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Ivorybill Searcher's Forum: Insights and current reports (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter fangsheath
- Start date
Snowy1 said:
Fang, great work with the video! Thanks!
For what it is worth: here is a photo of a perched pileated I took a while ago. It is a fairly big angle between the bird and the tree, but not as much as the angle of the bird & tree in Mike's video I think.
Also, perhaps the blurriness of the video may make the crest look more disorganized than it really is? I notice that in frame 67 the crest looks more pointed.
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Thanks for the great work, as usual. There's no way I can do stuff like this while spending several hours in the field each day. Are you using JES Deinterlacer? It provides an option to retain both fields, which will give you 60 frames per second. This is very useful for a bird with such a high flap rate. I did this for the entire video in which the bird appears. It's much better than the single field version that I produced previously. Unfortunately, I am unable to post such a large video. I have a license for software called iStabilize, which should do wonders for this video. I will try to get it installed on my laptop in the next few days.fangsheath said:
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Snowy1
Well-known member
New sighting
Not sure if it was mentioned already but Mary updated her website again. While there is no detail on the new sighting, it sounds promising.
http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm
Not sure if it was mentioned already but Mary updated her website again. While there is no detail on the new sighting, it sounds promising.
http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm
fangsheath
Well-known member
I appreciate the constructive remarks regarding crest behavior in Mike's video. In looking at the bird's form, I think it's important to focus on frames in which we have indications, from surrounding vegetation, that things are the least blurry. To my eye these would be frames 67, 70, 72, and 74. I have lined these up across the top of this image and placed 8 pileated images below in roughly similar orientations for comparison. To my eye the crest behavior of Mike's bird is a poor match for pileated, and would even be a poor match for a male ivory-bill. It is closer to a female ivory-bill in my view. The issue is somewhat confused by Dennis's description of Cuban ivory-bill crests as "in a state of complete disarray most of the time....Even when the crest of the female was orderly, we noted that it never came to a sharp point, but rather to a blunt conical point." Perhaps more images of pileateds will help clarify the issue.
http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/crestcomparisons.jpg
http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/crestcomparisons.jpg
fangsheath
Well-known member
todbod45 said:
You may need to download the files to your hard drive first and then try to play them. If the problem persists, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Jesse Gilsdorf
Well-known member
I have been informed that the permit for searching some far western Kentucky parks that hold some good promise will be issued. I expect to receive the same within the next week or so. These parks are almost on the Mississippi River. To do them justice I am asking if anyone is interested in searching on a weekend with me? These areas are closed to the public and admission is only by permit. Compliance with all state rules, laws, and permit requirements would be a a must. Getting access is not that easy and this cannot be screwed up.
I expect that initially this will be a walking swamp tour. No trails exist to my understanding, and you have to provide your own gear. Once the overview is completed of the terrain the next step will be determined.
For those who can't get to the Pearl or Atchafalaya this is a possibility.
Interested? email me:
gilsdorf(AT)adams.net
I expect that initially this will be a walking swamp tour. No trails exist to my understanding, and you have to provide your own gear. Once the overview is completed of the terrain the next step will be determined.
For those who can't get to the Pearl or Atchafalaya this is a possibility.
Interested? email me:
gilsdorf(AT)adams.net
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fangsheath
Well-known member
Thanks so much for your efforts, Jesse, and the best of luck to you.
humminbird
Well-known member
Jesse Gilsdorf said:
Would have loved to join you but I will have to sit back and watch from the monitor! Best of luck Jesse and any who join him.
fangsheath
Well-known member
This business of ivory-bills close to the ground/water really has me intrigued. One thing I may have neglected to mention about my White River NWR encounter last year was that the bird flushed from the ground (not near any water body). What would they be after? Any number of things I suppose. There are of course lots of scarab beetle larvae in the ground and in decomposing logs and stumps. I notice that on 18 Feb Mike heard a bird vocalizing from behind a fallen log. Fielding Lewis also reported a bird vocalizing close to the ground near a fallen log. In today's forests there is a lot less wood volume in the canopy than there was in the Singer Tract. This is even more true in areas that have seen recent hurricanes, such as the Pearl.
timeshadowed
Time is a Shadow
fangsheath said:
Earthworms maybe?? - Like a Robin.
fangsheath
Well-known member
Only now is the Texas ivory-bill search effort out of the GCBO moving from the planning to implementation stage. John Arvin has tentatively set volunteer orientation for 22 Apr. Aerial reconnaissance along the Trinity, Neches, and Sabine floodplains is intended during March. Most access to candidate areas is expected to be by boat.
I would like to quote John Arvin at this point:
"A range-wide survey for Ivory-billed Woodpecker is about 4 decades overdue. It is one charter member of the Endangered Species List that almost no tax dollars have been spent on until recently, and the vast majority of the funding of the Big Woods Initiative has been from private sources. Considering the amounts of public money that have been spent on the Whooping Crane and California Condor, both species that appear to be incapable of sustaining themselves without being on permanent life support, funding for IBWO has been miniscule."
I would like to extend my profound thanks to everyone involved and the very best wishes for safe and productive efforts.
I would like to quote John Arvin at this point:
"A range-wide survey for Ivory-billed Woodpecker is about 4 decades overdue. It is one charter member of the Endangered Species List that almost no tax dollars have been spent on until recently, and the vast majority of the funding of the Big Woods Initiative has been from private sources. Considering the amounts of public money that have been spent on the Whooping Crane and California Condor, both species that appear to be incapable of sustaining themselves without being on permanent life support, funding for IBWO has been miniscule."
I would like to extend my profound thanks to everyone involved and the very best wishes for safe and productive efforts.
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Jesse Gilsdorf
Well-known member
fangsheath said:
The most obvious answer is mast. Fallen nuts, etc. Also given that many of the berry species are from plants low to the ground it is also a possibility that the bird is picking through low fruits. Fallen fruits are also an answer.
Further, from examined trees insects are being sought from trees that happen to be infested low to the ground (cerabymicids). There are similar marks higher in trees as well and the bird is following the bugs. In politics people say "follow the money", for birds follow the food. There are other reports and feeding troughs to confirm that the birds eat termites ants and the like. Many of these will be found lower to the ground and the troughs very often are low to the ground as well.
Now for a little different theory. Given the shape of the bill, head shape, longer neck, much of which appears to be modified but similar to an egret or heron, neck not quite as long, why could this bird not also be hunting small fish, crawfish, etc? The neck and bill certainly are specialized enough to do it.
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SueO
Well-known member
fangsheath said:
How long is it supposed to take before the video is loaded. I got a microsoft media download thing and followed the instructions, then a...connecting... at the bottom. The connecting seemed to go on too long. Am I being impatient or does the downloading take some time?
fangsheath
Well-known member
Are you right clicking on the link and selecting "save link as.." or some similar selection? If you get it onto your hard drive you should be able to open it with media player. But let me know.
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