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Ivory-billed Woodpecker: takeoffs with deep and rapid flaps + wing noises (2 Viewers)

fishcrow

Well-known member
After the bird watching community failed for decades to document a magnificent bird that resides in an easily accessible region, many bird watchers reacted with hostility toward those who spent long periods of time in the field and managed to find them. Other than how it could impact conservation, it doesn't matter to me what anyone thinks. My data have been published, and the truth will eventually prevail, as it always does in science.

In case anyone here is interested in the truth, I recently discovered something that had been overlooked in a video that was obtained during an encounter with two Ivory-billed Woodpeckers at a site where an ornithologist had recently had a sighting. During one of the events in that video (which runs for more than 20 minutes), both birds are visible at the same time. Within a few seconds of each other, they take off with deep and rapid flaps and wing noises that are audible from a distance. Those flights are consistent with the following account by Tanner:

"The wing-feathers of Ivory-bills are stiff and hard, thus making their flight noisy. In the initial flight, when the wings are beaten particularly hard, they make quite a loud, wooden, fluttering sound, so much so that I often nicknamed the birds 'wooden-wings'; it is the loudest wing-sound I have ever heard from any bird of that size excepting the grouse."

These flights, which can only be attributed to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, may be viewed in a movie (187 MB) that may be downloaded here. The wingbeats during one of the flights are compared with the wingbeats of an Imperial Woodpecker and Pileated Woodpeckers here. Prior to those flights, the other bird came in for a landing that is consistent with an account by Eckleberry of a landing with "one magnificent upward swoop." The footage of this landing may be downloaded here. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is the only plausible explanation for this landing and the field marks, which are discussed here.

Two other conclusive videos were obtained in Louisiana. For one of them, the attached size comparison is an improvement over a comparison that has already been published. The large woodpecker in the video is clearly larger than a Pileated Woodpecker. There is no way to explain this away. It was perched on a tree with two forks that facilitated the scaling of the reference photo relative to images from the video. The size alone is conclusive, but the woodpecker in that video has several characteristics and behaviors that are consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker but not the Pileated Woodpecker.

When will people wake up and recognize the truth? Hopefully, this will happen before it is too late to save the Ivory-billed Woodpecker from extinction.

Mike Collins
Alexandria, Virginia
fishcrow.com
 

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Don’t take the bait Birdforummers (n)
Credible people don't make such statements unless they can back them up. What woodpeckers that occur north of the Rio Grande are larger than a Pileated Woodpecker? What birds have the flights and other characteristics that appear in the other video?
 
I think I could make a case for the existence of anything from the terrible quality photos presented as proof for IBWO's existence. If there has been many sightings as you say, surely someone would have taken a photo with visible details.
 
Credible people also don't make multiple sock puppet accounts to spam the forum...
If anyone here is interested in this magnificent bird and capable of having a serious discussion that rises above the sophomoric level, it would be easy to download and study the video clips.
 
I think I could make a case for the existence of anything from the terrible quality photos presented as proof for IBWO's existence. If there has been many sightings as you say, surely someone would have taken a photo with visible details.
If it is true, as you are claiming, that such a case could be made for the existence of anything, then I would like to see you make a case for any species other than the Ivory-billed Woodpecker for the videos that are discussed here or in any of my papers.
 
If it is true, as you are claiming, that such a case could be made for the existence of anything, then I would like to see you make a case for any species other than the Ivory-billed Woodpecker for the videos that are discussed here or in any of my papers.
I won't waste my time, and imo you shouldn't be wasting yours either, until a picture comes out that actually shows something besides a dark blob.
 
I'm a little confused by the composite above.
Is it the case that you have found a tree that looks the same shape and proportion as the one in the video still, then attached a Pileated specimen in order to try and draw a comparison?
 
I'm a little confused by the composite above.
Is it the case that you have found a tree that looks the same shape and proportion as the one in the video still, then attached a Pileated specimen in order to try and draw a comparison?
Such a comparison would make no sense. It is the tree on which the bird was perched in the video. It was collected (with a permit from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries) after it blew down. It was cut to include the two forks in order to facilitate scaling.
 
IBWO is Gone gone gone, jumping like a catfish on a pole.

John
This claim is based on what? Credible people don't make such statements unless they can back them up. What woodpeckers that occur north of the Rio Grande are larger than a Pileated Woodpecker? What birds have the flights and other characteristics that appear in the other video?
 
I won't waste my time, and imo you shouldn't be wasting yours either, until a picture comes out that actually shows something besides a dark blob.
I didn't think you would be able to back up your claim. The videos don't just show dark blobs. For example, an avian artist whose depictions of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have appeared on the covers of major ornithology publications made the following comments on one of the videos:

"I like the head/neck/crest and especially bill to head proportions. They do not suggest Pileated Woodpecker to me---too massive, especially the large, long bill. The rared-back pose, long but fluffy and squared-off crest, and extremely long, erect head and neck suggest Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The flapping leap the bird takes to the right, across the two trunks, is very unusual, and unlike anything I’ve seen a Pileated Woodpecker do. The flight appears ponderous and heavy, and the wings altogether too long and thin for a Pileated Woodpecker. The bird overall just looks very large and heavy."
 
This claim is based on what? Credible people don't make such statements unless they can back them up. What woodpeckers that occur north of the Rio Grande are larger than a Pileated Woodpecker? What birds have the flights and other characteristics that appear in the other video?
This isn't a claim. This is what your government says. You are the one with a claim, or rather a rehash of a particularly unfunny joke. Like any bad comedian, what you stand in desperate need of is some new material. Come back when you have some.

John
 
After the bird watching community failed for decades to document a magnificent bird that resides in an easily accessible region, many bird watchers reacted with hostility toward those who spent long periods of time in the field and managed to find them. Other than how it could impact conservation, it doesn't matter to me what anyone thinks. My data have been published, and the truth will eventually prevail, as it always does in science.
Comment deleted.

Ed
 
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Such a comparison would make no sense. It is the tree on which the bird was perched in the video. It was collected (with a permit from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries) after it blew down. It was cut to include the two forks in order to facilitate scaling.
Oh I see - they didn’t quite look the same to me (e.g. the cut side-branch top right looking more upright), but I guess it's easy for such features to be misrepresented in a photo due to subtle differences in angle and lighting...or the tree changing with age (presumably it blew down soon after the video).
 
Oh I see - they didn’t quite look the same to me (e.g. the cut side-branch top right looking more upright), but I guess it's easy for such features to be misrepresented in a photo due to subtle differences in angle and lighting...or the tree changing with age (presumably it blew down soon after the video).
The tree specimen was collected after it blew down in the fall of 2008. It was actually cut to include one additional fork. It should be clear from the attached photos (including two that were taken shortly after the video was obtained in 2006) that it's the same tree.
 

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If you were a working scientist you'd know "the truth is" that most hypotheses eventually turn out to be false and are discarded. Otherwise, we might go on believing that the moon is made from blue cheese ... as opposed to cheddar.

Ed
What do you know about my credentials as a scientist?
 
This isn't a claim. This is what your government says. You are the one with a claim, or rather a rehash of a particularly unfunny joke. Like any bad comedian, what you stand in desperate need of is some new material. Come back when you have some.

John
Yet another sophomoric comment from someone who is incapable of actually addressing the evidence.
 
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