Rare Woodpecker Sighted On North Carolina Golf Course!
Posted on 09/26/2006 5:35:56 AM PDT by blam
Birders excited about woodpecker sightings
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
By BILL FINCH
Environment Editor
Auburn University researchers published evidence today of what some are describing as an ivory-bill woodpecker "Shangri-La" in the Florida Panhandle, a couple of hours east of Mobile.
Researchers said they've had 13 sightings of the ivory bill, long thought to be extinct, and have recorded some 300 distinctive calls and sounds associated with the giant woodpecker, the largest in the United States and a virtual Holy Grail for many birders.
The last clear photographs of the bird -- and uncontested proof of its existence -- date to the mid-1930s in Louisiana.
In a paper to be published today in the online journal Avian Conservation & Ecology, the researchers also will provide evidence of some 20 roost cavities in the Choctawhatchee River basin north of Panama City, Fla., and distinctive foraging techniques they believe to be unique to ivory bills.
The researchers acknowledged that the evidence is not conclusive and did not release any photographs. But even some skeptics of previous ivory-bill claims have described the evidence as exciting and compelling.
(Excerpt) Read more at al.com ...
Campophilus Principalis
You are probably right, and I think it would be magnificent to see these creations - however, they had similar news last year that did not pan out. East Texas, IIRC.
"When I lived inside the beltway in Northern Va., we had two pileated woodpeckers that would make the rounds through our yard every day."
Here in Springfield, Va I see them occasionally in my back yard. They are a sight to behold.
I would like to see a woodpecker that big..
On my land in Tx I have the Red Bellied Woodpecker and will leave some dead trees standing just for him.
(or them, as there may be 2 or more)
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/tx/tx/jr/docs/birds_of_texas/red_bellied_woodpecker.html
If you get the chance to take a picture of one, please post it. I've seen almost every WP in person but that one.
They used to let me get within 10 feet from them when I was on my riding lawn mower. Big birds, well over 12" high.
Slightly off subject but still on birds..
I was wildlife watching in my forest when nearly a dozen Blue Jays appeared to be hunting as a group..they were making a terrible racket trying to scare up insects is my guess. The worked their way as a group across the canopy and eventually disappeared.
It was interesting to me because I didnt know they hunted as a group and always thought they were solitary.
I wish there were more people like you
"They used to let me get within 10 feet from them when I was on my riding lawn mower. Big birds, well over 12" high."
The Nuthatch does the same. They are cute little things, and completely unafraid.
Several woodpeckers also allow close approaches.
"The Nuthatch does the same. They are cute little things, and completely unafraid"
I always get a kick out of how they go down a tree trunk, head first.
Me too. We get about 25 species, including the Nuthatches, in our back yard. We have feeders, including thistle socks for the Gold Finches, and they flock to those things.
Yep, Woody Woodpecker is obviously a pileated. His song sounds a bit like the pileated's call, too.
I saw one of those in the Wisconsin woods many years ago, it was the most beautiful bird I've ever seen.
My rarest sighting here in MA: a rose-breasted grossbeak. Pretty bird.
Yellowhammer Woodpecker
(Alabama State Bird)
I've seen that too. I thought they were fussing and fighting, lol.
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