Ivory-billed Woodpecker (formerly updates) (2 Viewers)

[gws]

From the Society of American Foresters (Position statement on loss of forest land issued Dec. 2004):

"In the Southeastern United States, the states of Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, which experienced rapid population growth and urban expansion, together incurred a net loss of approximately six million acres of forest land between 1963 and 2002. Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas have experienced an aggregate net loss of forest land of approximately 12 million acres since 1963, a result of both urban expansion and conversion of some forests to agricultural land. "

From the USDA Forest Service (Area changes un US forest types 1952-1997):

[in the southern states] "The area of lowland hardwood has been steadily decreasing"

I don't just make this stuff up...

The soybean-forest conversion has an effect in some regions, but within much (most?) of the former range outside of the Mississippi corridor the major impact on bottomlands has been logging, not conversion to agriculture. Old bottomland hardwoods are cut, and progressively younger stands are now logged too for chip mills. Even with ag-forest conversion, it'll be most of a century before enough old trees start dying to make the habitat Ivorybill friendly. In the meantime existing mature forests remain subject to logging.

Potential Ivorybill habitat is far from secure for the future. Any additional proven and publicly known occurences of the bird will make protecting it MUCH easier.

"Arguing for the possible existence of the ivory-bills is the steady improvement in their potential bottomland hardwood forest habitats since the 1940s"

Jerome Jackson in a 1/20/06 interview.

p.s. Bill, the above comment by Jackson is what I was trying to say when I said something to the effect that the "Southern woods are coming back" a few pages back. It could be true that overall lowland acreage is on the decline, but I do know that a lot of trees that germinated circa 1920s-40s are probably approaching decline, thus becoming of import to any birds out there. Those nuttall oaks are known for growing fast, reaching their peak maybe around year 70, and than rapidly declining. Not so with bald cypress, of course, though I do believe the reputed ages of 2500+ are definitely a stretch. As I mentioned, many 1000s of acres have been converted from beans to trees....I hope they get to mature and decline.

 

[cyberthrush]

I posted a quick estimate (by me) of the amount of observer effort likely to be required to find, identify, and document an Ivorybill in a place like the Big Woods, assuming a very low population density of one bird per 50 square miles:

http://bbill.blogspot.com/2006/01/woodpecker-math.html

I made several assumptions (abundance 1/2000 of pileated, detectability same as pileated, random movement of birds within the area, etc.), then tried to make allowances for the extra high standard of documentation needed for an ivorybill (heard only or brief glimpse not good enough, good view probably not even good enough, low-quality photo not good enough). It's a very simple analysis. Still, though, the numbers that fall out of the end are not encouraging for the success of such efforts. Some things could raise these chances considerably, like clumping of birds within identifiable areas, but even so... yikes. Basically if the birds exist at such low density they are very very hard to document by just heading in to the woods with a camera and searching, searcing, searching. This is a very high-effort, extremely low-payback endeavor. This highlights again the need for definitive sign in cavities or foraging or anything to focus search efforts!

For what it's worth Bill, you may or may not be aware that Timothy Spahr, a Harvard astrophysicist who specializes in the "calculation of rare events," did a similar calculation last year and concluded that a single Ivory-bill in the Cache River Bayou could avoid detection from 20 observers "indefinitely." Of course one would hope that there is more than 1 bird present and there are more than 20 folks involved in the search, but still....

 

[cyberthrush]

Fitzpatrick, in answering questions on the NOVA ScienceNOW website, confirms that additional recordings of blue jays "mimicking" ivory-bills have been obtained "this year." These recordings were thought by the observers at the time to be "very kent-like." But with closer analysis they were apparently easily distinguished from both the old ivory-bill recordings and the suspicious vocalizations recorded last field season. So the blue jay mimic hypothesis seems to be rapidly losing ground....

As I've said elsewhere, I love hearing about the Blue Jay 'kent' calls -- bring 'em on, because it begs the question 'why are excellent mimics like Blue Jays making this call so frequently in Cache River?' -- I've lived in 5 different states, but am only aware of hearing a Jay do this call once in my life -- if they're truly doing it with any frequency in the Big Woods, that may be a significant piece of data itself!

 

[HASnyder]

I've lived in 5 different states, but am only aware of hearing a Jay do this call once in my life -- if they're truly doing it with any frequency in the Big Woods, that may be a significant piece of data itself!

Is this the Blue Jay 'kent' call, on Patuxent's web site? Click on 'song' link - http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4770id.html There are several 'jeer' type calls, then 2 'kent'-type calls midway and toward the end.

If so, I've heard it all my life in many eastern states.

 

[fangsheath]

The calls on the Patuxent web site are much less ivory-bill-like to my ear than those posted on the CLO web site. However, even these are easily distinguished from genuine ivory-bill kents by a straightforward examination of their frequency structure.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/listening/bjkent

 

[HASnyder]

The calls on the Patuxent web site are much less ivory-bill-like to my ear than those posted on the CLO web site. However, even these are easily distinguished from genuine ivory-bill kents by a straightforward examination of their frequency structure.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/listening/bjkent

Can they do this in the field (check via sonograph)? And does anyone know whether the data from the remote recorder devices is being analyzed this year in anything near real-time? I seem to recall from Fitz's AOU talk that it took a couple of months in '05.

 

[Hidde Bruinsma]

Since I've joined the Birdforum I've been following this thread with the most interest, even though I've never felt the urge to contribute in anyway. Up to now.
Like so many people I've been reading much information and news concerning this bird since April last year. So, the inevitable contraversy surrounding its rediscovery has not escaped my notice either. What did come as a surprise to me, to say the least, was Jerome Jacksons' statement in this matter.
I first heard it (through the net) on the NOVA piece and was astounded. Now I've read the written, elaborate version in the Auk. And was still astounded. Not that his article is badly written. Not at all. When he knows his facts he presents them well. Also the nitty-gritty of the developments in conservation since last spring is described in a very balanced way.
The sound recordings brought forward as evidence can be judged to be dubious, as Jackson shimmers through, and sightings can be mistakes as Jackson attacks more convincingly. But only slightly more convincingly. He touches upon the probability of aberrant Pileateds to explain them. In effect he is describing, but not mentioning as such, albinism in Pileateds. The only way a Pileated can show the amount of white on the wings as an Ivorybill does, must be through albinism. I expect it occurs sometimes in this species but if you want to debunk every potential Ivorybill sighting with this explanation one could ask oneself how often does albinism occur in the Pileated Woodpecker. Is there a high concentration of them in eastern Arkansas ? And how do albinistic Pileateds look like? Are the extended white areas restricted to the wings alone ? Jackson doesn't say.
But it all revolves around the Luneau video. It is with this very strong piece of evidence that Jackson goes quite astray. According to him the video shows a normal Pileated, not even an aberrant one. The white we are seeing (all the time) is, in his opinion, the white undersurface of the Pileateds wing. I will refrain from explicitly describing what I think of this "theory", which again he doesn't back up with visual data or evidence (however it "may be forthcoming"). But what I do want to express is that this kind of twisting and turning to brush away a quite convincing piece of evidence is usually done by people who are not the most knowledgeable of their kind. Does Jerome Jackson really belong to that category ? I thought he wrote the book.
Somewhere in his paper he asks himself what will happen if, two years from now, nothing solid has come up from the Big Woods. One could easily turn this around and wonder how sincere the reaction of Mr Jackson will be if, lets say, in three or four months time, that evidence is given by the CLO.

 

[Jesse Gilsdorf]

Back from my whirl wind search trip. Have sent photos to those who know better than I how to evaluate. No sitings of an IBW today, but there's always tomorrow. Will post anything of interest once eval is done.

Jesse

 

[fangsheath]

Absolutely they are analyzing sounds in the field. The laptops are out in full force and even a quick look at a sonagram will arouse suspicion. Although the ARU data are sent to Ithaca for analysis, there are many people with shotgun mikes making sound recordings in the very areas that suspicious sounds were recorded last season. The ARU data from last season have given the searchers a huge leg up and I think this has already paid off.

On Jackson - To be fair his paper was merely an opinion piece, not intended to be an in-depth rebuttal of the video evidence. Nevertheless, I must confess I am bordering on shocked to see him seriously suggest that the bird is a normal pileated. That, frankly, is BS. I would have expected more out of an ornithologist of his reputation. And, as I said, he is the one suggesting that others are doing science a disservice. The CLO went through every aspect of the video evidence - the appearance of the perched bird, the underwing pattern, the upperwing pattern, the size of the bird, the wingbeat rate - in every case going to great lengths, using the same camera, trying to duplicate the conditions, taking lots of video of pileateds, on and on. It is careful science done without preconceptions and very much with alternatives in mind, just as the ARU analyses have been. Only equally careful science is going to counter the conclusions reached, not half-baked opinions based on snap judgments.

 

[flybefree]

House of Rep celebrates the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Hi Everyone. New to this site. I love that this bird population has survived when everyone thought it had died (extinct). Not sure if this may be old news but I found something on the Internet last year.
The US House of Representatives celebrates the finding of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. You can find it at the the following address -the environment in public policy.
Go To: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.+Res.+249:

-FlyBeFree

 

[Jesse Gilsdorf]

From what has been examined so far we have gouges with in the 4+ and 5 mm range. These warrant continued examination as I understand it they are sufficiently large to possibly be IBW. Hopefully we are able to get some other opinions on them. I will try posting some pics tomorrow.

Jesse

 

[Snowy1]

Update by Mary Scott

Mary Scott had updated her website and it includes a new trip report which I found interesting.

The people who wrote the report seem to find the White River NWR one of the most accessible and easy-to-navigate swamps they have seen. Now, I've spent a fair amount of time trudging around in swamps from Florida to Texas. While there are gravel roads that connect many areas, I wouldn't use the word "easy" in the same sentence as White River NWR. Once you're off the road, there really is nothing to help you get through the area except for the occasional ATV trail that usually leads you into areas you don't want to be anyway. The fact that the water is lower this year helps a bit, but without a GPS you really could get lost for weeks in there!

Anyhow, I find it's a far cry from some swamps that actually have boardwalks running for miles through the middle. I'm glad it's that way but tell me this: are there swampy areas that cover as much acreage as the White that are even more inaccessible? Congaree? Big Thicket?

 

[Billbill]

Mary Scott had updated her website and it includes a new trip report which I found interesting.

That would be me. One can get lost in any woods anywhere without a GPS or trail, and I found the quite numerous ATV trails lead us into a lot of fine habitat. Cross-country travel was remarkably easy by floodplain standards -- good solid mineral soils, not thick canebreaks or dense palmetto stands or tangles of yaupon, blackberry, and swamp privet, etc. Swamps with developed boardwalks are a teeny tiny fraction of the total; they're rather like those caves that have lights, elevators, and handrails. More swamps feature dense undergrowth, thick sucking muck, and/or a small-scale alternation of sloughs and levees where the water in the sloughs is too deep to wade but the levees are too shallow and overgrown for boats. WRNWR and Dagmar are picnics in the park by comparison!

 

[Xhunter]

Ivorybills?

Hello everyone. I'm new here and am very excited about the discovery of IBWPs in Eastern Arkansas. After watching the Luneau video, I can only describe the bird as appearing like a gigantic Red Headed Woodpecker in flight. In my opinion, there is no way that is a Pileated Woodpecker! I believe it truly is an IBWP. I'm from the Calcasieu river area of Central Louisiana, and see Pileated Woodpeckers all the time. They are a spectactular bird in their own right. If the IBWP is alive in Arkansas, I believe it is probably in other bottom land swamps of the Southeastern U.S. If I happen to find one in the Calcasieu river swamp, I'll try to photograph it and post it here.

 

[fangsheath]

There are many places in southern Louisiana that make White River NWR look like a picnic. Aside from the expanses of almost perpetually flooded forest that are extremely difficult to canoe, due to thick floating vegetation, there are coastal areas that present a mosaic of dense thickets, mucky cypress swamps, and a labrinynth of deep canals and bayous. Florida also has large, pretty impenetrable places, such as the southern part of the Apalachicola N.F. and the Fakahatchie.

I grew up in Calcasieu Parish and I continue to wonder about the possibility of ivory-bills in the Calcasieu Basin. Many areas are very poorly explored, certainly by birders.

 

[Jesse Gilsdorf]

A few photos of scalings. I would ask Steve H. to explain where he prefers measurements to be taken. I would appreciate and comments. Again, even criticism is a positive to me.

 

[Wompoo Dove]

As I've said elsewhere, I love hearing about the Blue Jay 'kent' calls -- bring 'em on, because it begs the question 'why are excellent mimics like Blue Jays making this call so frequently in Cache River?' -- I've lived in 5 different states, but am only aware of hearing a Jay do this call once in my life -- if they're truly doing it with any frequency in the Big Woods, that may be a significant piece of data itself!

I have enjoyed the mimickry of birds for some time now both in the wild and in aviculture. Like perhaps many observers I have heard blue jays do amazing imitations of red tailed and red shouldered hawks etc. I think an important question arises that I have not seen addressed. What do we know about the timeline for jays when it comes to mimickry. I have owned several parrots who were amazing mimics. For example my african grey (timneh subspecies) took several months to actually pick up phrases that he seemed to relish repeating. Once learned many of them were in context! ie. my voice for "scratch" and with head bent down in expectation. If anyone wants to delve into bird intelligence and imitation you might want to consult

http://www.alexfoundation.org/irene.htm. I believe that we have progressed as bird scientists far beyond the archaiec view that birds are just a bundle of instincts and feathers.

I realize we are talking about blue jays here and more to the point I believe the timeline for bluejay imitations is crucial here. If bluejays like african gray parrots, usually take sometime to learn a particular sound such as ivory billed woodpecker "kents" then that creates some interesting speculation. If they do for the most part take time in learning, then I suggest that most blue jays (if not all) are unlikey to reproduce "kent" calls in short order, created by scientists in Arkansas or elsewhere playing the old archived ivory bill calls. I am wondering if we know anything about imitation timelines in this species. I also suspect that like other bird imitators from mockingbirds to african grays the preferred sound has to hold some interest to the individual and that visual stimulation (while not exclusive) is a highly motivating factor.

Perhaps its time to call in the blue jay experts. Blue jays are not exactly rare and I suspect that some bird scientist has completed indepth studies on this species including its ability to imitate.

Cheers

Don Kimball

 

[fishcrow]

Not to clog the wavelength here, I've written up my assessment of the data and testability of these hypotheses (and my own evaluation of the Luneau video) here:

http://bbill.blogspot.com/

Scroll down a bit to get to my summary of the evidence and what more can be extracted from it. Just reread this, and I note than Jackson's paper, though well-written, does not change any of what I wrote there.

Your analysis is very interesting. It might seem nigh impossible to see an ivorybill, but fortunately you can increase your odds of observing certain species by several orders of magnitude by focusing on where and how you look. For example, some birders have spent decades unsuccessfully searching for Connecticut and Mourning Warblers during migration. By looking in the right places in stealth mode, I have seen dozens of them. I have had some luck with the same approach looking for ivorybills. After a total of about a month in the field, I had one definite encounter (calls clearly heard at close range for a few minutes), one likely encounter (a large woodpecker with lots of white on the wingtops swooping up in classic ivorybill style), and one possible encounter (a loud single rap that was unlike anything else I have heard).

 

[Wompoo Dove]

Absolutely they are analyzing sounds in the field. The laptops are out in full force and even a quick look at a sonagram will arouse suspicion. Although the ARU data are sent to Ithaca for analysis, there are many people with shotgun mikes making sound recordings in the very areas that suspicious sounds were recorded last season. The ARU data from last season have given the searchers a huge leg up and I think this has already paid off.

On Jackson - To be fair his paper was merely an opinion piece, not intended to be an in-depth rebuttal of the video evidence. Nevertheless, I must confess I am bordering on shocked to see him seriously suggest that the bird is a normal pileated. That, frankly, is BS. I would have expected more out of an ornithologist of his reputation. And, as I said, he is the one suggesting that others are doing science a disservice. The CLO went through every aspect of the video evidence - the appearance of the perched bird, the underwing pattern, the upperwing pattern, the size of the bird, the wingbeat rate - in every case going to great lengths, using the same camera, trying to duplicate the conditions, taking lots of video of pileateds, on and on. It is careful science done without preconceptions and very much with alternatives in mind, just as the ARU analyses have been. Only equally careful science is going to counter the conclusions reached, not half-baked opinions based on snap judgments.

Fang thanks for your excellent post on Jackson. Lest I become too philisophical this morning I trust that folks here will grant me some grace. Yes a good scientists thinks with his head and is balanced, professional and focuses on facts and data. I do chuckle at us researchers though sometimes I think we suffer from being disillusoned and overlook one big glaring factor in scientific studies. The human heart. I respectfully would never suggest I know where Mr. Jackson is coming from. However the human heart can lead even the best of scientists to be motivated to become expert wordsmiths who can be used to cloud good evidence depending on what underlying motivational factors are in place. The same amazing heart and minds that produce major scientific discoveries can also be motived to thwart or at least discolor or throw doubt into other discoveries. Science is afterall highly colored by the window of the human mind and heart no matter how righteously we declare ourselves to be "scientific and only work with facts" We are not machines and our gathered data is never free entirely of our humanness.

Don Kimball

 

[Billbill]

fortunately you can increase your odds of observing certain species by several orders of magnitude by focusing on where and how you look. For example, some birders have spent decades unsuccessfully searching for Connecticut and Mourning Warblers during migration.

I've always found 10 times as many of those warblers as most observers do by simply listening for them in the spring. Which points up two major things for narrowing the search field: Pay attention to your ears, and do not discount the "poor sightings." The "poor sightings" and "possible sounds" are not conclusive evidence, but if they show a pattern they may be pointing you to where to look more closely and greatly increase the odds. This is true both over large areas and small areas. And once we have more info from a known population, we'll know more about habitat preferences in the modern landscape, year-round behavior, and effective search strategies to apply to finding other possible populations.