I just realized that my last blog post dates from almost a year ago. I'm not surprised. I remember a line from a tombstone in an old National Lampoon that read, "One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were dead." One thing keeps leading to another here--in good ways--but my birding time has taken a hit.
No big deal. There was a time when Louisiana was so vastly under-birded that it felt like every birder had a sacred duty to get out just to create baseline data. Nowadays, there are so many great Louisiana birders that no corner of the state is being neglected. The evidence is obvious: LSU is having a true renaissance with its most dedicated, talented group of young birders in the past 20 years, birders in every corner of the state are forcing chasers to expand their carbon footprints and use up their sick days to chase hot birds, and new birders are accelerating their learning curves so quickly that the beginners of yesterday are already turning into trusted experts. So much for under-birded! The corps of Louisiana birders is by far the strongest ever. This fall and winter alone, state birders have made it easy to add this incredible list of hard-to-get species that hadn't graced our state in years:
Eurasian Wigeon
Red-necked Grebe
Ringed Kingfisher
Lucy's Warbler
None of that would have been possible even a few years ago when Louisiana was so very under-birded--and of course, when we relied on word of mouth* instead of LaBird, eBird, and FaceBook. With such a great birding network and such instant communication, birders today can see more species in a year than their counterparts a generation ago might in a decade. That's upped the expertise level immensely, and the increase in expertise has paid off handsomely. I think it's safe to say that soon, Louisiana birders will almost start with 400 species on their list. Given the boom in birding and technology, I think it's also safe to say that the Louisiana state checklist is set to explode.
Louisiana birding is in great hands. Tune in next year when I post again...
*Do you remember when the Rarity Alert meant the pay phone at Peveto?
