Submitted Electronically via eRulemaking Portal

Regarding the 3 areas the Service is particularly seeking information and comments on: 1) Status/distribution is complicated in Mississippi because the state is a post-breeding dispersal mixing ground for the listed and non-listed populations. Generally, birds from the eastern portion of the state come from the listed population, and birds have been seen with greater frequency and across a wider area in eastern MS over recent years. Important sites include managed wetlands on Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee NWR, northeast Mississippi catfish farms, wetlands along the Tenn-Tom Waterway, sewage treatment plants (e.g., Seaman Road Sewage Lagoons in Jackson County), and many wetlands along the Pascagoula River. Mississippi should be added to the listed range given the known occurrence of birds from the listed population, and the potential for future nesting within the state. 2) No known nesting has occurred in the state. With the species gradually expanding its nesting range, it’s possible it may start nesting in Mississippi. Thorough searches of wading bird colonies (probably especially along the Pascagoula and lower Pearl rivers, given reports in these areas during dates closer to the nesting season and their proximity to the suspected range of the listed population within the state) needs to be undertaken to determine nesting status. 3) I’m unaware of planned activities within the eastern portion of the state that will affect this species (including any acquisitions of wetlands, extensive wetland restoration projects, etc.). The species should continue to benefit from wetland management at Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee NWR and the continued preservation of wetlands by the sate along the Pascagoula River and lower Pearl River. Wetland mitigation/management/preservation in eastern and south Mississippi (probably especially near Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee NWR and the Pascagoula River) that provide shallow water which draws down during late summer into fall would be a benefit.