Posted on 08/01/2005 6:28:32 PM PDT by Altair333
Published: August 2, 2005 The phoenix had nothing on the ivory-billed woodpecker. It is hard to keep track of how many times this near-mythic bird, the largest American woodpecker and a poignant symbol of extinction and disappearing forests, has been lost and then found. Now it is found again. Even the most skeptical ornithologists now agree. They say that newly presented evidence shows that at least two of the birds are living in Arkansas.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Do they taste like spotted owl?
I'd love to hear the tapes. I hope during their investigations this winter that they get incontrovertable proof, minutes long video preferably, to lay this whole thing to rest. It's been my unprofessional opinion since it broke that the most likely (in my mind) reason for the reappearance is the population getting to the point where they have had to spread out for territories. I so hope that's true.
Hooray! I just love a good love story...two of them, huh?
Back from extinction! Hooray!
Wonder what Mr. Sibley has to say about this?
My amateur birder remembrance is that the Pileated Woodpecker bears a resemblance but is smaller. I sure want to believe this. Passenger Pigeon next, then we start on the Dodo.
Let's hope there is gender diversity between the two of them or they'll be extinct...again.
I think that woodpecker is smaller but from the pictures I have seen it is not that much smaller and from a distance it might be thought to be the other mythic woodpecker.
Oh fer Pete's sake.
If they had been carrying a shotgun instead of a camera, they'd have proved it a long time ago.
No offense, but the whole scientific community, even the hardcore skeptics are convinced. That's enough for me, on this topic, to rely on their opinions.
By all means, the Moa it is. How would you like to be out in the field with the binoculars and see that? Well if we're going all out, let's just bring back the archaeopteryx (almost no chance I spelled that right.)
Did it go "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hahahahahahahaha!"
That thing had some pair of drumsticks.
The people who spotted this are real experts. One of them spoke at a bird club I belong to. If you're referring to the pileated woodpecker as a similar bird, experienced birders can distinguish between the two birds in an instant. And, experienced birders can identify distinctive calls and rapping. It's partly a process of elimination.
This is tremendously good news. A bird thought to be extinct for more than sixty years has been found again. The ivory-billed has been referred to as the "Lord God" bird because of its spectacular, awe-inspiring appearance. People who've seen it in the past were stunned into the exclamation, "Lord God Almighty, what a bird!" It's one of the Creator's most magnificient creatures.
The guy I heard describe his experience in the Arkansas woods was choked with emotion. Arkansans should do everything in their power to preserve habitat in their state for this bird. This is just a tremendous, wonderful, reaffirmation that there are parts of this country that remain wild and free enough to sustain a magnificent creature like this.
Do you doubt because of your great expertise or is it because you live in Arkansas? This paper coming out was written, I think, before the sound recordings. If I'm not mistaken, many people who were going to write papers or had written papers doubting the sightings were convinced by the audio.
I sure would love to be there with a camera!
The sarcasm came across a little stronger than I meant. I apologize. It was meant in good jest.
"How would any of these people know what this woodpecker sounds like?"
On the NY Times article there's a link for a recording of the bird made in 1935- they know exactly what it sounds like.
I REPEAT WHERE IS THE CONCLUSIVE PROOF?
IF SOMEONE SAW THE FOULK MONSTER WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT.
I NEED MORE THAN A FEW ALLEGED SIGHTINGS AND A GRAINY PIECE OF A FRACTION OF A SECOND VIDEO.
ALSO EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS BIRD HAS BEEN ABLE TO STAY UNDERCOVER FOR THE LAST 65 PLUS YEARS.
YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO DESPERATELY WANTS TO BELIEVE THAT A BIRD THAT MAY BE EXTINCT HAS BEEN FOUND.
WAIT UNTIL MORE EVIDENCE IS THERE BEFORE BUYING INTO THIS.
"Did it go "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hahahahahahahaha!"
LOL!
THERE AGAIN HOW DO YOU KNOW THE SOUND RECORDINGS ARE REAL?
HOW DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THESE BIRDS SOUND LIKE?
I WANT PICTURES AND THEN I WILL BELIEVE.
Look at post 23.
Exactly what I thought a grainy, scratchy recording done 70 years ago. Again I want pictures.
Too bad they're both male.
But they can still love each other! < /BARF>
Ok have it your way. Wait for the pictures.
everyone one knows the ivory billed woodpecker is the pet of big foot.
Two guys? They are defintely "cruisin"" for females... soon there will be many more!
I know. Who doesn't?
VIDEO of the recent sighting here!
http://www.ivorybill.org/video.html
I live in New Hampshire, and there are several Pileated woodpeckers in the neighborhood. Not that shy, they've flown by me really close several times. The bird on that video is NOT a Pileated. Pileateds do not have all that white on the wings.
Link to an audio recording made in the 30's of the ivory-billed:
http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill/images/IBW-audi.wav
Totally different calls from that of the Pileated:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker_dtl.html#sound
What a lovely gift it woud be to have at least a few of these magnificent birds in our country. May the Lord grant us the privilege.
It is hard for me to believe this showy bird was never been seen for 60 years. I am emailing this matter to my expert birder brother for comment. He is in the middle of the grape vine on matters like these.
Folks know what the bird sounds like. It has been recorded. But are the recordings real or fake reproductions?
Do they taste like spotted owl?
-- -- -- -- -- --
They have the dark meat taste like a spotted owl, and the white meat taste of a whooping crane. You should try a couple on the grill.
Can you make a sentence using the words Bill, Pecker, and Arkansas? I knew you could.
I have seen Pileated Woodpeckers up close and personal as they ate huckleberries on a Redwood stump ten feet from my garage and they most certainly do have white on their wings! I have my Sibley's open to that page and there is a white wing bar and lots of white under the wings...
I wonder how Ivory billed woodpeckers should be cooked.
I would guess that if you fry them in beer batter they would taste a lot like chicken.
My bad...I see the Ivory billed has lots of white on the wings...
(We're old, huh?)
But they can still love each other! < /BARF>"
And as Jerry Seinfeld would say... "Not that there's anything wrong with that..." (smirk)
Maybe they'll migrate to Massachusetts, marry, and adopt.
That HAS happened. The last time an Ivory Billed woodpecker was spotted in Florida, it was shot by specimen collectors.
Pileated don't have ivory bills.
"ALSO EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS BIRD HAS BEEN ABLE TO STAY UNDERCOVER FOR THE LAST 65 PLUS YEARS."
Maybe it hasn't. Any number of people could have seen one over the years and not known what it was, or not have mentioned it to anyone outside of their own circle of acquaintances. My husband and I go fishing in a wildlife refuge, as do some of our friends. My husband and I saw a mother bear and her cub there this year...once. In all of the years our friends have been going there, they have never seen a bear. Just because someone didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't there.
My daughter dryly says that probably the reason it survives is because it has managed to find a place to stay away from man, so he would think it was extinct.
I was going to ask when they were in season.
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