Date: 10/3/25 7:36 pm From: Paul Conover via groups.io <zoiseaux...> Subject: [labird] Listing Groups
Labird,
In the days when field guides took eternities between editions and
birders tended to carry their battered copies of Peterson or the Golden
Guide to the edge of doom, it used to be a thrill when I could check off
every species portrayed on a page, all the buntings or woodpeckers or
whatever. I found over the years that I wasn't unique in celebrating
these small accomplishments, and when I'd compare notes with other
birders, it was interesting to see whether the blanks on our pages were
misses in common or just personal nemeses.
Nowadays I tend to apply that exercise to groups of birds I've seen
in Louisiana. Typically there's a species or two in each group that I
realize have kept most/all Louisiana birders from running the table on
certain groups. In some cases, it's pretty likely that no one will ever
be able to complete a group list.
Here's a list of groups (fairly arbitrarily grouped in some
cases) and my best guess of whether anyone has seen them all. Some
smaller groupings (swans, jaegers, etc.) I omitted, and I also removed
extinct or probably extinct species. I'll leave names of birders out.
Geese: Several birders have seen them all, with the limiting species
being Brant.
Ducks: No one (Origin Hypothetical Baikal Teal is the catch).
Grebes: No current birders. Least Grebe! Maybe Lowery had them all, if
he had Red-necked.
Doves and Pigeons: Only those who have seen Band-tailed, the only hard one.
Anis and Cuckoos: No one (Smooth-billed Ani). Mangrove Cuckoo next hardest.
Nightjars: Several birders who saw/heard the sole Antillean Nighthawk
record.
Hummingbirds: Maybe one; the speed bump is Lucifer Hummingbird.
Rails: Many
Shorebirds: Probably; toughest is Siberian Sand-plover, and Black-tailed
Godwit also narrows the field.
Gulls: No one. Black-headed, Heermann's, and Western make it tough, and
Kelp might be hard to get again.
Terns: Several birders
Loons: Some; not sure how many.
Shearwaters: No one; Manx and Sooty are the limiters, and Cory's and
Scopoli's are probably still only unofficially on lists.
Sulids: A few; Red-footed is the hard one.
Herons: Many (even if Great White Heron is included).
Hawks: No one if Goshawk is included; very few otherwise because of
Zone-tailed Hawk.
Owls: No one, I think. Snowy (did anyone chase it?) and Flammulated
would be a tough pair.
Woodpeckers: No one. No one has all three of Williamson's and Red-naped
sapsuckers, and Ladder-backed.
Falcons: A few--Those who have seen Prairie Falcon.
Flycatchers: None. Many tough ones.
Vireos: No one; Plumbeous, Cassin's.
Corvids: One birder. Clark's Nutcracker and Chihuahuan Raven the
limiting species.
Swallows: One birder.
Wrens: Many
Mimids: Many thanks to stakeout Curve-billed.
Thrushes: Probably several. Varied and Townsend's Solitaire the hard pair.
Longspurs: Several, I think.
Sparrows: No one; Tree Sparrow, Baird's, Brewer's...
Orioles: Many
Blackbirds: Many
Warblers: Probably none. Virginia's and Hermit, followed by several
other tough ones that were however more widely viewed.
Tanagers: Many
Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings: None. Varied Bunting, Blue Bunting,
Pyrrhuloxia...
