Louisiana list now at 479

The official Louisiana State List now stands at 479 species after the latest meeting of the Louisiana Bird Records Committee.  The additions to the list were Pacific Loon, Mountain Plover, Iceland Gull, Razorbill, and Dusky-capped Flycatcher.  

The addition of Iceland Gull was a long time in coming, and it’s possible that despite its addition, the State List will eventually lose a bird.  Iceland Gull as currently recognized is made up of two subspecies, known as “Iceland Gull” and “Kumlien’s Gull.”  Some ornithologists believe that the similar Thayer’s Gull – which is already on the Louisiana list – isn’t a true species at all, just another subspecies of Iceland Gull.  If that belief ever creeps into the AOU Checklist, the Louisiana list will keep Iceland Gull, but lose Thayer’s Gull.   On another hand, some ornithologists think that Thayer’s Gull and the “Iceland Gull” subspecies of Iceland Gull are both true species, while Kumlien’s Gull is just a hybrid of the two.  If that scenario ever hits the checklist, we would keep Thayer's Gull but lose Iceland Gull (because our Louisiana Iceland Gulls thus far have probably all been Kumlien’s Gulls).  Confusing, eh?  

Until this winter, Razorbill wasn’t viewed as a real possibility to be seen in Louisiana.  However, an unprecedented surge of Razorbills flooded the Atlantic Coast, wrapped around the tip of Florida, and headed west along the Gulf Coast.  At least one made it to our state. 

The other species were all expected to some degree, with Mountain Plover and Pacific Loon considered long overdue.  Dusky-capped Flycatcher records have been inching toward us over the past few years, but the North Louisiana record was a pretty good jump for the species.

Another vote of note at the LBRC meeting involved a potential first state record, a report of a Slaty-backed Gull that I had submitted.  The record was rejected, as some members had legitimate concerns about adding a gull species to the State List on the basis of a sub-adult individual in a less-than-straightforward plumage.   While I supported the record, I was comfortable with the result as it was in keeping with the tradition of the Louisiana State List as overseen in the past century by Oberholser and Lowery.  As Lowery stated in Louisiana Birds, “Scientific data of any sort must be subject to the closest scrutiny and to the most rigid tests of their validity.  Science is truth.  When we seek the truth, we must always demand unimpeachable evidence.”

Three other species, Parasitic Jaeger, Allen's Hummingbird, and Western Tanager were removed from the Review List.  The first species has been recorded with some frequency by Dave Patton on his boat trips out of the mouth of the Calcasieu into the Gulf (which also resulted in the Razorbill record).  Allen’s Hummingbird is still an ID problem, but it occurs in too large of numbers to be considered rare any longer.  Western Tanager is fairly well detected because of its size and color, and finding one will always provide a thrill regardless of its status.