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Originally posted 8/23/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
If you'd like to see several newly found photos of a young Ivory-billed Woodpecker, check out a very interesting article by Stephen Lyn Bales at the Smithsonian Magazine site:
Be sure go to the Photo Gallery at the link below to see the photos!
Originally posted 5/13/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
This post may be old news to some of you. But only recently, I was excited to discover an 1812 illustration of a male and female Ivory-billed Woodpecker by John James Audubon. The image you see below is one of 116 drawings that appear in Audubon: Early Drawingsby Harvard University Press published in 2008. For more information about the book:
Incidentally, Wikipedia Commons has a large file version of Audubon's more renowned, later drawing of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker from Birds of America.
On a related note, the Project Coyote site that details the ongoing search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in east central Louisiana was recently updated. It's a very interesting read. The update by Mark Michaels focuses on woodpecker anatomy and what it may imply in terms of foraging sign.
Why does it matter?
Distinguishing Ivory-billed Woodpecker foraging sign from that of other woodpeckers could go a long way toward locating extant populations of this elusive bird.
There are also several photos, including scaling on a live tree, from an earlier update at the Project Coyote site (it's on the same page as the latest update) where Mark M. writes:
This update includes an image of scaling on a live tree (a Nutall oak, we suspect) in our search area. We've had several requests for close-ups of scaled trees, showing evidence of insect infestation and are providing a number of examples.
And so the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker continues in Louisiana.
Originally posted 3/27/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
Two weeks ago, I posted news about Project Coyote, an ongoing Ivory-billed Woodpecker search effort in east central Louisiana. We've added an updates page to the Project Coyote website. This week's update focuses upon foraging sign, including several close-up photos in response to requests we've had for additional information. We will keep you posted as the search continues.
Here is an exciting update from author Stephen Lyn Bales about his upcoming book:
I hold in my hands the proof pages of “Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and
the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941.”
The book will detail the story of Dr. James T. Tanner, his study of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and his extensive quest for the bird that involved a journey over eight southern US states. It's due out in early fall.
Originally posted 3/12/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
So much has been written about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that I created this site, in part, to give its fantastic relatives more exposure! After all, aside from the Ivory-bill and the largest woodpecker in the world, the Imperial Woodpecker, the other 9 species of Campephilus woodpeckers are all undoubtedly alive and well. All 11 species of these large Campephilus woodpeckers are splendid creatures who warrant our deep admiration.
So what of the Ivory-bill? Some people, including yours truly, believe that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has persisted into the 21st Century. Others disagree. This winter, I participated in my 6th and most eventful search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the southeastern U.S. For details about what my team saw and heard in Louisiana in late January:
If you're in the vicinity of Knoxville, Tennessee on April 15th, visit Ijams Nature Center at 5:30 p.m. when naturalist and author Stephen Lyn Bales will host a Science Café event and talk about his upcoming book Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivory-bill 1935 - 1941. The book is due to be published by the University of Tennessee Press this fall. The Ijams Nature Center is a 175-acre wildlife sanctuary and environmental learning center located along the banks of the Tennessee River just 5 minutes by car from downtown Knoxville.
Originally posted 4/17/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
Ghost Bird is a documentary film by Scott Crocker about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker search in Arkansas that began in 2004. The film makes its theatrical premiere in New York City, playing at 7:00 pm nightly from April 28 - May 4 at Anthology Film Archives as part of their For the Birds series of notable bird films. Producer/Director Scott Crocker will be present for the Friday and Saturday screenings in NYC.
By far, my favorite element of the film was the interview footage with Mrs. Nancy Tanner, the wife of renowned Ivory-billed Woodpecker researcher Jim Tanner. Mrs. Tanner comments on her experience observing Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Singer Track in Louisiana before that magnificent old growth forest got transformed into a soybean field. Her fascinating commentary is accompanied by old, black-and-white video footage of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in slow motion and scenes of Mrs. Tanner flipping through large-sized prints of photographs that are now familiar to many from her husband's study on the bird. This part of the film best conveys the sheer sense of wonder in contemplating the largest woodpecker of the USA.
As the film progresses, the tension builds between believers of the bird's continued existence and the skeptics. And then Ghost Bird quickly comes across as unbalanced. To a degree uncertain, by sheer virtue of who did and who did not participate in the film, the skeptics have the stronger voice
I would have liked to hear a few convincing Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings straight from the source. Earlier this week, the Ghost Bird site had two clips available that detail Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings. The clips do not appear in the film, nor are they available at the site anymore. The first clip was an interview with Mary Scott timed at 6 mins 50 secs long. Mary Scott has a site called Birding America where she details the same 2003 Arkansas sighting that she described in the clip. David Sibley is quoted in this clip as saying that:
"Just as a written description, I found her sighting most compelling of all of these. She describes more than just he standard field guide description. She adds a couple of details that really makes me think she saw it."
The other clip is shorter and shows Timothy R. Barksdale, cameraman for Cornell's search effort and research associate, conveying a convincing sounding story to schoolchildren of his sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker flying down the main channel of the river that he was canoeing on before it veered off through the forest.
Two other films on the same topic are Woodpecker (to me like a mini-Ghost Bird with a fun comedic, fictional twist) and The Lord God Bird (that I have not seen yet, and including participation by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Nature Conservancy).
There is a lot to enjoy in Ghost Bird. It's got a cool soundtrack too. If you've got the slightest interest in the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, go see it when you have the chance!
Originally posted 9/28/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.
UPDATE: I recently received a copy of this marvelous book, and it's available now. The included Yahgan story on the origin of the Magellanic Woodpecker tells an amazing tale of a brother who fell in love with his own sister "in ancestral times when birds were still humans." Back in March 2010, I posted the information below about this book with its uniquely diverse content and beautiful photography.
Here's the description from the publisher, and you can find a few more details there at:
The subantarctic forests of South America are the world’s southernmost forested ecosystems. The birds have sung in these austral forests for millions of years; the Yahgan and Mapuche peoples have handed down their bird stories from generation to generation for hundreds of years.
In Multi-ethnic Bird Guide of the Subantarctic Forests of South America,Ricardo Rozzi and his collaborators present a unique combination of bird guide and cultural ethnography. The book includes entries on fifty bird species of southern Chile and Argentina, among them the Magellanic Woodpecker, Rufous-Legged Owl, Ringed Kingfisher, Buff-Necked Ibis, Giant Hummingbird, and Andean Condor. Each bird is named in Yahgan, Mapudungun, Spanish, English, and scientific nomenclature, followed by a description, full color photographs, the bird’s distribution map, habitat and lifestyle, and its history in the region.
Each entry is augmented further with indigenous accounts of the bird in history and folklore. Two audio CDs (included) orient the reader with the birdcalls and their names in four languages, followed by numerous narratives of Yahgan and Mapuche stories about the birds translated directly from interviews with elders of both communities.
Here is a photo I took at el Museo Maritimo de Ushuaia. For a fascinating piece about the extraordinary Yahgan people:
Woodpeckers are a spectacular and unique family of birds. Especially intriguing is the resplendent Campephilus genus, found only in the Americas. Having observed a few species in the wild, I felt compelled to create the only online resource dedicated to these beautiful birds. I hope you find this site informative and enjoyable!
