Ivory-Billed Woodpecker located in Arkansas

[QuikSand]

Some here may recall an old discussion (a couple of years ago, but apparently during the period of “missing” threads from the old board) about the continued efforts to search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, a species of North American bird thought to be completely extinct. There have been scattered “sightings” from time to time over the last few decades, some exhaustive searches, but no real evidence that any are still around – the last generally accepted sightings were in the 1940s. Bird identification guides in the last generation or so have stopped including the bird (though my first bird book, one I still use sometimes, includes it but lists it as “presumed extinct.”)

Today, in the journal Science, a group of naturalists who have been working in Arkansas along the White River are announcing that they have found Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, and have some supporting evidence, in addition to several multi-corroborated witnessings. From the sounds of it, the bird is around after all.



Here are two links to information on the recently announced findings:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=710848

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=4622633



And a little more background, that might help offer some context why American birders are very, very, very excited today:

Are Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers Extinct?

The Search for the Ivory-Billed

Zeiss Search at Pearl River

[Bo Jackson's Hip]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

And a little more background, that might help offer some context why American birders are very, very, very excited today:

Free clean hookers, maybe?

[rkmsuf]

I'll bet it tastes like chicken.

[Bo Jackson's Hip]

There's probably a dodo bird somewhere in New Zealand laughing his ass off right about now.

[kcchief19]

Ten bucks says Jay Leno gets at least three Bill Clinton jokes out of this.

I heard this on NPR this morning. I wasn't sure which part of the White River this was found on, but if it is indeed near the Lousiana border, then remote is definitely the right word on the location.

[Barkeep49]

I have to read a book about this bird for work and I have to tell you that I am hating every page of the book. The subject is fairly interesting but the author's writing style makes the book nearly unreadable for me. That said this is pretty cool to hear.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I have to read a book about this bird for work...

I want to hang out at your bar, Barkeep. Is there someone else on staff who is reading about quantum mechanics, by any chance?

[Warhammer]

If they're saying it is in the White River area, I am skeptical about whether or not it is true.

There is a HUGE bruha about some proposed government projects in the area to divert water from rivers in the area to irrigate farmland. Needless to say, some in the area are against it, and others are for it. If they find an endangered bird in the area, it would probably kill the project.

[maximus]

Lies...ALL lies I tell you!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science....ap/index.html

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- An expert on the ivory-billed woodpecker is questioning evidence that purportedly shows the rare bird, once thought to be extinct, in the swamps of southeast Arkansas.

Jerome A. Jackson, a zoologist at Florida Gulf Coast University, is challenging a blurry video cited by other scientists as showing a clip of one bird, saying the four-second image does "no more than suggest the possibility" that the bird still exists.

"I am certainly not saying that ivory-billed woodpeckers are not out there," Jackson said Thursday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "I truly hope that the birds do exist in Arkansas."

Researchers at Cornell University announced in April that they had spotted the woodpecker, previously thought to have died out after flourishing in the forests of the southeastern United States. The findings were first reported in the journal Science.

Cornell researchers pointed to several independent sightings of the bird and the video clip, which, they said, showed key features of the woodpecker, including its distinctive wing markings.

Jackson, who wrote the book "In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker," published in 2004, wrote a paper with two other biologists questioning the bird's discovery, but he would not identify the journal or discuss details of the manuscript until the research is published.

Ginger Pinholster, a spokeswoman for Science, said she has heard nothing about plans to publish Jackson's research or an expected rebuttal by the team that announced the discovery.

Connie Bruce, a spokeswoman for Cornell's ivory-billed woodpecker project, said challenges from other biologists are a natural part of science.

"We would have been disappointed if there was no close scrutiny by the scientific community," Bruce said Thursday in a telephone interview. "This is not surprising at all that we have controversy. It's the process. It should definitely be going through this."

The Nature Conservancy, also part of the group that announced the woodpecker's discovery, stands behind its findings, spokesman Jay Harrod said.

"One of the reasons that we kept this story a secret for so long was because we didn't want to present it until the analysis of the video had been completed," Harrod said.

Since the woodpecker's discovery, federal agencies have promised millions to help preserve the bird's eastern Arkansas habitat in and around the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.

[rkmsuf]

It's a hoax!


Mom and Pop aren't even a Mom and Pop?

I've been checking and they don't even have kids..... they scored big time.

[QuikSand]

I'm not an expert (certainly not as much of one as the researcher who tried hard to find this woodpecker and then watched as someone else made the announcement that they did)... but I did see the video (which is not the only evidence) and it is very superficially compelling. The white panels on the back of the wings (an obvious distinction between the Ivory-Billed and the only other possible species it coudl have been, the Pileated Woodpecker) was very clear.

I can't imagine there's anyone suggesting the footage was doctored... but if not, it's really hard to get m to believe that was a Pileated in that shot. There's just too much white there. (Not to mention the numerous, corroborated sightings recorded by the researchers who have been working on this for months -- it's not like the video is the only thing they have to offer)

[Warhammer]

I'm telling everyone that I saw this dang bird. Wish I didn't (could kill a project that would put some $ in my pocket) but I have seen it with my own eyes.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

I'm telling everyone that I saw this dang bird. Wish I didn't (could kill a project that would put some $ in my pocket) but I have seen it with my own eyes.

That is cool as hell. I reckon not all that many people are truly blown away by your claim. I am. I am deeply envious...

[Warhammer]

Kind of ironic, didn't realize I hadn't posted it here after my previous response to the thread. I was on US 79 driving back to Memphis from Stuttgart. I was about to cross the Cache River (just West of Clarendon), and I see this huge fricking bird in a tree on the side of the road (in this part of Arkansas the road is on sort of a causeway through the swamp/floodplain around the White River which the Cache River flows into below Clarendon). I can't guarantee the exact size, but the bird was about the size of my torso. The thing is huge!

I could tell it was a woodpecker by the shape of its head and bill, but didn't think much of it until I got home. On the news, they showed pictures of the bird and video footage, etc. I blurt out, "Holy @$#@#$!!! I saw that today!" My wife thought I was nuts, but I swear I saw the dang thing.

EDIT: Thought I should probably add this. The thing that struck me about the bird I saw was the unusual coloring. You don't see black and white birds that much. Plus, the color of the beak just struck me. It was snow white.

The reason I wish I hadn't seen it, is I am a pump salesman for a company out of Memphis. The Army Corps of Engineers has a proposal to divert flow from the White River towards Stuttgart to help farmers over there with irrigation, because the aquifer levels around Stuttgart have fallen so far in the Sparta aquifer (approx. 40-50 feet in the last 60 years). The more water they divert, the more pumps they will need, which means more money in my pocket.

[JW]

Doubters convinced by audio evidence.

Warhammer, I know how you feel. A long time ago I encountered a panther in northeast Louisiana while driving alone at about 2am on my way home from a date, with my future wife as it turned out. It crossed the road right in front of me and looked right at the car as it crossed. Totally amazed me. Now panthers are rare in this area but they persist to this day. No one disputes that. Nevertheless most people immediately dismiss my story and tell me I must have mistaken a big dog or bobcat for a panther. But I know better. Thus I can imagine how people would react to your story.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Ivory-billed recordings convince doubters

Tuesday, August 2, 2005; Posted: 2:01 p.m. EDT (18:01 GMT)

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Audio recordings of the ivory-billed woodpecker's distinctive double-rap have convinced doubting researchers that the large bird once thought extinct is still living in an east Arkansas swamp.

Last month, a group of ornithologists had questioned the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, last sighted in 1944. They said blurry videotape of a bird in flight wasn't enough evidence. So a Cornell University researcher who was part of the team that announced the bird's rediscovery last spring says his group sent the doubters more evidence.

"We sent them some sounds this summer from the Arkansas woods," said John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell ornithology lab. "We appreciate their ability to say they are now believers."

The doubters had prepared an article for a scientific journal questioning whether the bird had really been found. They now plan to withdraw the article, according to a news release from Yale University, where ornithologist Richard Prum was one of the doubters.

"We were very skeptical of the first published reports, and thought that the previous data were not sufficient to support this startling conclusion," Prum said. "But the thrilling new sound recordings provide clear and convincing evidence that the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct."

And, the audiotape evidence seems to indicate that there is more than one ivory-billed woodpecker in the area.

"The bird that we saw had to have a mommy and a daddy," said Scott Simon, director of the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas. "We have solid evidence for one. We believe there are more."

Using audio equipment set out in various places near the Cache and White rivers in Arkansas last winter, the Cornell ornithologists made 17,000 hours of recordings. "Some sounds were explainable only by being an ivory-billed woodpecker," Fitzpatrick said.

One portion of the tape includes a distant double-rap, followed closely by a double-rap that is very close.

"It's communication typical of the ivory-billed. It's one of the more exciting cuts from the tape," Fitzpatrick said. The communication indicates there is likely more than one bird.

He said the audio had only recently been discovered on the tapes, which are being analyzed with computer assistance. When the ornithologists announced in April that the bird had been found, the audio had not been reviewed closely enough, Fitzpatrick said.

"One of the cases they were making in their article was that we had not presented acoustic evidence," Fitzpatrick said. "We thought it was premature in April to publish the analyses."

The Cornell researchers plan to release the audio publicly at the American Ornithologists Union in Santa Barbara, California, later this month.

[Airhog]

I still remember going to the island at walt disney world that was a zoo. We walked by this one bird cage that was empty. Underneath the sign were the words "Extinct" I felt sad that day for that bird.

[RealDeal]

Bird watchers r teh gay.

[Mo.Raider]

The wife and I were working in the back yard one day this spring, when we heard a loud knocking sound. When I moved to see what it was I saw a very large woodpecker drilling a hole through the side of a tree. I didn't think much about it, because our property is on the edge of a very large national forest very close to the river. I did remark however about it being the largest woodpecker I had ever seen. Later this summer I read a story about the extinct bird you guys are discussing, and the picture looked a tremendous amount like the bird I had witnessed. I am not saying that I most certainly saw one (reminds me of the flood of bigfoot sightings when one person says they saw one ), but the resemblance was uncanny. The weird thing is I live in south central Missouri.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Mo.Raider

The wife and I were working in the back yard one day this spring, when we heard a loud knocking sound. When I moved to see what it was I saw a very large woodpecker drilling a hole through the side of a tree. I didn't think much about it, because our property is on the edge of a very large national forest very close to the river. I did remark however about it being the largest woodpecker I had ever seen. Later this summer I read a story about the extinct bird you guys are discussing, and the picture looked a tremendous amount like the bird I had witnessed. I am not saying that I most certainly saw one (reminds me of the flood of bigfoot sightings when one person says they saw one ), but the resemblance was uncanny. The weird thing is I live in south central Missouri.

Amost certainly, the bird you saw was a Pileated Woodpecker a somewhat uncommon but pretty widespread bird of North America. There's a better image in this link...hope that helps.

Birdwatchers r teh RoxoRs.

[HomerJSimpson]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Amost certainly, the bird you saw was a Pileated Woodpecker a somewhat uncommon but pretty widespread bird of North America. There's a better image in this link...hope that helps.

Birdwatchers r teh RoxoRs.

That face is now my mental image of QS.

[QuikSand]

Those aren't my eyes.

[rkmsuf]

[Kodos]

Yep. This story was a big deal for The Nature Conservancy (a charity that basically buys up land to assure that it is protected for future generations). Anyhow, they have a lot of info about the rediscovery of the Ivory Bill woodpecker. A very worthy charity if any of you are interested. Just be warned that you will receive mail from every other nature charity on earth if you join.

[Mo.Raider]

Quicksand-

Yep, that looks like the bird I saw. I have a couple of questions though.

1) "The pileated woodpecker lives in Canada from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia. It can be found in most areas of the eastern United States. It can be found in the west from Washington south to California and east to Idaho and North Dakota." What is that bird doing in Missouri?

2) I also stumbled upon a very weird looking bird last summer. The bird flew out of the woods and acted as if it was hurt. when I would walk close to it it would fly just a few yards away and act hurt again. It was very strange looking. It had a long skinny beak that reminded me of a duck bill, but much too long and narrow. The bill looked way too big for the bird's body. The rest of the bird was much like a wild duck, especially in color (brown). I finally grew tired of the birds game and went back into the woods where I was clearing some brush and found a nest of baby birds just like the adult. They were laying under a pile of leaves, which I thought was kind of strange. It was obvious the adult was trying to lure me away from the babies. I covered them back up, but have never seen any birds like this since. Have any ideas what this bird could be?

Thanks,
Mo

[Warhammer]

If I get a chance I will look them up. When I worked at the golf course we had these things all over the place.

[QuikSand]

There continues to be some stir about this announcement. NPR did a bit a while ago (link) including discussion from David Sibley (ranking among the very top birding authorities in this country) suggesting that the well-distributed film does not confirm an Ivory-Bill after all. The saga continues -- most everyone hopes it's true, but there remains some doubt.

I'll confess the video convinced me... but on the scale of 1 to Sibley, I'm basically a 1 just like almost everyone else.


Secon link to Nature Conservancy article: Sibley on IBW

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Mo.Raider

Quicksand-

Yep, that looks like the bird I saw. I have a couple of questions though.

1) "The pileated woodpecker lives in Canada from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia. It can be found in most areas of the eastern United States. It can be found in the west from Washington south to California and east to Idaho and North Dakota." What is that bird doing in Missouri?

2) I also stumbled upon a very weird looking bird last summer. The bird flew out of the woods and acted as if it was hurt. when I would walk close to it it would fly just a few yards away and act hurt again. It was very strange looking. It had a long skinny beak that reminded me of a duck bill, but much too long and narrow. The bill looked way too big for the bird's body. The rest of the bird was much like a wild duck, especially in color (brown). I finally grew tired of the birds game and went back into the woods where I was clearing some brush and found a nest of baby birds just like the adult. They were laying under a pile of leaves, which I thought was kind of strange. It was obvious the adult was trying to lure me away from the babies. I covered them back up, but have never seen any birds like this since. Have any ideas what this bird could be?

Thanks,
Mo

Sorry I missed this earlier.

The pileated woodpecker is fairly common across the Eastern U.S., but Missouri is certainly well within its regular range. Here's a map showing that Missouri is pretty well represented, basically along the westernmost edge of the regulare range (a pretty common occurenace with bird ranges, ioncidentally).


As for the second bird... you're right that it was a ploy to lead you away from its young -- that's a tactic used by a number of bird species, noptably those that nest on the ground.

One guess on what the bird might be is an American Woodcock. They are a woodland bird that very generally fits your description, and are known for some intriguing behavior and displays as well. I haven't heard of them using the "injured bird" trick, but your circumstance certainly sounds like a good one for it.

Here's a better picture of a woodcock:

[Mo.Raider]

Wow this thread appeared like a blast from the past . It has been a long time but the woodpecker that I mentioned back in August has returned to nearly the same place in the woods this year. He just looks huge, not like the ones I am familiar with while living in southern Missouri (nearly Arkansas).

That picture is an exact match to the bird I saw in question number 2; thanks! I haven't seen one since that encounter though.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Mo.Raider

That picture is an exact match to the bird I saw in question number 2; thanks! I haven't seen one since that encounter though.

Great... glad to help. (I love this stuff, honestly) The woodcock isn't seen all that often, really -- but if you know where to find them, and hit just the right time (especially late February or so) you can catch some really bizarre mating rituals (very odd flying patterns and noisemaking by the males, in an effort to impress potential mates). Some birdwatchers make a point out of trying to see it every year. Interesting birds.

[QuikSand]

Recent article from the NY Times (sorry, you have to register). Lengthy musing about the Ivory-Billed, some of the history of the search (tracing back decades), the continuing controversy, and the psychology of such a troubling circumstance. Pretty interesting, if you have any such inclinations.

[Logan]

A woodpecker has shown up in my backyard recently. I don't know if it's ivory-billed, but if anyone wants to come by to KILL IT for me, it would be appreciated, and you can keep the carcass.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Logan

A woodpecker has shown up in my backyard recently. I don't know if it's ivory-billed, but if anyone wants to come by to KILL IT for me, it would be appreciated, and you can keep the carcass.

Heh, when I was in high school a woodpecker used to come at 530 every morning and start drilling on the cedar shingles right outside my bedroom window. Drove me freakin' crazy until after a few months it just went away...

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Bo Jackson's Hip

There's probably a dodo bird somewhere in New Zealand laughing his ass off right about now.

[QuikSand]

Some recent reports by researchers indicating possibly more Ivory-Bills in the Florida panhandle area:

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletim...510.xml&coll=1

More evidence of ivory-bill bird found in Florida
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
By KENNETH KESNER
Times Staff Writer [email protected]

AU researchers say they've seen and heard woodpecker

A team led by an Auburn University professor announced Monday there is evidence indicating ivory-billed woodpeckers are living in a remote river basin in the Florida Panhandle.

Bobby Harrison, who, with a colleague, made the first "confirmed" sighting of the thought-to-be-extinct bird in Arkansas in 2004, said he was pleased.

"I think it's wonderful," said Harrison, a wildlife photographer and instructor at Oakwood College. "We've got birds in two locations now."

Professor Geoff Hill, an ornithologist in Auburn's College of Science and Mathematics, and two research assistants, Tyler Hicks and Brian Rolek, were kayaking a section of the Choctawhatchee River in May 2005, when Rolek saw an ivory-bill in flight, according to the team's news release.

On that same trip, Hill heard the bird's signature "double knock" sound and the team found numerous large cavities in trees, along with places where bark had been removed in a way consistent with known ivory-billed woodpecker behavior.

In later visits, Hicks got a clear view of the bird; from May 2005 to May 2006, the team has made 14 sightings. And Dan Merrill, an assistant professor at the University of Windsor (Ontario), has recorded and identified hundreds of sounds that match descriptions of those made by the ivory-billed woodpecker.

"It was just to be a weekend outing looking for potential habitat," Hill said. "We really never dreamed we'd actually find an ivory-bill."

Hill published his findings Monday in the online journal Avian Conservation & Ecology (www.ace-eco.org), but rumors have been circulating in the birding community for some time.

Harrison telephoned Hill last week to hear more about the team's work "and tell him I was very excited they had found birds there."

He said Hill invited him to join the hunt in Florida and said the 2004 discovery in Arkansas had spurred his work along the Choctawhatchee River.

Harrison and Tim Gallagher, a fellow photographer and editor of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology's Living Bird magazine, made the first "confirmed" sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker in more than 60 years in an eastern Arkansas swamp in February 2004.

The large black-and-white bird - up to 20 inches tall from head to toe with up to a three-foot wingspan - is one of a half-dozen North American bird species thought to have become extinct since 1880. It ranged across the southeastern United States until logging between 1880 and the 1940s eliminated many forests.

While he hasn't personally seen or heard Hill's evidence, Harrison said he's talked to others he respects who have, and it's encouraging.

"The people doing the sighting are good birders," Harrison said. He expects to join in the Florida search, in part because his chance of getting a good picture of the woodpecker is better in the 8,700-acre Choctawhatchee River habitat than the half-million acres of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge area in Arkansas.

"Habitat has been improving for decades and good sightings have become more and more numerous," he said. "Perhaps, we will soon have a third and fourth find of this extraordinary creature as well."

In his statement, Hill said they were confident the elusive bird is living in the Florida Panhandle, but acknowledged "the only evidence that would constitute irrefutable proof is a clear photograph or video of an ivory-billed woodpecker, and such an image has to date eluded us."

Harrison said some doubters won't believe the bird still exists until they actually hold a dead one in their hands.

[QuikSand]

Here's a link to the online journal where this is being published today:

http://www.ace-eco.org/

...and to the specific article:

http://www.ace-eco.org/vol1/iss3/art2/

[Kodos]

Adding one of these to your suburban birdwatching assault missions would be quite a feather in your cap.

It'd be nice if somebody actually got a picture of one.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Harrison said some doubters won't believe the bird still exists until they actually hold a dead one in their hands.

So, they want to kill a bird thought to be extinct to prove that it is alive?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

So, they want to kill a bird thought to be extinct to prove that it is alive?

I don't think anyone is seriously expressing a desire to kill one, I think you are misreading this statement. The speaker is, I think, just expressing his frustration that the substantial video, audio, and experiential evidence remains unpersuasive to some critics... and is saying that apparently those critics seemingly won't be satisfied until they actually get a body in hand to verify beyond any degree of doubt.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Logan

A woodpecker has shown up in my backyard recently. I don't know if it's ivory-billed, but if anyone wants to come by to KILL IT for me, it would be appreciated, and you can keep the carcass.

Did someone take me up on my offer? That fucker hasn't made noise recently.

[QuikSand]

Bit from CBS Sunday Morning show today...

The return of "extinct" species - YouTube