John Flores’ long journey and his labor of love bring him to New Iberia on Dec. 7, a day when anyone with a huge passion for birding or even the remotest interest in the outdoors and conservation can meet the author of a new book that focuses on birds from songbirds to migratory birds, including blue-winged teal.

Flores, a Flint, Michigan, native who lives in Patterson, will be available to talk about the book and meet people at a book signing, tentatively set for 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. that Saturday at Books Along the Teche at 106 E. Main St. He wrote “Louisiana Birding: Stories on Strategy, Stewardship and Serendipity,” which is published by The History Press, a Charleston, South Carolina-based company that strives “to preserve and enrich communities by empowering history enthusiasts to write local stories, for local audiences, as only a local can.”

The outdoorsman and award-winning outdoors writer has done that and more in a book replete with more than 125 spectacular photos of varies species of birds during peak migration periods in their natural habitat across Louisiana. The book emphasizes the state’s importance as a stopover in the path of 1,000-mile journeys to and from breeding grounds, especially the Atchafalaya Basin, which he calls “The North American Amazon.”

More importantly, the book tells the story of state and federal conservation activities that help make Louisiana one of the Top 5 birding states in the U.S. Flores points out the book isn’t a where-to or how-to book, although it lists some destinations, highlights cultural festivals and identifies the importance of ecotourism.

One of the 12-chapter book’s main messages is about the loss of habitat and the consequences of manmade disasters such as the BP Oil Spill, he said in a recent email.

“Birds are the conspicuous creatures in our everyday lives that tell us something about the health of our environment. Their importance, often taken for granted and only in passing by humans, is perhaps more relevant today than ever before with climate change considered (by many) an international crisis,” he wrote. “A few short years ago, the poultry industry was rocked by avian influenza, where an estimated 43 million chickens and turkeys were euthanized from the outbreak. The average price of eggs increased 120 percent.”

The book, he said, discusses the capture of blue-winged teal each spring and the subsequent blood tests in which biologists from Alabama, Louisiana and Texas look for viruses in the intercontinental travelers to predetermine potential outbreaks of influenza. The book also describes the GPS, nanotag and telemetry studies on waterfowl and songbirds in man’s attempt to utilize today’s technology to better understand bird movements,  he said.

Flores, 63, is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served six years, most of them in New Mexico, which he fell in love with, then attended New Mexico State University. He met a young woman from Berwick on Thanksgiving Day in 1983 who he married and later moved to the Sportsman’s Paradise with in 1984.

He transferred his college credits to the University of Southwest Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in engineering, technology and business. He worked as a plant manager before getting into project management in the energy industry.

His second career was born in 2003. The avid deer hunter was in a tree stand in 2003 near Burns Point when he asked himself, “Why do I do this?” He answered his own question by writing and self-publishing the book, “Heart of a Hunter — 12 Reasons I Go to the Field Each Year.”

That book attracted the attention of other outdoors writers who helped him ease into the profession. He has written for his local newspaper and regional magazines ever since. And he became an accomplished nature photographer, as the book’s photos prove.

Teche Area outdoorsmen should make it a point to drop by and meet him. He has a fascinating story to tell and a good book with a purpose.

 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.