Six Interpretive Signs Connect Beachgoers with Art, Nature & Poetry

Gulfport, Miss.—As Memorial Day weekend marks the official start of summer tourism season, Audubon Mississippi is excited to unveil a Coastal Bird Storyboard Trail comprised of six interpretive displays being installed along Beach Boulevard in Harrison County.  The prominent, eye-catching signs combine local artwork, science, and poetry to educate beachgoers about the unique beach-nesting birds that visit coastal Mississippi every summer to breed and raise their young.

Audubon partnered with local artist team The Painter and Poet, artist Tami Curtis and writer Perry Guy, to create the visually-appealing storyboard trail that now stretches along 26 miles of beaches.  The six educational signs each feature one of six key species that nest on Mississippi beaches or migrate through the area.

The signs will a big boost to Audubon’s ongoing effort to educate locals and visitors in protecting beach-nesting birds while also helping to support the state’s $8-billion-dollar-a-year nature tourism economy.  Beach-nesting birds such as Least Terns are charismatic species that draw birders, photographers, and other nature enthusiasts, and coastal Mississippi hosts some of the country’s largest Least Tern colonies.

The six signs are located at: Beauvoir Rd and Hwy 90 in Biloxi; The parking bay across from Edgewater Mall in Biloxi; Jones Park and Broad Avenue and Hwy 90 in Gulfport; Jeff Davis Avenue and Hwy 90 in Long Beach; and Henderson Point Park in Pass Christian.  A GOMESA grant made the project possible.