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The Bald Eagle is a Louisiana success story. The Atchafalaya Basin is the epicenter of the raptors’ recovery. (Submitted Photo/Courtesy of John K. Flores)

We're all eagle keepers after expo

By JOHN K. FLORES, Outdoor Columnist

Long after the last taillight from a visitor’s car that attended the 10th Annual Eagle Expo last weekend faded down the highway, it occurred to me we’ll still be here. By that, I mean every one of us has a responsibility to take care of the little piece of eagle heaven that surrounds Berwick Bay.
Atchafalaya in Choctaw means “Long River,” and indeed it is. Running approximately 135 miles, the river is the fifth largest in North America and drains 30 percent of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, creating the only growing delta along the Louisiana gulf coast.
An estimated 1 million acres, the Atchafalaya Basin swamp is made up of 70 percent forested habitat, consisting of bottomland hardwoods and tupelo, and cypress trees. The remaining 30 percent is fresh and brackish water marsh, making it the largest existing wetland swamp in the United States.
Literally, the river basin is the Amazon of the North American continent.
With fish being the bald eagle’s primary food staple, there’s no question the region has plenty enough to support this bird of prey and all of the other raptors, cormorants, anhingas, kingfishers, pelicans — shall I go on?
These birds also need trees to perch and nest in. And depending on who’s counting, so do some of the other 480 species of birds that spend winters and summers here.
Like a Motel 6 of the wild, essentially the Atchafalaya Basin is always full of things that seem to be coming and going.
Steve Cardiff, collections manager for birds and mammals with the LSU Museum of Natural Sciences, attended the Eagle Expo as one of the tour boats’ bird spotters. At one point during our afternoon Turtle Bayou tour with Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Cardiff marveled at the sheer numbers of ibis, egrets and other wading birds.
Cardiff said, “The marsh in this region is just incredibly productive. There are so many birds there. We could only see the tip of the iceberg along the main waterways. I’d love to see an aerial view. We could be talking hundreds of thousands of birds in a highly concentrated area. So obviously there’s lots of productivity in that it supports the biomass. In other words, if you were to weigh all of the birds together in sort of a bird-biomass, it would be just an incredible number in tons of birds. There’s obviously a lot of vegetation that these things are feeding in that’s supporting the food chain.”
Much of the conversation locally tends to be consumptive in nature when it comes to the basin. Fishing and hunting are and always will be part of fabric that makes Louisiana so unique.
But with the Eagle Expo attracting more and more visitors to the Tri-City area each year, we have something special in our backyard.
Cardiff, who also works with a non-profit called Avian Events Support Team, said, “I think a lot of people around the state don’t realize what they have right here so close to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. It’s not just eagles, but if they’d see how much other wildlife is here, it’s pretty special to have that right here in your own backyard. But the thing is, most people never go out in a boat. They don’t know it’s just out there beyond what they can’t see from the highway.”
The popular term today is ecotourism. As defined by the International Ecotourism Society, it means, “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local peoples.”
Cardiff says ecotourism is a good way to connect with people, mentioning ecotourists are somewhere between hunters and fishermen, and serious birdwatchers.
Moreover, he pointed out one never knows what is going to spark a more serious interest in the outdoors.
“The thing is, people need to just promote the habitat in such a way to try and not encroach on it too much,” Cardiff said. “With ecotourism, people know there is a resource there that can pump some money into the local economy, and that’s a good thing. Both merchants and politicians should realize that and preserve that.”
One of the last people to leave Saturday afternoon was Connie McVille, who drove from Bell Chase to attend her first Eagle Expo. McVille had heard about the Eagle Expo at one of her photography group meetings.
When I asked McVille what was the one thing she’d take away from this year’s expo, she succinctly said, “More of a love for nature and predator birds. And I’ll definitely be back.”
That’s when I realized we’re all eagle keepers, so we better take care of what we have.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story to share, you can contact Flores at 985-395-5586, at gowiththeflo@cox.net or his website www.gowiththeflooutdoors.com.

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