Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Pearl River Basin

In April 2005, the most exciting news in the history of wildlife conservation came from Arkansas, where a team led by Cornell University documented an Ivory-billed Woodpecker that was observed several times. There had been many sightings over the years, including David Kulivan's report of a pair in the Pearl River basin along the southern border between Louisiana and Mississippi in 1999, but sightings had been sporadic since the 1940s and usually lacked hard evidence or multiple sightings to back them up. The extreme wariness of the Arkansas bird suggested that populations of ivorybills could easily be hiding out in other bottomland forests, and in fact it seemed obvious from the fact that the species had survived for so many decades that there must be a substantial (but sparse) population. Many others have gotten out in the field to search for ivorybills, including a team led by Auburn University that found multiple pairs of ivorybills in the Choctawhatchee River basin in Florida.

Having heard "kent" calls just to the east of the Pearl River at Stennis Space Center in February 2000, where unusual bark scaling was discovered several years later, I knew that Kulivan's report was legitimate and that ivorybills were waiting to be documented in that area. I started a search in November 2005 and found a pair of ivorybills in February 2006. I have spent more than 100 weeks in the field during the past four years. Most of the searching involved kayaking and hiking through bottomland forests, but some time was spent observing from exceptionally tall cypresses that provide unobstructed views over the treetops. It's extremely difficult to observe the ivorybill, an ultra-wary species that roams over vast areas that are difficult to access. I have obtained video footage during three encounters with birds that were identified in the field as ivorybills, including a bird that flew nearly directly below one of the observation trees and a pair that I saw while visiting the Auburn group. Details of the search and the videos are posted below. Click here to visit a gallery of some of my favorite photos from the Pearl. Some of my photos from the swamp have been converted into artwork. An anonymous artist has produced cartoons based on the ivorybill's ability to frustrate bird watchers and supposed need for old growth forest.

* Daily log of the 2010 search season (8-5-09 to 11-14-09, 12-31-09 to 2-26-10)

* Daily log of the 2009 search season (9-16-08 to 10-10-08, 11-6-08 to 11-15-08, 1-26-09 to 4-1-09)

* Daily log of the 2008 search season (10-20-07 to 3-29-08, 4-13-08 to 4-21-08, 6-14-08 to 6-28-08)
* Video from March 29, 2008 From the same general area in the Pearl River where the 2006 video was obtained. Obtained from 75 feet up a cypress tree when a bird that was seen to have two white stripes on the back flew along the channel below. The footage shows a high flap rate that is consistent with ivorybill in terms of historical accounts, physiology, and flap rate models; a high flight speed that is consistent with historical accounts of ivorybills; a wingspan, long tail, high aspect ratio wings, and large white patches on the dorsal surfaces of the wings that are consistent with ivorybill; and a cruising flight flap style in which the wings are folded close to the body in the middle of the upstroke that is not consistent with expectations for this species but is consistent with a large woodpecker and a previously overlooked Tanner photo.

* Daily log of the 2007 search season (9-20-06 to 10-23-06, 11-10-06 to 7-20-07)
* Video from January 19, 2007 From the Choctawhatchee River across the main channel from the Bruce Creek area, where numerous sightings have been reported in recent years. The footage was obtained during an extended encounter with a pair of ivorybills that were initially detected swooping (in classic ivorybill style) between perches in the distant canopy in the same general area where a possible sighting of a pair had been reported the previous day. Details of the right wing were seen through binoculars, and the footage includes swoops and a takeoff with deep and rapid flaps that are consistent with historical accounts, the physiology of the ivorybill, and the flaps of the bird in the 2006 video.

* Daily log of the 2006 search season (11-7-05 to 11-26-05, 1-30-06 to 4-18-06)
* Video from February 20, 2006 Obtained during the last of five sightings (two of stunning quality) during an amazing five-day period in a concentrated area in the Pearl River, where kents were also heard on two occasions. During an extended encounter, footage was obtained of a large woodpecker that remained perched in the leaned-back posture of an ivorybill while moving around, has a large crest and bill, and took off into two flights with deep and rapid flaps consistent with historical accounts and the physiology of the ivorybill.

Click here (while pressing the "control" key on a Macintosh) to download an 84.2 meg version of the 2008 video that plays at half speed and is sampled at 60 frames per second. Click here to download a 37.3 meg version of the 2008 video that plays at full speed. It's difficult to fully appreciate the videos without watching them on a good TV. This can be done by downloading the disk images below and burning to DVD using Disk Utility on a Macintosh.

* disk image for the 2006 video (39.2 megs)
* disk image for the 2007 video (44.2 megs)
* disk image for the 2008 video (47.6 megs)

The DVDs play back the videos at full and quarter speed. In the 2006 video, note the leaned-back posture while the bird is perched, the deep and rapid flap during the hop across the fork, and the deep and rapid flaps during the takeoff. In the 2007 video, note the deep and rapid flaps during the takeoff and the high-speed swoops that are consistent with historical accounts of the ivorybill. In the 2008 video, note the high speed of the bird as it passes the observation tree, the long tail, the long and narrow wings, and the large white patches on the dorsal surfaces of the wings.

Contact: cinclodes@yahoo.com



The above artwork by Michael DiGiorgio brings to life one of my Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings.


Other Interests

Bird Watching Trip Reports
Venus transits the Sun (June 8, 2004)
Photos from Manu National Park: Peruvian Amazon
Iguazu Falls: Near the Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay border
Photos from the Four Corners area
Photos from Big Bend National Park
Photos from Yellowstone National Park
Favorite Photo: Rio Maraņon (a branch of the Amazon) near Balsas, Peru
Wakefield Park: A Hotspot for Mourning and Connecticut Warblers
Favorite Basketball Shot
Rubik's Cube and other puzzles