Hi all,
I often see emails to tweeters of people coming here and wanting help with where to bird.? I got an insight into how at sea you can feel in a new place without local help when Delia and I tried to bird Louisiana last week.? In spite of the fact that we had the book on where to bird, we felt a bit adrift there, both in knowing where the best place to go would be and for help finding specific birds and to explain just what was going on down there.? I see a role for Tweeters in alleviating this problem.

But before I register a cranky complaint, I should be careful to thank the Tweeters leadership for a great job of keeping Tweeters going all these years. Keeping a nonprofit service alive all these years is no mean feat.

But is there an anti-entrepreneurial bias in Tweeters rules that keep the bird-guiding industry stunted?? If I were a young birder now I'd be thinking about putting out a shingle.? Why not bird for a living and build up the infrastructure of bird-friendly businesses in the world?? A private-sector bird-guiding industry could explode in growth? just as soon as people realize how ludicrous the idea of sip and spit is, which is bound to be soon.? The first place and most logical place to advertise such a business would be Tweeters, but it's against the rules.
Ads could still be regulated so there is no need to fear them taking over.? A bird guide, say, could put in a plug for themselves every three months.
So why not tweak the rules slightly to open the door for a little entrepreneurialism?? In Audubon Park in New Orleans, 2000 Whistling Ducks are crowded into a small area for nature while the golfers are given the keys to the big acres. Golf has never been afraid of entrepreneurialism, and golfers reap the rewards every day everywhere.? Let's take a page from their book.

Well, anyway, despite only getting 85 species over three days down there, there are some places where taking a pretty picture of a bird is as easy as falling off a log.
And there's a shot of our local Townsend's Warbler to preserve some semblance of legality to this post.
Here's the report and thanks in advance, Ed Newbold Wildlife Artist, residential Beacon Hill):

http://ednewbold.com/out-of-our-depth-in-louisiana/