Posted on 04/10/2007 7:18:32 AM PDT by Dacb
A small band of searchers rousts itself each morning from a secret camp deep in the woods of a forgotten northwest Florida swamp.
They have endured freezing nights, foul drinking water, long stints without showers and an outhouse with only one wall, all in a search for a ghostly creature that may not even exist. They are on a quest to find and photograph an ivory-billed woodpecker to show the world the bird is not extinct.
They have invited me along for a two-day glimpse into a mission that is as inspiring as it is mundane.
In the past few years, bird experts in the Southeastern United States have collected sightings, recordings and fuzzy video images. The latest evidence comes from Florida along the Choctawhatchee River. But no one has the ultimate proof: a clear photo.
No doubt such a find would bring fame to this assembly of highly trained birding experts mostly from universities. But more thrilling is the chance of discovering one of the nation's most majestic birds was not wiped out by logging and suburban sprawl. They are now in the fourth month of a second fall-through-spring season.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Can someone post a pic of one so we’ll know what it is if we see one?
Unless you want to travel at least ten miles via canoe or johnboat into dense swampland in a few remote areas of the US, you won’t have to worry about seeing one.
Ornithologists at Cornell have woodpecker “egg” on their face ever since they bought into a preposterous sighting of an Ivory-billed several years ago. They are, unfortunately, extinct. These sighting expeditions have been going on now for several years. Every once in a while a blurred video turns up, but no specimens. A sad story, but that’s the way it goes!
I saw a double breasted mattress thrasher the other day.
Maybe they should follow Audubon’s approach and start shooting anything that moves. Eventually, they’ll shoot an Ivory Billed Woodpecker. I’m sure a carcass will provide the proof they need.
What picture?
Thanks!
No, you can’t see my Ivory Billed Woodpecker. I keep it with my Grail, and you can’t see that either.
Maybe, maybe not, it is very possible that a small population still exists. There are still wild corners in the swamps. I wish I was younger and healthier, I’d be looking.
:-))
IIRC, it looks a lot like a pilliated woodpecker, except different. :)
And they don’t even taste that good.
Thanks for the ping. The white markings on the back are unmistakeable. I know I saw one in 1989. I just can’t prove it.
I hope that somebody eventually finds one and can prove it. But then again I am still waiting for someone to find a live thylacine.
We have pileated woodpeckers around the place here in north Louisiana. Their call sounds (to me) like an old mechanical-ringer phone; loud, but not at all musical. I don’t hear them hammering, though. Nests may be too far from the house.
This tree isn't far from out home so all of this pecking must have been done when we were out. This guy has attacked all sides of the tree which is going to have to come down now.
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