Reference
How many bird species are in Louisiana?
Louisiana has 493 bird species on its official list (Louisiana Bird Records Committee, no date on the list), the 15th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It counts species only: 10 subspecies and forms on the same checklist are left out. Extinct birds such as the Carolina Parakeet stay on it.
Updated
Louisiana bird list at a glance
| Official count | 493 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | Not given on the list (we read it on October 3, 2026) |
| Kept by | Louisiana Bird Records Committee (Louisiana Ornithological Society) |
| Among US states | 15th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | Official Louisiana State Field Check-List (LBRC) |
What does Louisiana’s count include?
- Extinct species, such as the Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew, Carolina Parakeet and Bachman's Warbler, and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, marked as probably extinct.
- The Greater Prairie-Chicken, no longer found in Louisiana, and the Whooping Crane, the subject of a reintroduction program.
- Established introduced species, such as the Monk Parakeet around New Orleans.
- Not counted: 10 subspecies and forms, shown indented on the checklist.
- Species names follow the American Ornithological Society's checklist, through its 65th supplement (2024).
Why might you see a different number?
A state’s count is every species ever accepted on its official list, so a figure from another year, or one that counts something else, won’t match.
Every state’s list follows its own rules: see why the counts differ from state to state.
How do you count your own Louisiana list?
Your state list is every species you’ve seen in the state. If you log your sightings in eBird, it lets you filter your life list by place, a state included (eBird’s My eBird help page, updated March 28, 2025), and the data download you can ask for gives the state of every sighting: our guide shows how to download your own eBird data. On paper, count the species you’ve seen in Louisiana; what is a life list? explains how birders keep their lists.
If you’d like your whole life list in print, Birdfolio turns it into a hardcover book, each species beside a classic painting.
Louisiana’s state bird
Brown Pelican
Louisiana’s state bird is the Brown Pelican, the state bird since 1966. La. R.S. 49:159: the official bird “after July 27, 1966” (first enacted in 1958).
This picture is plate 251 of Audubon’s The Birds of America.
Source: Louisiana Revised Statutes 49:159, State bird (Louisiana State Legislature), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.
Birding festivals in Louisiana
Our birding festivals calendar lists 2 in Louisiana, with dates from each festival’s own website:
- Wings Over the Delta – Plaquemines Parish Birding Festival, Belle Chasse: November 21, 2026
- Grand Isle Migratory Bird Celebration, Grand Isle: dates not announced yet (2026 festival: April 17–18, 2026)
In winter you can also join a Christmas Bird Count near you; our guide explains how.
More about bird counts
- How many bird species are in each state: all 50 states, DC and Canada, each from its official list.
- Bird lists of nearby states: Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.
- State birds of all 50 states, each with its classic painting.
- How many bird species are in the US and Canada, and how birders count them.
- Bird splits and lumps: when one species becomes two, state lists change too.