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Ivorybill Searcher's Forum: Insights and current reports (1 Viewer)

hello all......been a few days......

1. as for what IBWOs are hitting close to the water's edge..... I would say... a. frogs... or insects....... crawfish spend VERY little time... exposed in this area.......

2. Fang.. I agree.. that two people is the best way to get video.. but.... IT is very hard for two people to be stealthy.... but... sniper teams are two man crews...

ran my dog today.. but I did get a little time in prime country today... and.. uh... well........ ran my dog.. cuz now i realize... many of ya'll have no clue what that mean.. ran one of my retreivers. in a field trial...

3. jesse.. Interesting you see woodpecker damage .. above beaver damage.....what makes that interesting you say.... welll note similar beaver damage in areas that could not possibly have IBWOs..... guess what..... NO woodpecker damage.....but.. in a REMOTE area.. voila......impressive for a yankee lawyer.. and bud don't take that the wrong way..LOL... again.....oddly.. turkeys in areas that have IBWO sightings.. respond(ie.gobble back at). IBWO calls. but.. in areas that can't possibly have an IBWo.. no gobble to call....


BTW fang... GUESS.. what I found under a fallen branch in my backyard this morning........

and.. uh.. yeah. me an my little boy are going back into the northern basin manana.....


as for GPS..... and losing them.... well.... VELCRO.. on the back of your unit... and opposite velcro on your wrist.....I rarely use a gps... .....

Mike.. I am trying to swing another trip your way.....

oh.. and uh.. MY mississippi. kites are back. saw them today...... not that I am a bird watcher. .or anything..
 
fangsheath said:
I think this bird is unique in a number of ways, and I think some of these elements have conspired to produce an unfortunate situation. Other species, like the whooping crane and the California condor, are spectacular and elicit awe and passion. But they are also pretty easy to find. . .
Click to expand...

Fangsheath: FWIW, the search for the ivory-bill has all the ingredients of the archetypal quest saga (consider the title, "The Grail Bird"). The "quest saga," which may be either fictional or true, is the single most powerful and recurring narrative type in Western literature and imagination.
 
Home Bird said:
Fangsheath: FWIW, the search for the ivory-bill has all the ingredients of the archetypal quest saga (consider the title, "The Grail Bird"). The "quest saga," which may be either fictional or true, is the single most powerful and recurring narrative type in Western literature and imagination.
Click to expand...

for me.... it was the look on a LDWF officials face back when i was in college...

at a certain museum.. when i said referring to a mounted specimen..

"that looks like a bird I saw... but the eyes are not the right color..."the bird eye saw had YELLOW eyes.... " well the guy from LDWF.. his eyes got real big.....and he started questioning. me... I was as usual evasive...



Ivory Bills have and are in our midst.........as for proof... that is not my main concern...... my concern... the well being and growth of IBWO populations....



as for the skeptics....they want a live ... or a dead bird... I want to see neither....


part of the reason the IBWO invokes such passion.. perhaps.. it is the ties to what was lost in the 1940s...
 
Here are two photos of the beaver damage with the scaling right on top. This is no more than 2 feet high, and again, many trees had the non scaling beaver damage done to them in this area. You can see the beetle tunnels.

The third photo (40) is just some very unusual scaling done to a snag. Ideas?

Beaver damage in 44 is immediately below 43, in fact you can see the start of the scaling in the top of 44 that is the bottom of the scaling in 43.

The damage could easily be done by a pileated. There were only a half dozen or so in the area this morning from what I saw and heard.

Jesse
 
Choupique - You know the prime areas backwards and forwards, but someone unfamiliar would get lost out there faster than a pimpled kid on a snipe hunt....Did you take a pic of what you found under the branch? I absolutely agree with your sentiments about private landowners and the need for sensible management as opposed to heavy-handed, inflexible regulation. I think cooperative management has worked pretty well for bears in La. - I think it can do equally well for ivory-bills. But I do think we need to get a handle on some basics of ivory-bill numbers and needs, quietly if necessary.

Jesse - Good job on the woodpecker/beaver connection. It might indeed explain a great deal. Lightening up your picture, the bird appears to be a black vulture.
 
choupique1 said:
hello all......been a few days......

1. as for what IBWOs are hitting close to the water's edge..... I would say... a. frogs... or insects....... crawfish spend VERY little time... exposed in this area.......

2. Fang.. I agree.. that two people is the best way to get video.. but.... IT is very hard for two people to be stealthy.... but... sniper teams are two man crews...

ran my dog today.. but I did get a little time in prime country today... and.. uh... well........ ran my dog.. cuz now i realize... many of ya'll have no clue what that mean.. ran one of my retreivers. in a field trial...

3. jesse.. Interesting you see woodpecker damage .. above beaver damage.....what makes that interesting you say.... welll note similar beaver damage in areas that could not possibly have IBWOs..... guess what..... NO woodpecker damage.....but.. in a REMOTE area.. voila......impressive for a yankee lawyer.. and bud don't take that the wrong way..LOL... again.....oddly.. turkeys in areas that have IBWO sightings.. respond(ie.gobble back at). IBWO calls. but.. in areas that can't possibly have an IBWo.. no gobble to call....


BTW fang... GUESS.. what I found under a fallen branch in my backyard this morning........

and.. uh.. yeah. me an my little boy are going back into the northern basin manana.....


as for GPS..... and losing them.... well.... VELCRO.. on the back of your unit... and opposite velcro on your wrist.....I rarely use a gps... .....

Mike.. I am trying to swing another trip your way.....

oh.. and uh.. MY mississippi. kites are back. saw them today...... not that I am a bird watcher. .or anything..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer to lend me a bow and arrow, but I finally got the measurement down pat. I got the exact same result both times. Just let me know when you're heading this way. I'm starting to go in through the Louisiana side like you suggested. It's very interesting. When does turkey season open? Do you think the hunters would mind if I walk through there during the season? I notice that they have Oil Well Rd. closed apparently in preparation for the season. I wonder if I can still walk down that road? I went down the road closer to the Pearl the other day.
 
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Jesse Gilsdorf said:
By the way, what is this bird? I know it's not an ivory bill. But I would like to know. Sorry if it's off topic.
Click to expand...
Agree with Fang, a Black Vulture; distinguished from adult Turkey Vulture by the grayish head and much shorter tail.
 
choupique1 said:
Ivory Bills have and are in our midst.........as for proof... that is not my main concern...... my concern... the well being and growth of IBWO populations....
Click to expand...

But with "proof" (not trying to rehash the debate here; just acknowledging that it's open to interpretation), TNC and Cornell have been able to raise millions of dollars for habitat acquisition and protection. Seems to me to be the most effective route to helping IBWO populations. Otherwise, I'm afraid the story will continue to be the same ol' same ol': "Mr. X reported seeing Ivory-billeds in Swamp Y. It was logged two years later."
 
Well, I hate to rain on the parade, but one frame that is quite revealing is frame 67 on the second portion of Mike Collins' video, redone by fangsheath, with some of the blurring taken away, the Long5L one. Take a look at frame 67... what does that look like to you? Look at the bill and all other field marks. You can decide for yourself and I'd love to hear what people say about this frame. On the head, if this is an IvoryBill, then why is the head considerably whiter than the back? As you can see it very obviously has a white head and black back, typical of a pileated.

<http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5l.avi>
 
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Can someone post a still of frame 67? I have an old computer and can't view the movie version.

Thanks,
TimeShadowed


AmpelisChinito said:
Well, I hate to rain on the parade, but one frame that is quite revealing is frame 67 on the second portion of Mike Collins' video, redone by fangsheath, with some of the blurring taken away, the Long5L one. Take a look at frame 67... what does that look like to you? Look at the bill and all other field marks. You can decide for yourself and I'd love to hear what people say about this frame. On the head, if this is an IvoryBill, then why is the head considerably whiter than the back? As you can see it very obviously has a white head and black back, typical of a pileated.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5l.avi
Click to expand...
 
I have a hard time even seeing the shape of the head, let alone its color. But I do think I see white secondaries on the back -- but maybe it's just an artifact.

Edited to add: I have concluded that I am not seeing white on the wings.
 
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I'm afraid the computer doesn't seem to agree with your assessment of the head as "white" and the body as "black." On the head I get pixel brightness values of 47-59, with many values in the mid 50's. On the body I get values of 47-69, again with many values in the mid 50's.

I get persistent indications of light markings on the upper back in various frames. However I am hesitant to give this much weight as there is clearly vegetation in front of the bird and these "markings" seem very unstable between frames. What I find harder to explain as pileated is the form of the bird, such as the shape of the crest. If it is a pileated crest, it must be a raised one. In looking at photos of pileateds with raised crests, the red is extremely conspicuous. Even given the poor light it is hard for me to understand why there is not so much as a hint of red on the crest of this bird, even when the saturation is cranked way up.

Other elements are also difficult for me to explain as pileated, having seen a number of images of pileateds, not to mention actual birds. However, perhaps someone will produce a video of a pileated that is a reasonable match. Mike has been taking as much video of pileateds as he can. And so it goes.
 
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cinclodes said:
Thanks for the offer to lend me a bow and arrow, but I finally got the measurement down pat. I got the exact same result both times. Just let me know when you're heading this way. I'm starting to go in through the Louisiana side like you suggested. It's very interesting. When does turkey season open? Do you think the hunters would mind if I walk through there during the season? I notice that they have Oil Well Rd. closed apparently in preparation for the season. I wonder if I can still walk down that road? I went down the road closer to the Pearl the other day.
Click to expand...
turkey season opens there next weekend..... I doubt there will be much pressure...that is not exactly prime turkey habitat....

oil field road is closed due to trees still bloccking it....
 
I finally located software that made it possible to post video sequences with little loss in quality. I posted the short flight to the right with a sampling rate of 60 frames per second, which makes the wing dynamics appear more continuous. I have also posted some pileated videos for comparison. Note the dramatic difference in the wing dynamics of these species. The ivorybill raises its wing very high on the upstroke and also has a very deep downstroke with the wing swept forward. These videos are posted in the evidence section at the top of this page...

http://www.fishcrow.com/winter06.html
 
FWIW, I did a blind test and showed these sequences to my wife, who is not a birder, and she had no difficulty distinguishing the IBWO.

It would probably be valuable to assemble more pileated footage, from whatever sources are out there, but so far, the footage is just not consistent with a PIWO.

This case is getting built brick by brick.

cinclodes said:
I finally located software that made it possible to post video sequences with little loss in quality. I posted the short flight to the right with a sampling rate of 60 frames per second, which makes the wing dynamics appear more continuous. I have also posted some pileated videos for comparison. Note the dramatic difference in the wing dynamics of these species. The ivorybill raises its wing very high on the upstroke and also has a very deep downstroke with the wing swept forward. These videos are posted in the evidence section at the top of this page...

http://www.fishcrow.com/winter06.html
Click to expand...
 
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MMinNY said:
FWIW, I did a blind test and showed these sequences to my wife, who is not a birder, and she had no difficulty distinguishing the IBWO.

It would probably be valuable to assemble more pileated footage, from whatever sources are out there, but so far, the footage is just not consistent with a PIWO.
Click to expand...

I've done the same thing, with the same results. To quote "there is no way that is the same bird!" This from a non birder!
 
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