Pelicans again play follow-the-leader down the beach, and gulls swoop in flocks above the sand.

The calendar, not the successful capping of the Deepwater Horizon oil well, has brought the birds back to South Mississippi, experts say.

The pelicans and gulls that left to go to their northern breeding grounds are returning with their young. Adding to that, migration is on, said Mark LaSalle, director of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point. “There are lots of birds around.”