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Ivory-billed Woodpecker (formerly updates) (1 Viewer)

Mike Collins on ID-FRONTIERS today...
new IBWO clips

The release of the Imperial Woodpecker film motivated me to revisit a video that I obtained during a 20-minute encounter with an IBWO pair in Florida in 2007. One of the clips shows a takeoff with deep, rapid, and powerful flaps that are remarkably similar to those of the Imperial Woodpecker taking off. While perusing the video for the umpteenth time, I found a clip in which a woodpecker appears to deliver two blows. At the same time, an apparent double knock can be heard in the video. The bird then takes off and shows lots of white on the wings during an upward swoop. I stopped caring a long time ago about convincing the naysayers, but I hope that some of you will enjoy these glimpses of this incredible species (see the URL below).

Mike Collins
Mandeville, Louisiana
http://fishcrow.com/choc19jan07.html
Click to expand...
:smoke:
 
Unfortunately this fascinating video was re-posted by some ignoramus or worse that entitled it "Pileated Woodpecker Battles Green Snake in Ichetucknee Springs State Park in Northern Florida"! The dishonesty is apparent as comments were disabled in that YouTube posting. The bird is clearly a Crimson-crested Woodpecker and the video seems to have been recorded somewhere in one of the Spanish speaking countries in the Amazon region. It has been re-posted several times in YouTube but I couldn't find location information.
 
Haunting to have grown up and spent so much time in areas formerly home to this bird.
Old enough to recall seeing red-cockaded woodpeckers in mingo NWR.
Now,it is officially extirpated in missouri.
One interesting about thing about passenger pigeons was, they were an effective means
of controlling cockel burrs.Had it explained by some young folks doing research
for school.Word picture they painted in mind was staggering as we stood looking at
mississippi flood plain.Covered with cockel burrs now,where once it was so with passenger pigeons.

Want to believe IBWO still here,
but its not in my neighborhood,where it once had a home.
 
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I don't believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extant in the USA. Too heavily birded and surveyed not to have come up with at least a small population of this species. Campephilus woodpeckers are not secretive, and they are loud, active callers. Let's not try to mystify it.

However, I do hold some hope for the Cuban population (separate species?) in the remote pine forests in the eastern part of the island. Under surveyed, under birded, and extensive habitat. Unfortunately, there is a catch 22 in this part of the world. A notable birder and bird guide here in South Florida explained to me that he wants to mount an expedition to this part of the island to survey the area. There are several obstacles. On the one hand, the Cuban government does not want foreigners snooping around this part of the island, and there is a complicated permit process. On the other hand, Cuban ornithologists, although they cannot afford to mount their own expedition, are not supportive of foreigners entering to survey the area because they want to be the rediscoverers, if there is indeed something to rediscover.

Carlos
 
Point well taken Carlos.Riverbottom doesnt re-generate now as it once did. Formerly,sycamore and cottonwood would start it off.Followed by Burr oak,hickory,walnut,tupelo,cypress...can just keep going.Now new growth is silver maple and willow.The entire ecosystem has changed so radically that its a slender ray of hope indeed.To be fair,when I consider trumpeters and the extent of damage done to them.How close they were to being extinct here in lower 48.Then new flocks were discovered in alaska in mid 20th century that turned the tide.Do want to be optimistic,believe your thoughts on cuba far more realistic.Very tiny area there,from what I understand.
 
csanchez7 said:
I don't believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extant in the USA. Too heavily birded and surveyed not to have come up with at least a small population of this species. Campephilus woodpeckers are not secretive, and they are loud, active callers. Let's not try to mystify it.

However, I do hold some hope for the Cuban population (separate species?) in the remote pine forests in the eastern part of the island. Under surveyed, under birded, and extensive habitat. Unfortunately, there is a catch 22 in this part of the world. A notable birder and bird guide here in South Florida explained to me that he wants to mount an expedition to this part of the island to survey the area. There are several obstacles. On the one hand, the Cuban government does not want foreigners snooping around this part of the island, and there is a complicated permit process. On the other hand, Cuban ornithologists, although they cannot afford to mount their own expedition, are not supportive of foreigners entering to survey the area because they want to be the rediscoverers, if there is indeed something to rediscover.

Carlos
Click to expand...

I probably shouldn't dive back into this thread, but it's been so long, why not:
I would have normally agreed with you about the extirpation of the IBWO in the US, except for the following: In my opinion, it is not possible that dozens of qualified individuals/experts all mistakenly identified Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in many states over the past several years. The chances of that happening are smaller than the chances the IBWO survived all this time.
 
Snowy1 said:
In my opinion, it is not possible that dozens of qualified individuals/experts all mistakenly identified Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in many states over the past several years. The chances of that happening are smaller than the chances the IBWO survived all this time.
Click to expand...
Dozens? You are exaggerating wildly – that at most accounts for the number of oddballs.

Mistakingly identifying a bird as a rarer (or more desired) species is something anyone can do, because expectation can play serious tricks with the brain. I know that an author of an advanced identification guide was tricked into believing a (very common) Little Grebe was a (vagrant) Pied-billed Grebe (so I can feel less bad about my many own examples).

It is all too easy to convert a short view of a Pileated Woodpecker flying over into an Ivory-billed Woodpecker if you "know" what you are looking for. The fact that the bird was (is?) still depicted in the National Geographic Guide surely helped...
 
csanchez7 said:
I don't believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extant in the USA. Too heavily birded and surveyed not to have come up with at least a small population of this species. Campephilus woodpeckers are not secretive, and they are loud, active callers. Let's not try to mystify it.

However, I do hold some hope for the Cuban population (separate species?) in the remote pine forests in the eastern part of the island. Under surveyed, under birded, and extensive habitat. Unfortunately, there is a catch 22 in this part of the world. A notable birder and bird guide here in South Florida explained to me that he wants to mount an expedition to this part of the island to survey the area. There are several obstacles. On the one hand, the Cuban government does not want foreigners snooping around this part of the island, and there is a complicated permit process. On the other hand, Cuban ornithologists, although they cannot afford to mount their own expedition, are not supportive of foreigners entering to survey the area because they want to be the rediscoverers, if there is indeed something to rediscover.

Carlos
Click to expand...

oooh, big problem! Answer is : so fund it and let the Cuban scientists mount the expedition. It would cost less than sending a bunch of American there to do it. Or is the real problem that the "notable birder" wants to be the one to discover it?
 
Knowing the "notable birder" personally, I can say that the problem is not about him being the rediscoverer. No need to jump to conclusions.

If it were as easy as just funding Cuban scientists to mount an expedition, someone would have forked over the money long ago to get the job done.

Carlos
 
I wonder if the authors tested it on many species positively rediscovered after 50+ or 100+ years? How often they correctly predicted rediscovery?

Extreme case are many rediscovered species whose previous record are bones from centuries ago. Any statistical model would say it's impossible.

"Statistics is patient - it will will patiently accept human putting the wrong data". Very rare animal observations don't follow statistics - eg. with unvisited habitat pockets acting as refuges, changing habits of humans over decades, and omitting observations from disbelief.
 
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Quote's from "Globally Threatened Bird forums"
"This discussion was first published on Dec 1 2010 as part of the 2010-2011 Red List update
Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis): downlist to Near Threatened?"

"In addition, it is now thought that the population is stable and possibly increasing,and has been at least since 2003 (W. McDearman in litt. 2010). The species’s recovery is the result of successful conservation efforts, including habitat management,nest-site provision and translocation of birds (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2008),whilst improved knowledge has been acquired thanks to intensive studies."

________________________________________________________________
Quote from The Longleaf Alliance,Auburn.edu

"The red-cockaded woodpecker once shared its pine forest habitat with the (now extinct) ivory-billed woodpecker Other birds like the passenger pigeon and Carolina parakeet are also extinct. However, there is still hope for the red-cockaded woodpecker. Under the guidance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, some populations are stable or increasing."
________________________________________________________________

Different bird,different niche.Same ecosystem.[Why would just R-CWO benefit?]
R-CWO needs are considered more specialized and specific than that of IBWO.
Having a bird in hand as is obviously possible with R-CWO being excluded...
statistically ,a downward trend,then a flat line for IBWO.
Areas where R-CWO are thought to be proliferating include notable search
areas for IBWO in arkansas.
 
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