Lowery Seasonal Graph

The seasonal graph is a great tool for birders. The graph shows abundance and seasonality for Louisiana birds. Curious to know if the bird you observed or photographed is worth a 3x5 card or a long form for the Louisiana Bird Records Committee? The first step is to check a seasonal abundance graph for the status of the bird species during the time period. This graph provides a guideline for what can be expected and what is exceptional for bird observations.

The Lowery Graph is below as a downloadable file. Although it is ancient by checklist standards, the dates and abundances have stood the test of time for the vast majority of birds. The major exceptions are for birds expanding from the south and west such as Great-tailed Grackle, Inca Dove, White-winged Dove, Cave Swallow, and Bronzed Cowbird. These can now be found in Louisiana in appropriate habitat and some have made it as far as the northern Louisiana border with Arkansas and to the east into Mississippi.

The first row for each species is for statewide seasonal occurrence and the second row is for the Baton Rouge area. Asterisks indicate breeding within Louisiana.

Download the Lowery seasonal graph

 

** Header Image is Birder in the Bottomlands by Richard E. Gibbons **