Hillside National Wildlife Refuge is one of seven refuges in the
Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The refuge is an oasis of wildlife habitat surrounded by agriculture. Bounded on the east side by the unique
loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
bluffs of eastern
Mississippi, this refuge was named to reflect its location at the base of the bluffs.
The refuge was established in 1975 and provides important stop-over and nesting habitat for over 225 species of neotropical migratory birds.
The refuge is also known for large numbers of wintering
waterfowl, at times exceeding 125,000 birds.
Mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...
s,
American wigeon,
gadwall
The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae.
Taxonomy
The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that ...
,
northern shoveler,
teal (bird)
The Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca''), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being th ...
,
scaup
Scaup is the common name for three species of diving duck:
* Greater scaup, or just "scaup", ''Aythya marila''
* Lesser scaup, ''Aythya affinis''
* New Zealand scaup, ''Aythya novaeseelandiae''
External links
{{Animal common name
Birds by co ...
, and
ring-necked ducks traveling through the Mississippi Flyway stop by Hillside National Wildlife Refuge each winter. Breeding populations of
wood ducks and
hooded mergansers can be found throughout the refuge. Common
shorebirds include
killdeer,
snipe,
least and
pectoral sandpipers, and
greater and
lesser yellowlegs. A wading bird
rookery provides nesting and roosting habitat for several species of
marsh and wading birds including
white ibis;
great,
snowy, and
cattle egrets;
great blue,
little blue, and
green-backed herons; and
yellow-crowned night heron
The yellow-crowned night heron (''Nyctanassa violacea''), is one of two species of night herons found in the Americas, the other one being the black-crowned night heron. It is known as the ''bihoreau violacé'' in French and the ''pedrete coron ...
s. Raptors include the
red-tailed hawk,
northern harrier,
American kestrel, and
Mississippi kite.
Hillside also allows
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
of
white-tailed deer,
turkey,
raccoon,
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...
,
rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
, and
waterfowl.
References
Refuge website
{{authority control
National Wildlife Refuges in Mississippi
Protected areas of Holmes County, Mississippi
Protected areas established in 1975
Wetlands of Mississippi
Landforms of Holmes County, Mississippi