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

Campephilus said:
A small paragraph on Mary Scott's birdingamerica.com site now reads:
"More Ivorybill news ~ there are great reports of "supressed sightings" (sic) of Ivorybills in South Carolina at the Congaree Swamp National Park, and also at an undisclosed location in Mississippi. Keep searching out there!"

Does anyone know anything more about these alleged sightings or the reports of them?

I don't know about those sightings but there is a great story involving Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and the creation of the Congaree Swamp National Monument [now Congaree National Park: http://www.nps.gov/cosw/home.htm ]:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0429-06.htm

Dalcio
 
I spent a day at Congaree in 1994. It was not too many years after a major hurricane (Hugo?) had hit the Carolinas. The national champ Shumard oak had been downed and quite a few others of the red oak family. Sweet gums as well. Due to it's deep root system, I didn't see one bald cypress down, which is another reason why I think taxodium distichum is the greatest of all Southern trees. Congaree is wonderful, and contains viable habitat for a remnant population of IBWOs. Four Holes Swamp, an Audubon Refuge a little further down the road, though considerably smaller in size, may also be a possibility.

I am all for suppressed sightings. :)
 
Bald cypress, because of its low center of gravity and remarkable flexibility, is highly wind resistant, which is why one can still see centuries-old individuals in places that have seen many major hurricanes. I have seen forests that went from being hardwood-dominated to cypress-dominated overnight. Clearly, if this happened under presettlement conditions, it implies that cypress was a very important tree for ivory-bills in the coastal zone. Unfortunately, most old-growth cypress is long gone, but patches remain and even in heavily logged areas there are usually some ancient trees.
 
fangsheath said:
I think what ivory-bills need, just as bald eagles do, is a large area of reasonably continuous forest, with at least a few large trees for nesting. Like eagles, they avoid human disturbance and generally nest in very remote areas. And like eagles, I think we can find them if we know what to look for.

It seems that the Bald Eagle has adapted to nesting well within the parameter of a large city, as the following newspaper article states:

"Q: Near Hwys. xx and xx, {Hwys are located at a major - very busy - city intersection] I saw a large nest high in a
tree near a lake. In the nest, I could see a pair of
dark birds with white heads, which looked like
small eagles. Do you think they were?"

"A: The birds are bald eagles (size can be deceptive in
the field) and the lake is xxx. While the nest is
quite visible when driving east on Hwy. xx, the
safer place to view it is from a small parking lot off
Hwy xx. You'll need binoculars or a spotting scope
to watch the birds."

If the Bald Eagle can adapt to city dwelling, why not the IBWO as well?? I might add that this is NOT the ONLY nest located near major hwys or within the city limits! I know, I have seen them!!

TimeShadowed
 
Interesting, the eagle nests that I have known of in Louisiana and Florida have been in fairly remote areas, not necessarily far from cities but little traveled. In fact there has been a good deal of secrecy about the specific locations of eagle nests. Of course much depends upon where the suitable nest trees are - these often seem to be limiting for eagles in the South. In the case of the ivory-bill my opinion is that they require large areas of fairly continuous forest, I can't imagine a pair needing less than 5 square miles, probably much more today. If they weren't so good at avoiding humans, I think irrefutable evidence of them would have been obtained decades ago. It still amazes me that such a large, spectacular bird has been so poorly documented for so long. There is little question in my mind that they are highly secretive, particularly so in their breeding activiities. How vulnerable they actually are to disturbance is anybody's guess - Tanner's birds seemed to habituate to the human presence, but then their forest was surrounded by miles of clearcut. Had they had better alternatives, perhaps they would have abandoned the area.
 
fangsheath said:
Interesting, the eagle nests that I have known of in Louisiana and Florida have been in fairly remote areas, not necessarily far from cities but little traveled. In fact there has been a good deal of secrecy about the specific locations of eagle nests.

Not true in all places in Texas Fangsheath. There is a very well documented Bald Eagle nest of more than 4 years duration less than 3 football fields off a WELL travelled highway in the Texas Hill Country. This nest receives heavy viewing traffic every year, to the point that TXDOT and the county had to install traffic signs making it illegal to park within 10 feet of the highway because of traffic hazards. It receives major media coverage every year. Interestingly, not only did the parents successfully fledge young this year, but they had the assistance of a third adult bird from nest building through fledging.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
Well, I've read just about everything I could find over the past few years concerning the IBW; from James Tanner's work in the 30's to the just released "The Grail Bird." All were interesting reading. Taking nothing away from Tanner, it seems to me that what he wrote about described "his" birds, at that time, in that place. I think we see now that this doesn't hold true for the bird, as a species. If we took his research as the end-all of IBW information, then we would have no IBW living into this century. Tanner's work may describe the ideal (or perhaps not) IBW habitat. Now we see that this bird can hold on, however small in numbers, in something less that what Tanner described. Perhaps what we can learn most is how little we really know about this bird as a species. One-thousand years from now, when humans are discussing the IBW, I'm sure Tanner's name will still be linked to this bird. He's a classic example of a great field ornithologist.

Also, please don't think I'm taking up for the logging industry. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We need to perserve large tracks of unbroken, old-growth, bottomland forest for the IBW (as well as for other species). Indeed, other plant and animal species, all over the United States, can benefit from protecting old-growth forests.This will become more difficult in light of the Bush Administration's recent lessening of rules concerning rangeland. How anyone, claiming Christian values, can stand and take photo ops for the protection of a extremely rare bird species in Arkansas, and then within weeks, lessen protection for other rare and endangered plant and animals species in other parts of our great nation, is beyond me!
 
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Good post, Field Sparrow. I think you are right about Tanner and I sure hope you're right about humans discussing the IBWO a thousand years from now. Have my doubts about the latter, but am just thankful the bird is still with us.

If you haven't checked out Jerome Jackson's 2004 book on the IBWO, you may want to look into it. The best book of them all, to my way of thinking.
 
fangsheath said:
Interesting, the eagle nests that I have known of in Louisiana and Florida have been in fairly remote areas, not necessarily far from cities but little traveled. In fact there has been a good deal of secrecy about the specific locations of eagle nests. Of course much depends upon where the suitable nest trees are - these often seem to be limiting for eagles in the South.

I know of a bald eagle nest within the confines of a power plant here in Texas. The eagles took up residence years ago and fish the cooling water canal. They are monitored by TX Wildlife Management. There is also a red-tailed hawk family that lives near the top of one of the 500ft smoke stacks.

I know, because I've seen both of them. So birds are far more adaptable than we give them credit for. We may find the IBW does not need some of the very specific criteria we think it needs; and may be a far more adaptable bird. After all it has managed to survive so far.
 
There is no question in my mind that Tanner's work biased the CLO's ideas about the needs of ivory-bills and caused them to reject many reports that should have been examined more closely. Not that I denigrate his work, he made a tremendous contribution working under arduous conditions. But I think he placed too much emphasis on specific forest characteristics when looking for ivory-bills
outside the Singer Tract. Even today I think the CLO puts too much emphasis on habitat. Before submitting a report, they encourage the public to "evaluate the habitat to make sure your sighting was consistent with ivory-bill habitat." So if I saw a bird on a golf course it couldn't have been an ivory-bill? They are clearly discouraging people from submitting a report if the habitat isn't "appropriate."

Having said all that, I do think that this species is very wary and does need big chunks of forest. But that does not mean that we should never expect to see them outside the forest and even in edificarian situations.
 
Since we don't have ivory-bill photos to show each other yet, I thought I would post this image for everyone's edification. It is the national champion bald cypress in Louisiana (at least I assume it is still the champ). The survival of the ivory-bill reminds us that while much has been lost, there are still plenty of wild places and wild things well worth protecting.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/Image-39.jpg
 
fangsheath said:
Since we don't have ivory-bill photos to show each other yet, I thought I would post this image for everyone's edification. It is the national champion bald cypress in Louisiana (at least I assume it is still the champ). The survival of the ivory-bill reminds us that while much has been lost, there are still plenty of wild places and wild things well worth protecting.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/Image-39.jpg

Looking at the Bald Cypress makes me wonder how much effect kudzu has had on IBW and other birdie things in the south. The stuff is ubiquitous and must interfere with foraging in some manner.
 
fangsheath said:
Since we don't have ivory-bill photos to show each other yet, I thought I would post this image for everyone's edification. It is the national champion bald cypress in Louisiana (at least I assume it is still the champ). The survival of the ivory-bill reminds us that while much has been lost, there are still plenty of wild places and wild things well worth protecting.

http://home.att.net/~fangsheath/Image-39.jpg

It still is, based upon the system of measurements used to determine the champ. In reality, the famous Senator cypress in Sanford, Florida has a much greater overall volume and is a more impressive speciman, at least to me, and I have stood next to each. The Louisiana tree has a greater diameter at breast height (which is why it is the "champ"), but tapers off greatly after about 10-12 feet off the ground. The Florida tree does not taper off nearly as dramatically. It still has an impressive trunk at 100+ feet off the ground.
 
Although it reproduces extremely well vegetatively and covers large areas quickly, kudzu does not seem to spread as well by seed, so it is very patchy and not too much of a problem in remote areas. A much greater scourge in southern Louisiana is Chinese tallow tree. Thankfully it seems to be absent from eastern Arkansas.
 
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The worst of the invasives across the South are those damned privets. Birds must love 'em though, they spread those seeds everywhere.
 
fangsheath said:
Although it reproduces extremely well vegetatively and covers large areas quickly, kudzu does not seem to spread as well by seed, so it is very patchy and not too much of a problem in remote areas. A much greater scourge in southern Louisiana is Chinese tallow tree. Thankfully it seems to be absent from eastern Arkansas.

I won't get into a discussion of "worst" or "better" invasive species, but there is certainly plenty of visible evidence of kudzu as an invasive problem, even in unpopulated areas of south Texas. Now what is meant by "remote" is an interesting discussion, and I ceratinly can not purport to know what Fangsheath meant by that - I too would be surprised to find kudzu in an area likely to be inhabited by IBWO - but any invasive species has the potential to show up there and there is no doubt kudzu, Chinese Tallow (and chinaberry), privet, ligustrum, pyracantha are all a threat in the south and southeast. Yet many nurseries continue to stock them and landscapers continue to plant them.
 
gws, I did indeed read Jerome Jackson's book last December. It was an interesting and well-written book. By chance, are you in historical IBW native habitat? Are you doing any searching for the IBW? I'm in the Ohio River bottomland section of West Virginia. From some of my readings it seems that the IBW made short forays into this part of W. Va. in historical times, although no breeding or nesting was appearently done here.

I'm in the center of what some considers the best remaining habitat for the Cerulean Warbler. As you probably know, its numbers are decreasing rapidly. I don't think its been pinpointed as the what is causing the decline of this beautiful little bird. West Virginia is over 70% forest now, so I don't think forest fragmentation is the most immediate concern. Perhaps something in its wintering grounds or something during migration. In 30 or 40 years this little bird may have gone the way of the Bachman's Warbler if something isn't done. It seems less common now than just a few years ago.

I prefer to bird in the riparian areas here, but occasionally I'll roam the ridgetops and seek out the larger trees (those that are over 130 years old or so) and think, "perhaps passenger pigeons or Carolina Parakeets roosted in these trees in the mid to late 1800s." I know I'll never know, but its just nice to think that maybe they did and by keeping these trees alive, a little part of the passenger pigeon and Carolina Parakeet may be kept alive also. Or perhaps I need a well-deserved vacation. LOL
 
Sparrow,

I'm within 50-100 miles of historical and potential IBWO habitat, and I do some hiking and canoeing in those areas, but infrequently as of late. This coming winter when the trees are bare I plan to check out some potential spots I know about in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
 
Suggestion: maybe we can begin putting together a rough list of potentially good IBW areas with extensive habitat, perhaps state by state depending on where each person lives. If we develop a good list on this forum birders will have the opportunity to search for the IBW without having everyone flood into the Cache River and disturb that particular bird. There are already going to be many researchers in the Cache come fall. There certainly are other populations of IBW that need to be documented and protected. I'm sure we all know of some great areas (some have already been discussed) so let's share our ideas. This way birders can get into the field in search of the IBW while at the same time we won't be interfering with the work being done by Cornell. Seems likely that most birders have taken a break for the summer even in the wake of this historic revelation. Now that we know the IBW is still with us, I'm sure there will be many more birders keeping their eyes focused on any "pileated" that flies by.

Potential List

Arkansas:
1) White River NWR
 
I had a chance this morning to look at the insert plate that deals with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker for the Sibley guide. One thing that jumped out at me was the statement that these birds are usually seen in pairs. My understanding is that all accepted recent (say in the last 60 years or so) sightings have consisted of a single, lone bird. Does Sibley know something the rest of us do not know?

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
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