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Ivorybill Searcher's Forum: Insights and current reports (2 Viewers)

F

fangsheath

Well-known member
This thread has been initiated for those who wish to share new information about the ivory-billed woodpecker as well as insights into both historical and newfound evidence, for the purpose of moving forward on finding, documenting, and protecting ivory-billed woodpeckers. Its purpose is not to debate the validity of information, either historical or new. It is understood that existing thread(s) can be used for that purpose. It is also understood that there will be gray areas between debate and insight. If you are unsure about this, ask yourself, "Is my post intended to aid the process of finding and/or documenting ivory-bills?" If the answer is no, then your post probably doesn't belong in this thread. If yes, it probably does.

So here is the first post. Bill Holliday, one of the volunteers for the Big Woods search, makes reference to pragmatic based vs. historic based approaches:

http://www.bills-earth.com/ark_trip/searchoverview.html

He mentions that the two approaches seem to be merging in the Big Woods. Naturally I am curious about the specifics. More generally, I wonder how much of a correlate old-growth will be with ivory-bill numbers. Perhaps there is more of a correlation with specific tree species. Gum has been mentioned (Nyssa sp. I assume). It has been said that we need to think out of the box. I think so, if we are going to find and document this species. Hit me with your best insights, campephiles.
 
I recently did some housecleaning at fishcrow.com. It is now set up with a discussion of the video, followed by a listing of all the sightings, and then a day-to-day log of my search. After not seeing anything since Feb. 20, I had a possible sighting this morning.
 
I continue to be intrigued by the possibility that they are specifically interested in something at or near the water's edge. If you can please try to get some photos of those odd depressions in the mud you mentioned.
 
fangsheath said:
I continue to be intrigued by the possibility that they are specifically interested in something at or near the water's edge. If you can please try to get some photos of those odd depressions in the mud you mentioned.
Click to expand...
I have just realized in the past few days that those odd depressions are probably just made by crayfish who aren't upscale enough to have chimneys. The holes that I had been noticing have a curious, squared-off shape. I recently noticed that the holes at the top of crayfish chimneys have the same shape.
 
Fair enough, if your sighting this morning was our quarry it would seem to bode well for more success this season. I would call the next 6 weeks prime nesting season.
 
Some observations about the sounds mike recorded last month, including a summary of some things that have been noted before --

I found them much clearer when I listened to them on the DVD.

Spectrographically, they are basically a "toot:" a simple tone with an overtone at double the frequency. This is a common sound structure among non-passerines; it is less common among passerines. Some of groups that frequently show a spectrogram like this are shorebirds, owls, waterfowl, and woodpeckers (among others). Some passerines that can "toot" include jays and nuthatches.

The other prominent feature is the sound's absolutely level tone. This actually surprisingly uncommon. Many calls that sound like a flat level "toot" such as white- and red-brested nuthatches acrually show a substantial pitch shift on the sonogram.

About Blue Jays -- the common "bell" call does not show a harmonic "toot" structure. The CLO shows a sonogram of a blue jay "toot" that does,but it also shows a pitch shift. I'm hoping someday soon we see sonograms of the bue jay "kents" that are said to have been recorded in Arkansas.

Basically, we have a sound with a simple but easily characterized structure that could have a large number of conceivable sources, but in fact doesn't quite match any recorded samples that we've found yet. That is where context comes in, which is Mike's reports of the circumstances under which the sound was recorded, and the circumstances in which he heard what he describes as the same call on an earlier date.
 
Mike and Fang:

Anything on the water and eating or foraging by it would be of interest here as well. Some of the best scalings I have found have literally been at the water's edge. If there were some clues or suggestions to look for in that context I would appreciate the information being passed on.

Work prevented me from being out today. Tomorrow is still possible.
 
fangsheath said:
Fair enough, if your sighting this morning was our quarry it would seem to bode well for more success this season. I would call the next 6 weeks prime nesting season.
Click to expand...


Fang, I'm wondering what you're basing this on. Tanner describes young ivory-bills in the Singer Tract as leaving the nest at the end of March, with eggs hatching in mid-February. That would suggest only about three more weeks, or perhaps a little less, since the Pearl is further South.

Do you have other info?
 
Tanner compiled reports from himself, Allen/Kellogg, and Kuhn over a period of 7 years in the Singer Tract. Dates vary from mid-Feb to July. Many of the later nests may have been due to initial failures of course. Allen and Kellogg reported a pair incubating in the Singer Tract on 6 Apr. Dates outside the Singer Tract vary similarly, but reports appear to cluster in March and early April.
 
fangsheath said:
Tanner compiled reports from himself, Allen/Kellogg, and Kuhn over a period of 7 years in the Singer Tract. Dates vary from mid-Feb to July. Many of the later nests may have been due to initial failures of course. Allen and Kellogg reported a pair incubating in the Singer Tract on 6 Apr. Dates outside the Singer Tract vary similarly, but reports appear to cluster in March and early April.
Click to expand...

Thanks for elaborating. That's quite a range.
 
Audubon reported frequent double clutching, but I'm not sure how much of his species account is considered reliable. He reported some other things that are not supported by any other observers. One man, big continent, not likely to get everything right!
 
Indeed there are inconsistencies between different authorities on a number of issues. For example, McIlhenny reported that ivory-bills seldom vocalized except in flight. Tanner and Audubon observed the opposite. This might lead us to consider McIlhenny a poor observer, except that his many observations on alligators seem to be right on the mark. It may in fact be regional variation or merely variation among individual birds or groups of birds. Choupique has suggested that southern La. ivory-bills have always been quieter than north La. birds.
 
The Cache River is finally above flood level and the White is rising rapidly. Perhaps the advantage is finally turning a bit to the searchers up there this season.
 
Georgia tips?

I will have a little time for some quick survey type of explorations in central Georgia next month. Does anyone have any tips abou recent activity there that they can share eithre publically or privately (confidentiality assured)?

Thanks!
 
I have done some processing of a portion of Mike Collins' video, working from a DVD, to try to remove some of the motion blur. This sequence encompasses some of the video previously posted. Long5 is the sequence without any lightening. Long5l is the same sequence with the gamma and contrast cranked up. As can be seen, motion blur is still a big problem. I am continuing to work on this. But hopefully this makes a bit more clear how the bird moves and certain aspects of its form, particularly the shape of the crest.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5.avi
http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5l.avi
 
fangsheath said:
Tanner compiled reports from himself, Allen/Kellogg, and Kuhn over a period of 7 years in the Singer Tract. Dates vary from mid-Feb to July. Many of the later nests may have been due to initial failures of course. Allen and Kellogg reported a pair incubating in the Singer Tract on 6 Apr. Dates outside the Singer Tract vary similarly, but reports appear to cluster in March and early April.
Click to expand...

I would expect that as one moves north that the nesting dates might move back a bit as well corresponding with temperature changes and daylight changes. What might be good in La may not work so well say 400 miles north where the amount of daylight will be slightly less and the temperature certainly lower.
Sunrise and sunset today:

in New Orleans 6:12 A.M. 6:07 P.M.
in Cairo, IL: 6:11 A.M. 6:02 P.M.
Per weather channel.

How much effect from a four minute difference? Hard to say. But the difference will be greater earlier in the year (more than a four minute difference say on February 1) and the gap will close as we head towards the June 21 or so. In fact the northern location should have more sunshine in the middle of June than La.

For instance tomorrow there will only be a three minute difference in daylight.

Tomorrow per weather channel
New Orleans 6:11 A.M. 6:08 P.M.
Cairo, IL 6:09 A.M. 6:03 P.M.

I chose New Orleans and Cairo because:

A. They are relatively in line North to South;

B. Both are relative ends of the territory of the bird. Sure, Florida heads further south, and St. Louis is also further north, but these points are relatively close to the range ends North to South in line.


BTW Per map quest driving Cairo to New Orleans, fairly straight route, 561 miles.
 
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fangsheath said:
I have done some processing of a portion of Mike Collins' video, working from a DVD, to try to remove some of the motion blur. This sequence encompasses some of the video previously posted. Long5 is the sequence without any lightening. Long5l is the same sequence with the gamma and contrast cranked up. As can be seen, motion blur is still a big problem. I am continuing to work on this. But hopefully this makes a bit more clear how the bird moves and certain aspects of its form, particularly the shape of the crest.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5.avi
http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/long5l.avi
Click to expand...


Fang, you've done a great job!!! It's almost as if the bird is trying to hide that definitive field mark. Still, the shape of the crest and posture just don't say pileated to me. Keep up the good work.

Here's a much higher quality shot of a pileated for comparison. Of course, it's not definitive, but FWIW.

http://typhoon.wcp.muohio.edu/western/photos/pileated_woodpecker03.jpg
 
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Thanks fang for the work on the IBWO video. 2 things struck me:

1) Frame 77: the bird's head is quite far away from the trunk of the tree and it's posture (say neck in relation to a local vertical) is roughly 45 degrees. That's more IBWO like to me. Is there any comparison to a Pileated and would it be worthy to compare these characteristics?

2) Frame 70: the crest seems very disorganized and spread out, something I've seen regularly on a Pileated but from the few reference photos of IBWO, I haven't seen. Again, I'm not sure if that's worth mentioning as a "field mark"
 
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