularly important landscape within that broader distribution. Satellite telemetry has documented woodcock moving through northern Mississippi, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, and other parts of the state during migration and winter, reinforcing Mississippi’s importance within the species’ annual cycle.

What are they looking for when they get here?

Woodcock are often associated with:
• Moist bottomland hardwood forests
• Young, regenerating forest
• Brushy areas and forest edges
• Dense shrub and vine cover
• Moist soils with abundant earthworms and other invertebrates
Studies in the Mississippi Delta have found wintering woodcock particularly associated with sapling and mature bottomland hardwood forests with moderate to dense blackberry and vine cover.

What about woodcock populations?

Across their range, American woodcock populations have experienced long-term declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors population trends through the Singing-ground Survey and other surveys to help guide management and conservation. The decline in young forests that makeup much of their habitat is a primary contributor to this decline. The current management goal is to stabilize populations and ultimately return them toward levels observed in the early 1970s.

10/05/2026

The Fall Shuffle is in full swing!

This is the time of year when bobwhite coveys begin forming for the fall and winter. Some late broods may stick together and form a covey, but many of the chicks hatched this summer are mixing with other birds and establishing new coveys.

But remember—coveys aren't static throughout the winter. The birds you see together today may not be the same birds you find together next week.

If you really want to have some fun, get out on your property before sunrise and listen for those distinctive covey calls. It's a great way to keep tabs on the quail using your property.

A few years ago we evaluated using drones equipped with thermal cameras to locate and count quail and coveys. The technology shows promise, but there is still work to be done before it becomes a reliable tool for monitoring bobwhite populations.

📖 Want to learn more?

Research: Lappin et al. (2024), Using drones equipped with thermal cameras to locate and count quail individuals and coveys: A case study using Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus in Mississippi, USA.

Annual cycle: Tall Timbers, Bobwhite Basics

🔗 Links to both resources are provided in the comments below!

10/02/2026

The MSU Extension Gamebird Program and the James C. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation is seeking a PhD student to join our labs!

This position will be part of a large, collaborative research effort focused on northern pintail ecology and conservation, while also working alongside our ongoing mallard and gadwall projects in the Mississippi Delta. The student will gain extensive experience with waterfowl capture and banding, GPS telemetry, field research, GIS, data analysis, and collaborative research with university, agency, NGO, and private-land partners.

🦆 Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology
📍 Mississippi State University
📅 Anticipated start: January 2027 (negotiable)
💰 $28,000 annual stipend
🎓 Full tuition waiver
🏠 Field housing and transportation provided

We are especially interested in applicants with strong interests in waterfowl, wetlands, landscape ecology, GIS, quantitative ecology, or applied wildlife research. Previous waterfowl capture and banding experience is helpful, but we are ultimately looking for someone who works hard, communicates well, enjoys being part of a team, and wants to grow as a scientist and wildlife professional.

Applications are being reviewed as they are received, with a target closing date around October 31, 2026.
Please feel free to share this with anyone who may be a good fit.

09/30/2026

Beggars Lice: A Useful Plant for Bobwhite Quail Habitat

Beggars lice may not be the most popular plant with hunters and land managers, but it can play an important role in quality bobwhite quail habitat.

The seeds produced by beggars lice provide a food source for quail, particularly during the fall and winter months. Like many native plants, its value goes beyond what we may see at first glance. A diverse plant community provides quail with food, cover, and structure throughout the year.

So, the next time you walk through your property and come out covered in beggars lice, remember—it may be a sign that your habitat is providing something valuable for quail.

And if you can walk your entire property without picking up a single beggars lice seed… well, it might be time to make a few habitat adjustments!

09/29/2026

Check out Mississippi State Drs. Edward Entsminger and Mark McConnell’s new article exploring what bobwhite quail eat and how their diet reveals habitat quality. 🌿

🌾🐦 What’s on the menu for bobwhite quail? More than you might think.

New article by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture – Mississippi State Drs. Edward Entsminger and Mark McConnell, Associate Professor of Upland Birds, explores how the foods bobwhite quail eat reveal the quality of a habitat.

While agricultural grains can provide supplemental food, research shows bobwhites thrive where diverse native plants are abundant. Species such as common ragweed, partridge pea, beggarweed, blackberry, dewberry, and tick trefoil provide valuable seeds, attract insects, and create the structure quail need to survive and reproduce.

Just as important, newly hatched bobwhite chicks rely heavily on insects during their first weeks of life. Healthy habitats rich in native plants support the insects chicks need for growth and survival.

Successful bobwhite management is not about planting a single food source. It’s about creating diverse, season-long habitat with native vegetation, bare ground, insects, and protective cover. When habitat is managed correctly, the food follows.

👉Learn more about bobwhite foods and habitat management in the new article, “Native plants key to bobwhite quail success,” at the 🔗 in our comments.

09/28/2026

🎙️ We’re back! Gamebird University is back with a new episode!

In this episode, James Callicutt and Mark McConnell discuss “From Quail Cover to Duck Water: Preseason Habitat Management.”

From prescribed burning and fall disking to crop harvest, vegetation control, and water management, they explore how timing, habitat diversity, and landscape conditions shape management decisions for waterfowl and upland game birds.

They also discuss monitoring habitat responses, waterfowl movements, and getting dogs ready for the upcoming hunting season.

🎧 Listen or watch now on all streaming platforms! Tune in to the latest episode of Gamebird University on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform.

09/25/2026

Several of our GPS-marked mallards and northern pintails spent much of the summer far north in the boreal forest and, in some cases, the Arctic tundra. With little to no cellular coverage across much of that country, we had not heard from some of these birds in nearly two months and could only wonder where they were and what they had been doing.

Now, as birds begin moving southward and returning to areas with cellular service, their transmitters are reconnecting and uploading the locations they stored all summer. It is pretty exciting to watch weeks of missing data suddenly fill in and see where these birds spent their summer while they were out of contact.

Several have now returned to the Canadian Prairies, where they appear to be staging before continuing southward.

It is also a pretty good reminder that our favorite time of year is getting close. The days are getting shorter, birds are beginning to move, and fall migration is starting to take shape. 🍂🦆

For some of these birds, we have now followed nearly an entire annual cycle—and there is still a lot of story left to tell.

We could not do this work without a long list of partners and supporters. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks provides critical financial and logistical support, while USFWS provides essential logistical support in the field. Walker Family foundation, OnX Hunt, and numerous other foundations and organizations provide financial and other support that helps make this research possible.

Above all, we are incredibly grateful to the conservationist private landowners who provide access, financial support, local knowledge, and on-the-ground help. Their willingness to work with us is what allows us to mark birds across the Mississippi Delta and build a research program that reflects the full breadth of this landscape.