An ivory-billed woodpecker, in an undated still photo taken from video and provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY/AP
Posted on 04/04/2023 5:44:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
In Texas, a man claims to see the mysterious black-and-white woodpecker a few times a week on his land near an airport in Longview. A woman in North Carolina says one regularly visits bird feeders at her home. Another insists she encountered it nearly 20 years ago in Florida.
“I KNOW what I saw, and I’m thrilled to have seen him,” she wrote in July to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal agency isn’t entirely convinced.
In late 2021, the U.S. government sparked a fierce flap in ornithological circles when it said the ivory-billed woodpecker—a majestic bird with a nearly 3-foot wingspan—was gone for good, after official sightings hadn’t been documented in roughly eight decades.
The declaration has divided both hobbyists and professional birders alike. Ornithologists and researchers cite recent, grainy images of what they say suggests the ivory-billed woodpecker is indeed still alive.
Others are pushing back, saying it is time to move on.
“A suggestive video is not good enough,” says John Dillon, a past president of the Louisiana Ornithological Society and a member of the state’s rare-birds record committee.
Mr. Dillon argues that all the time and money the government is spending on this woodpecker could be put to better use restoring wetlands and protecting wildlife that is irrefutably still alive.
He isn’t trying to ruffle any feathers here, but says, “There’s not a lot of difference between finding the bird or proving that Noah’s ark was real.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has collected more than 200 comments on its proposal to end the woodpecker’s endangered-species status, and along with it, the funding to protect the bird’s habitat and population recovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
An ivory-billed woodpecker, in an undated still photo taken from video and provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY/AP
PPPPPIIIINNNNGGGG!......................
Lower picture has a glint in the eye that suggests that surprises are coming.
Upper picture just looks stoned.
Too much hammering.
Stop the hammering!
That’s a big pecker…
That’s a big woody................
One of the problems is that the ivory-billed wood-pecker is known to live among the treetops of old growth forest, making it very hard to observe from the ground. Some researchers have used drones to record stretches of forest from above and come up with very suggestive images. Still. the “experts” are quite sure of themselves, as usual.
The Red Crowned Pilated is so similar, with just a 20% difference in wingspan, that it is hard to rule on any sighting.
29.5 inch wingspan versus 36. Big bird versus very big bird. The wing coloring, which to me makes up the other main identifier is so elusive, open for a second and then gone, that I would not feel sure without extensive photos from a top lens.
I have read that there is a Caribbean Woodpecker that is also very large with similar plumage and is not unusual for one to be seen along the Gulf Coast from time to time, especially after storms or hurricanes. These people could be seeing that one and thinking it is an Ivory Billed one...................
I have to say the idea that they are in North Carolina coming to some lady’s feeder seems really farfetched. Take a picture next time, but given the last place they were seen was in the Louisiana swamps 80 years ago, color me skeptical.
You would practically need a DNA test to be sure................
I suspect the woodpecker is competing against big foot for the world hide and seek champion..
As long as the prothonotary warblers don’t go extinct!
I see Pilated Woodpeckers here in coastal North Carolina fairly often. I had a cabin on a lake in central Missouri for a dozen years and with a suet feeder hung outside the family room window we would get a Pilated three times a day like clockwork.
Their vision is so great that if you move they can see you through the glass and they are gone in an instant. If I stayed frozen I could observe them at a three foot distance for a minute and a half or more.
nice one lol
That bird is the Condor of Woodies!
I’ve never seen a Woodpecker anywhere near that size. I saw one in Novato, California a few years ago.
The knock knocking sound of his pecking got my attention. It was at the Indian Valley Local College. This bird wasn’t much bigger than a full grown parakeet.
You would think they would be giving their little bird brains a concussion, all that drilling into trees and all.
God designed them to last a lifetime..................
I’m still pursuing the elusive Round-breasted Mattress Thrasher.
Yep, saw a show where they went loo,ing for them using drones, and had some compel,ing video- hard to tell though- could be the pilated woodpeckers they are seeing.
The best way to sort it all out is to shoot every woodpecker one sees, to see if it’s the ivory or the pilated - then we’ll know, and can create laws protecting them again. (I joke, i joke)
Though not on any regular basis, I see them occasionally on my property on the other side of the Allegheny mountains here in North Central WV.
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