I lived in the Birmingham AL area for 20 years. I know the airport and it is well run. I am going to guess that you arrived at the "tiny" airport in a nick of time rather than the standard two hours before flight time.
If this is true, you had a compressed schedule which is why the bags didn't make it on the first flight and had to wait for the next flight.
Please confirm your arrival time at the airport versus the flight departure time.
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