Iconic Louisiana - Good and Bad

That Black-bellied Whistling-Duck was standing on the crawfish trap (you can only see the top of the trap), but I was a split second too slow to get that image.

GOOD: The phenomenal expansion of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks – both in range and population size - over the past 40 years.

BAD (for ducks): Crawfish aquaculture in rice fields has become huge in south Louisiana in recent decades. Many of us believe the disturbance, deep water, and new rice strains mean lower duck use of Louisiana rice country.

The picture below shows the disturbance of the checking traps.

-Frank