Day-to-day log of the 2007 search season: 9-20-06 to 10-23-06, 11-10-06 to 7-20-07

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9-20-06. I have returned to the Pearl for a scouting trip. I stopped at Auburn University to meet with Geoff Hill, who has found ivorybills along the Choctawhatchee River in the Florida Panhandle. Geoff and his colleagues have obtained numerous recordings of kents and double raps. They have also found several large cavities. What impressed me the most is the foraging sign. They have found examples of tight bark stripped in small areas centered over holes bored by beetle larva. I arrived at Stennis late in the afternoon and was sad to see that they have bulldozed the area where I first heard kents in February 2000.

9-21-06. It was exciting to venture into the Pearl for the first time in five months. Near both areas where I had ivorybill sightings, I found lots of foraging sign similar to what has been found in Florida. This example is near the sightings that I had on February 2 and 3. This example is near the sightings that I had on February 16, 17, and 20. I found a Northern Parula caught in the web of a Golden Orb Weaver. I reached up with my paddles and got it free. The bird flew off, called a few times, and defecated. The large spider just sat there in the middle of its web the whole time.

9-22-06. It was a nice morning in the Pearl. The only interesting sighting was a squirrel that jumped or fell about forty feet from a tree into the river. It then swam to the other side. In the afternoon, I did some exploring to the west of the end of Oil Well Rd., which is now open. When it was closed earlier this year, it was necessary to walk three miles down just to get there and then three miles back when you were done searching.

9-23-06. I spent the morning in the kayak. There were several mixed flocks of warblers. There was a good amount of pileated activity this morning. The Barred Owls have also been active the past few days.

9-24-06. With thunderstorms on the way, I decided to stay off the water and checked out the area south of Stennis this morning.

9-25-06. This afternoon, I printed out some images from the February 20 video and used them to locate the tree where the bird was perched when I came upon it. Back in the spring, I was too busy trying to relocate the birds to take the time to track down this tree. Once I traced back my movements using the video, I immediately recognized the tree and determined that the bird was only about fifty feet from me. The bird was perched about fifteen feet above the ground on the right side of the broken-off tree. I was paddling upstream to the right. The bird remained perched for perhaps a second after I spotted it. Due to the poor light conditions, I was unable to resolve field marks, but I immediately knew it was an ivorybill based on its shape, size, and posture. Although I had no doubt about what it was from the instant that I spotted it, I saw the white trailing edges of the wings when it flushed. The bird appears in the video at the 34 second mark a short distance to the left and away from the bank (which is the direction in which it flew). Later on, it appears in the video perched in the fork of a tree 200 meters to the left of its original position.

9-26-06. Susan Epps is a local birder who will occasionally be joining me in the field. This morning, we took a long hike about a mile to the west of the end of Oil Well Rd. With all the fallen trees and thick undergrowth, the going is very difficult out there, but it was worth the effort. We heard what might have been the hard blows of ivorybill foraging. It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a tree and came from a remote and inaccessible area. On the way back, Susan spotted an impressive cavity.

9-27-06. I spent another morning exploring to the west of the end of Oil Well Rd. On the previous day, we were too exhausted to investigate the loud blows that came from far to the south. This time, I started earlier and brought plenty of water but didn't hear anything.

9-28-06. Susan and I returned to the site where we found the cavity. On this visit, we arrived in the morning, and the sun was shining directly on the cavity. The snag is broken off just above the cavity, and it appears that the cavity may have been formed when a large branch broke off.

9-29-06. Along with two non-birding friends, I paid a visit to Perch Lake, which is very interesting but difficult to reach. We were covered with spiders as we crossed through an area where fallen trees block the bayou. On February 22, I had a possible sighting in this area, which is rarely visited. There are hardwoods in this area, and I suspect it is used by the ivorybills.

9-30-06. This morning, I spent some time in the area where I obtained the video. I got out of the kayak to check out the tree where I came upon the ivorybill perched that day. I also inspected some of the larger trees for cavities. In the afternoon, Susan and I checked out an area several miles to the east of the Pearl, where there have been multiple reports by locals. Late in the afternoon, we saw an ivorybill fly across an open area. The sun was behind us, and the bird was about a hundred feet in front of us. It banked on fixed wings and appeared to be coming in for a landing. We had an excellent dorsal view, but neither of us resolved dorsal stripes. I ran toward the treeline hoping to keep it in view but was unable to relocate it. Susan drew a sketch that matches what I saw. I traced over the sketch with a magic marker in order to get a better scan and messed the bill up in the process. Since this sighting was shortly before sunset, the direction of flight provides a clue to the location of a possible roost site.

10-1-06. We checked out the habitat in the general area of the sighting. Late in the afternoon, we kept watch in hopes that the bird would follow the same route to a roost site.

10-2-06. Stifling weather has returned and fatigue has set in. It's time to take a day off.

10-3-06. Early in the morning, I did some scouting in the area of the recent sighting and in parts of Devil's Swamp that I had never visited before. Later on, Susan and I visited some areas to the north and came upon a field loaded with native weeds and flowers and perhaps a hundred hummingbirds.

10-4-06. Susan and I continued to scout the area of the recent sighting. We saw a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher perched on a powerline.

10-5-06. Susan and I did some scouting to the south of I-10. There have been two reports of ivorybills flying across I-10, and there is some good habitat down there. Ivorybills don't spend all their time in swamps. The recent sighting was along Texas Flat Rd. The bird was flying south toward Devil's Swamp. A resident of Kiln had two sightings about three miles to the northeast of this location. The habitat along the road is not suitable for ivorybills, but there are swamps, waterways, pine forests, hardwoods, cypress stands, and dead trees on both sides of the road. Since this property is privately owned, it is necessary to ask permission to leave the road. One possibility is to watch for flyovers along the road. Susan found this bark scaling near the canal at Stennis that runs along the edge of Devil's Swamp. The location where I heard kents in February 2000 is along one of the smaller canals that branches off the large canal.

10-6-06. We made another trip to Perch Lake. We found a Virginia Rail that had just been killed on the road. It was a bad beginning to a bad day. After getting covered by spiders on the last visit, I brought a saw to clear some of the branches that block the approach. I sliced my left hand and had to get stitches. I cleaned the iodine from my hand while sitting in the car and then forgot to pull the keys from the ignition when I got out.

10-7-06. Nice weather has finally arrived. With a wounded left hand and a sore right shoulder from a tetanus shot, I decided not to go out in the kayak today. I paid a brief visit to Devil's Swamp.

10-14-06. While my hand healed, I spent some time scouting areas to the north that I will cover later in the season. I would like to have a sighting up there so that I will know that there are multiple pairs in the Pearl.

10-16-06. I will soon be heading home to Virginia. I will spend the remaining time making preparations for later in the season.

10-17-06. I spent some time clearing fallen branches to make kayaking less treacherous later in the season. It's easy to get capsized by such obstacles when the current is strong.

10-18-06. I did some exploring in the northeastern part of Stennis and saw my first Sedge Wren of the season. Since there were plenty of Sedge Wrens here when I arrived last fall, it seems that I have come full circle.

10-19-06. Grayson Rayborn and I did some searching from the end of Oil Well Rd. It was miserably hot and humid, and we didn't get as far as we had hoped. This beetle seemed to be looking for a place to lay eggs.

10-20-06. I took my final kayak ride of the visit. There were still some migrants in the area, including a Philadelphia Vireo. I was forwarded a report of a sighting in the Honey Island Swamp in June.

10-21-06. I intended this to be my last day in the Pearl until later in the season, but then I saw an ivorybill about three miles south of the area where Susan and I heard loud raps a few weeks ago. I saw the bird for a few seconds as it landed high in a tree with its back to me. The illumination was ideal, and it was spectacular to see the bird flutter its outstretched wings to make adjustments for the landing. Although this species is extremely wary, the brilliant white secondaries are obviously meant to be seen.

10-22-06. Susan and I briefly visited the location of the sighting before I loaded up the car and hit the road. I really need to get back to Virginia, but I decided to stay on I-10 and head to the Choctawhatchee for a brief visit rather than making the usual turn onto I-65. I arrived late in the afternoon and ran into Geoff Hill and several others.

10-23-06. I spent the morning in the Choctawhatchee. The habitat is excellent. After spending five months in the post-Katrina Pearl, it was a joy to walk around in a forest with relatively few fallen trees. The dirt road to Tilley's Landing takes you to a boat ramp that gives the impression that one has arrived at the Choctawhatchee, but it's actually a small lake. I walked out to the river and then walked north along the river before turning back.

11-1-06. I saw my first Imperial Woodpecker. It was only a specimen at the Smithsonian, but it was still incredibly impressive. It is stunning how it dwarfs the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

11-10-06. I have returned to the Pearl and will initially be doing some scouting near the area of the most recent sighting.

11-20-06. Since it was a beautiful day and some of the leaves have fallen, I decided to take some photos and construct panoramas of the area where I obtained the video on February 20.

11-26-06. This morning, I heard a Blue Jay imitate what may have been kient calls. They were the most striking calls I have ever heard from a Blue Jay. They fit Tanner's description of kients, which were never recorded and have not been reported for decades.

11-27-06. I returned to the hot zone and measured some distances associated with the video. The numbers should be correct to within a few meters since I waited for the GPS readings to settle down to within 0.001 arc minutes. I was less than 20 meters from the ivorybill when it flushed from the snag. The distance it initially flew from the snag (to where it later appears through a gap in the vegetation) is a little over 50 meters. The distance from the snag to the fork is about 200 meters. The direction of the source of the calls was correlated with the movements of the ivorybill over these distances for approximately seven minutes. Since it's important to try to relocate an ivorybill after an encounter, it's not always possible to take an immediate GPS reading. I usually looked for a landmark (such as a tree) and returned later to take a reading. Since this didn't always work, I only have precise locations for five of the encounters in the hot zone. To get an idea how concentrated the hot zone was, I defined ground zero to be the average of these five locations, computed the distances between ground zero to each of the locations, and obtained 32, 37, 113, 121, and 172 meters. I would love to know what attracted the ivorybills into such a small area for at least five days.

11-28-06. This season, I have been spending more time looking for foraging sign and cavities. In September, I visited the hot zone for the first time in five months and found foraging sign that is similar to what has been found in Florida. This morning, I found a lot more of it in the same area. Within 300 meters of the hot zone, I recently located a fresh cavity that appears to be too large to be a pileated cavity. I found an older cavity of similar size in the same area this morning.

12-3-06. Last season, I flushed an ivorybill from the river bank several times but never when I had the video camera running. It's going to be different this season. I have devised a "secret weapon" that makes it possible to aim the camera almost instantly, even while paddling the kayak. Later on, I'll post a photo of this set-up, which should allow me to get some good footage the next time I flush an ivorybill from the bank. I took some scenery shots in the Pearl this weekend, including this one of two trees that appear to be in love and this one of a fallen tree that Rob Tymstra named the Gates of Heaven.

12-4-06. Don Pechon took Grayson Rayborn and me for a flight over the Pearl in a Cessna 172 out of Slidell. This was my first attempt to survey the area from above. It was a little bumpy up there, but we managed to get some video and still shots. We plan to do it again on a calmer day. Here are shots of the north end of Perch Lake, an area with many fallen trees, and an area that wasn't hit as hard. As this view across the state border illustrates, there's a good bit of suitable habitat on the Mississippi side of the Pearl, which cuts across the lower right corner of the photo (I had a possible sighting in this area on November 18, 2005). Most of this land is privately owned. Being in the NASA buffer zone, it can't be inhabited or developed, but it can be logged. Just a short ways up the river, the habitat looks like this.

12-5-06. I tried out the "secret weapon" this morning. When paddling the kayak, I now have the capability to instantly get the video camera on birds. I'm confident about getting good footage if there are any encounters like last season.

12-7-06. I did more testing of the "secret weapon" this morning. When kingfishers, phoebes, ducks, and woodpeckers flush from nearby, I'm consistently able to get the video camera on them in less than a second. If the ivorybills are still in the area, it should be no problem getting a good image. I would have gotten five or six good videos if I had thought of this set-up last season.

12-9-06. I heard a double rap in the same area where I heard two double raps from close range in February. It's possible to mistake distant sounds (such as gunshots) for double raps, but double raps are very dramatic and unmistakable at close range. The double rap that I heard today came from a moderate distance and was the most convincing that I have heard since February.

12-11-06. I have supplemented the "secret weapon" with a high-definition video camera (the Sony HDR-HC3). No ivorybill in its right mind will dare to cross my path now. The HD video is very impressive. Still frames look like photos from digital cameras, and the picture is also wider.

12-12-06. I did some comparisons between the HD and SD cameras. As these images illustrate, there is a dramatic difference.

12-13-06. This morning, I tried out the "secret weapon" armed with the HD camera. I'm really excited about this set-up. I can get the camera on birds in a fraction of a second, but it sometimes takes a few seconds to focus. To avoid this problem, I tried manually setting the focus at about 50 meters and obtained these images. This camera also provides better audio. For example, this Fish Crow was calling from high in a tree about 60 meters away.

12-14-06. It's extremely difficult to see an ivorybill, but the ante goes up by several degrees of difficulty when the goal is to get an image. When using an effective search strategy, I would estimate that an average of one sighting per month can be expected in an area where ivorybills are present. That's a long time to be carrying around a camera and having it ready all the time. Searching by kayak has proven to be an effective approach. Since encounters usually last for only a few seconds, it's essential to have the camera in your hands and running, but how can you do that and work the paddles at the same time? One solution to this problem is what I've been referring to as the "secret weapon." With this set-up, I'm able to get the camera on a bird almost instantly. When a bird flushes, I use the paddles to simultaneously aim the camera and bring the eyepiece to my eye. It's much like aiming a pair of binoculars. It only requires two hose clamps, a strip of metal with a hole in it, and a bolt to screw into the tripod threads in the bottom of the camera. The extra weight of the camera is easy to handle. My arms were a little tired after the first day, but I got used to it.

12-15-06. Some Tanner photos that I had never seen before are now available here. I find this one to be the most interesting. Look at that underwing pattern! Note how different it is from the underwing pattern illustrated in the National Geographic field guide. There's a reason for this. Since it's not possible to inspect the underwing pattern of museum specimens, artists have had to do a certain amount of guesswork. The underwing appearing in the Tanner photo has a thin dark strip up the middle, which is quite unlike the thick dark strip shown in the National Geographic field guide but similar to what appears in frame 08 of the "through the gap" sequence in my video. I also found this photo to be very interesting. Compared to pileated work, the holes have sharp openings (as if they were bored using a router). This morning, I found some fresh foraging sign in the hot zone that appears to be similar.

12-16-06. I returned to inspect the foraging sign that I found yesterday. The hole near the center of this photo seems to be much too deep (about five inches) and narrow (it tapers with depth) to be pileated work. The sharp openings, shredding, and chisel marks are also interesting.

12-18-06. It has been warm and foggy lately. I have not had any sightings since arriving back in the Pearl more than a month ago, but that's no cause for alarm. There are plenty of Red-shouldered Hawks and Barred Owls out there, but I haven't been seeing them lately either. This morning, I did more testing of the audio capabilities of the HD camera. It did a pretty good job of picking up this Red-tailed Hawk from more than 100 meters away.

12-19-06. Now that most of the leaves have fallen, I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to look for cavities and foraging sign. This morning, I found these cavities near where I had my first sighting. They're a few hundred meters back in the woods, and you have to be lined up just right to see them from the water. After spotting them while drifting, it took about a half hour to relocate them through the gaps between trees in the foreground. That's a large tree, and those are the most interesting cavities I have found. These photos give a better idea of how far the tree is set back in the woods (the top photo was taken from the edge of the water) and the size of the tree (which appears to be alive).

12-20-06. On February 18, I discovered that there are at least two ivorybills in the Pearl. Since my first ivorybill encounter was in an area overgrown with Yaupon Holly, I decided to name the male Capt. Holly. I named the female Jadie (or J.D.) in honor of John Dennis. I saw Jadie once but was unable to identify sex in any of the other sightings. This morning, Susan Epps saw Capt. Holly in the same area as my sighting on October 21. It was the first time a male ivorybill has been identified in the Pearl since the Kulivan sighting. It was also the highest quality sighting in the Pearl since then. She saw the white triangle on the folded wings, the dorsal stripes, the red crest, and the huge white bill. She also noticed a long neck and leaned back posture. This afternoon, Susan and I visited the area and she showed me the exact location of the sighting. The first thing that I noticed was that several woodpeckers were feeding on the fruit of Chinese tallow trees. Their behavior suggested that this is a highly favored food and that it must be at peak ripeness. A red-bellied and a red-headed were sparring over it. The red-headed made numerous sorties to fly-catch for the fruit as if it were a great prize. I enjoyed watching this but didn't think much of it until Susan told me more details about the sighting. The ivorybill was in a tallow, and it was perched in an unusual way on a relatively small branch. I suspect that it was also feeding on tallow fruit.

12-21-06. This morning, I spent a couple of hours staking out the tallows. It rained the entire time, and the only activity was a brief visit by a red-bellied. On the bright side, the rain should thin out the remaining leaves and raise the water levels.

12-22-06. There were lots of woodpeckers and other species in the tallows this morning. It's awkward for woodpeckers (especially large ones) to forage in these trees. For example, this pileated is perched like the ivorybill that Susan saw a few days ago.

12-23-06. I staked out the tallows again this morning. There continues to be a lot of woodpecker activity. In order to get a wider view, I chose a position about a hundred meters from the trees. I tried out the 2X extender lens on the Sony HDR-HC3 and obtained these images of various woodpeckers. I always had the impression that woodpeckers are among the most intelligent birds, but I never realized just how intelligent they are until I started searching for ivorybills. This species is so adept at eluding humans that it seems to have the intelligence of a corvid. Among the other species, I have often noticed signs of intelligence in the red-bellied. There's one back in Virginia that comes to get peanuts when my wife calls its name (we unimaginatively named it Woody). This morning, I obtained footage of a red-bellied demonstrating intelligence while foraging in the tallows. As this movie shows, it repeatedly kicked at the fruit while hanging upside down. It succeeded in knocking the fruit loose with this approach.

12-24-06. I paid another visit to the tallows. At one point, there were three pileateds foraging in one tree. I observed some interesting woodpecker behavior while staking out this site, but the trail seems to have gone cold.

12-25-06. I spent the beginning and end of the day staking out the tallows, where there was little activity. Since it was windy, I decided to stay off the water and spent the rest of the day hiking into an area that appeared promising during the overflight that we did on December 4. Before starting the hike, I took a detour to the northeast side of Stennis, where I found a lost and exhausted hunting dog. All four paws were bloody, and he was having trouble walking. There was a phone number on the tag. I called the owner and waited for him to come pick up the dog. After all the walking, my feet were also in bad shape by the end of the day. The area turned out to be as interesting from the ground as it is from the air. I found foraging sign similar to what I posted on September 21. The only other places I have seen such foraging sign are near the two main areas where I had sightings in February.

12-26-06. I took the kayak out for the first time in a week and discovered that the recent winds caused the Gates of Heaven to come crashing down. This landmark formed the entrance to the hot zone. Its collapse may not be a good omen, but at least I wasn't paddling under it at the time. It was still a bit windy this morning, and the birds weren't very active. I visited the tallows late in the afternoon hoping for a flyover. There was some red-bellied and red-headed activity, and it appears that about half of the fruit still remains.

12-27-06. I did some exploring in the vicinity of the cavity that I found last week. Just to the south, I found this foraging sign (all on the same tree) and these wood chips on the ground below. It resembles pileated work, but some of it looks unusual.

12-28-06. There was a flurry of activity in the tallows this morning. There were at least four flickers, three pileateds, several red-bellieds, a red-headed, and a downy. There were also several yellow-rumps and red-wings. It's hard to decide whether to keep spending time there. It's possible that the ivorybill visited those trees only once and will never return. Perhaps it flew over, saw other woodpeckers foraging, investigated out of curiosity, and didn't find anything to its liking. On the other hand, it seems likely that ivorybills would use this food source since it's so attractive to other woodpeckers. When Susan Epps initially told me about her recent sighting, she mentioned that there was black above the crest and that this really caught her attention as something unusual relative to a pileated's crest. At the time, I thought she was referring to the black in front of the crest. After discussing it with her again this afternoon, I realized that she actually meant the black on the crown of the head as indicated in these photos of Smithsonian specimens. I had never noticed that this feature should be visible when a male ivorybill is seen from the side.

12-29-06. It was windy, and there wasn't much activity in the tallows. I might not make it out the next few days due to severe weather.

12-30-06. I tried to stake out the tallows before the storm hit, but the rain started coming down just as I arrived. According to the latest weather report, the storm will continue into tomorrow morning.

12-31-06. I considered going out in the kayak, but currents are dangerous after heavy rains. A sapsucker was foraging in the tallows this morning. With the exception of ivorybill and hairy, all of the woodpeckers of the Pearl have now been seen foraging there. It seems very likely that the ivorybill that Susan Epps observed there was also using this food source, which is prized by the other species. A cardinal, an orange-crowned warbler, and a pine warbler were also feeding in the tallows this morning.

1-1-07. The currents were fairly strong this morning, but it was no problem getting around in the kayak, even with the paddle-cam attached. This device is very effective for getting footage of birds that flush from the water or the banks, such as these wood ducks and this great-blue heron. In both cases, I was able to get on the birds almost instantly. It's much like aiming a pair of binoculars. These movies are scaled and compressed, but it's easy to identify the birds in the raw data.

1-2-07. It was one of those mornings when the windows of the car are covered with frost and mist rises from the water. The birds are usually very active on such mornings, and that was the case today. I obtained an image of a pileated that illustrates how the tail sometimes has a forked appearance. This is similar to the feature that appears to be the tail in frame 01 of the "through the gap" sequence. I heard some impressive raps in the hot zone, but the camera isn't very effective at recording low frequency sounds. I visited the tallows late this afternoon. The woodpeckers are still feasting, and the tallow-feeder list now includes catbird.

1-3-07. This morning, I visited an area that appears promising based on the video that I obtained from the Cessna. This area covers about a square mile and is nestled in a corner that is rarely visited. It's surrounded by encounters within two miles to the southeast, southwest, north, and west. The ivorybill that I saw early on February 3 was flying from that direction. One of the visitors last winter heard a double rap in that area. During a brief initial visit to this area, I noticed a good deal of bark stripping and found a large cavity. There aren't as many large trees as other parts of the Pearl, but such a secluded area might be suitable for a roost.

1-4-07. I stayed off the water since severe weather is on the way. I spent some time at the tallows this morning. There wasn't much activity, but that may have been due to the weather.

1-5-07. After the storm, the water levels are about as high as I've seen them in the Pearl. The currents are fairly strong and treacherous in some areas. I saw an otter for the first time since last spring. I wonder where they hide out during the fall. I would also like to know where a certain other species has been hiding out.

1-6-07. I had an unusual sighting this morning. I thought I knew all the birds of the Pearl, but apparently not. I saw a large bird with long and pointed wings gracefully drifting over. My first impression was Swallow-tailed Kite, but the tail wasn't forked. Based on paddle-cam footage, it appears to be a White-tailed Kite. After lunch, I took a walk along the ditch where I first heard kents seven years ago. This photo shows how the ditch has been cleared out. I saw my little friend, Ali, at his usual spot on the bank. I wonder how he recognizes that spot now that the ditch has been cleared. Maybe he uses GPS (gator positioning system).

1-7-07. The weather kept me off the water again. I visited the tallows, but there was little activity, even though fruit remains on those trees.

1-8-07. The water has dropped a foot in two days, but it's still higher than normal and the currents are strong. Going against the current requires greater effort, but going with the current is more dangerous. This paddle-cam shot shows a typical downstream scenario, with obstacles in the water and above. It's tricky to move from side to side and shoot through gaps. If the kayak turns too much, the current may drag it into an obstacle. Such maneuvers get the adrenaline flowing when there are valuable electronics on board.

1-9-07. Last winter, I remained in the kayak most of the time in order to keep a low profile. This morning, I kayaked into the heart of the Pearl and then spent a few hours walking in the woods, which are now flooded as this partial panorama shows. Last year, I didn't feel safe walking far out into this kind of habitat. It now feels like home out there, but it's still difficult getting through the fallen trees and underbrush. Since the area is vast and progress is slow, this probably isn't an effective approach for searching, but it's the only way to get out to certain areas and inspect the habitat.

1-10-07. Early this morning, I paid a brief visit to the tallows. There's still plenty of activity, but it's hard to monitor the entire row, which runs along an edge for more than a mile. On the way out of the area, I passed along the row and found two pileateds that I hadn't noticed from the stake-out point. Since the currents are still strong, I only did about four miles in the kayak. I saw a tree on the bank that already has open flowers. This early sign of spring is a reminder that the prime search season will be over before we know it. With time slipping away, I sometimes wonder if I'll ever have another sighting. I'm looking forward to the first wave of reinforcements, who should start arriving in a week or so. At the end of the day, I went to the northeast corner of Stennis to watch for Comet McNaught. I missed the comet but heard coyotes calling as it started to get dark.

1-11-07. After a brief stop at the tallows, I took the kayak out and had a possible sighting. At this point, possible sightings aren't worth much, but this one was interesting. The bird was a few hundred meters away and flying just above the treetops. It seemed to notice me and turned into the woods. I got my binoculars on it for several seconds, but there was some glare and it came in and out of view as it passed behind trees.

1-12-07. I found a tree with a great deal of fresh foraging sign that has characteristics similar to the foraging sign that I found on December 27.

1-13-07. The strong currents and high water levels continue. I tried to enter an area that is rarely visited, but the currents are hazardous along the narrow approach, which has lots of fallen trees. On the way to the boat launch, I finally got a good photo of a southern fox squirrel, which are uncommon and hard to approach.

1-14-07. This morning, I launched the kayak at Crawford Landing on the West Pearl and paddled north. The current is absolutely brutal. The water is at the eight foot level at Crawford Landing. One of the locals told me that the current is always strong when it gets over six feet (there's a gauge at the boat launch). I paddled up to Peach Lake Bayou and did some exploring in that area. Other than a brief break in the middle of the fall, I've been here in the Pearl since September 20. I'm starting to suffer from burn-out. It's especially tough since I'm doing most of the searching on my own. I'm going to take advantage of an opportunity for a temporary change of scenery with Geoff Hill's team in the Choctawhatchee. I will try to post updates from there and will be back to the Pearl soon. Other than the tallow trees, which are attractive to woodpeckers, the habitat doesn't appear to be favorable in the area of the October 21 and December 20 sightings, which were about two miles apart in an area south of most of the hardwoods. A friend in Texas just sent me some habitat maps that he compiled. It's interesting that two fingers of favorable habitat extend down to this area right at the locations of the two sightings. This could be a coincidence, but maybe it means something.

1-20-07. I've spent five very interesting days in the Choctawhatchee with Geoff Hill's group. They're really busting their butts in the field. With the strong currents, hunters in the field, swamps, cold, and rain, it's difficult, dirty, and dangerous work doing transects. I met Geoff's colleague, Dan Mennill, who has done innovative work in the acoustic data acquisition systems that are deployed here in the Choctawhatchee. I heard a double rap on the first day and had a possible sighting of a pair on the fourth day. I was pretty sure about the sighting, but I'm hoping for a solid sighting since it would be exciting to have Ivory-billed Woodpecker on three state lists. I'll stick around for perhaps another week. Then it will be back to the Pearl.

1-25-07. I drove back to the Pearl this afternoon. It was fun to meet the hard-working members of Geoff Hill's search team. It was interesting to see how they conduct systematic searches for cavities and foraging sign. It was also interesting to note the differences between the habitats of the Choctawhatchee and the Pearl (in the portions of these rivers that I have searched). There are relatively few fallen trees in the Choctawhatchee, which makes it easy to walk around (other than having to wade through sloughs). In the Pearl, the cypress-tupelo zone is more or less to the south of the hardwoods. The Choctawhatchee contains low areas that are filled with cypress-tupelo and surrounded by hardwoods. I suspect that this kind of habitat is more ideal for ivorybills since more roost and foraging areas are closer together. Although the Choctawhatchee appears to be wider than the Pearl to my eyes, I used a laser rangefinder to determine that they're both about 60 meters across in the areas that I have searched. I used the GPS to measure the current in the Choctawhatchee at about 2.5 mph, which makes it difficult to paddle a kayak upstream. The current in the Pearl is usually much slower, but I have measured it up to at least 2 mph. I also used the rangefinder to measure some distances associated with my possible sighting of a pair of ivorybills on January 19 along this slough, which is a few hundred meters from a sighting of a pair the previous day. I spotted the birds while approaching the fallen trees that block the slough. I stopped there because it wasn't possible to get beyond them without making noise. A pileated was foraging and calling behind me. Two large woodpeckers were quietly foraging in the treetops ahead of me. I was only able to get glimpses as they swooped between trees, but I saw the dorsal wing pattern of an ivorybill through my binoculars on one of the swoops. I didn't get this on the paddle-cam since it was aimed in a slightly different direction. The trees in the foreground were about 30 to 50 meters away. The birds were foraging in trees about 100 to 120 meters away. I didn't see them again after three deer ran through the area.

1-26-07. I'm eager to get back out in the Pearl but decided to stay in today since I have a sore throat and congestion. I finally had a chance to upload video and photos that I obtained in the Choctawhatchee. I obtained paddle-cam footage of a bird that flushed from near the bank and disappeared from view almost instantly. I saw a lot of white on the dorsal side of the bird, but it wasn't possible to identify it when playing back the tape on the camera. Although I had the impression that it was a flicker, I set the tape aside since the behavior was similar to ivorybills that I have flushed along the Pearl. After loading the footage onto the computer, I found that it was indeed a flicker. It's encouraging that I was able to get the paddle-cam on a bird that was visible for less than a second and that it was identifiable in the high-definition video. I found this classic example of successional habitat along the Choctawhatchee. Behind me is the river flowing to my left. Ahead of me is an old channel, which is becoming an oxbow lake as the connection to the river silts in. Grasses and willows are growing across the opening, which causes silt to build up at a greater rate. There is similar successional habitat along the slow flowing inner curves of the river. There are fallen trees along the fast flowing outer curves, which tend to erode outward. This is the process that forms oxbow lakes and makes a river about pi times longer than it would be if it were perfectly straight. This afternoon, I went out and experimented with the rangefinder. A turkey vulture flew directly overhead at 234 meters (the infrared laser is harmless).

1-27-07. It's raining. I'm sick. No time in the field today. The first wave of reinforcements have arrived. With a little luck, we will determine where the ivorybills have been hiding within a few weeks.

1-28-07. The rain stopped, but it was windy, and there wasn't much bird activity. After battling the strong Choctawhatchee currents, I was pleased to see that the Pearl currents have reverted to their typical sluggish pace. After spending some time with Geoff Hill's folks in the Choctawhatchee, I have some fresh ideas for trying to relocate the Pearl ivorybills. I now suspect that they roost in the cypress-tupelo zone outside the breeding season, and this hypothesis is consistent with the locations of most of the encounters this fall. I hadn't previously regarded cypresses as possible roost sites since the large ones are hollow. In the Choctawhatchee, I learned that woodpeckers will roost (but not nest) in hollow trees. I was concerned about the possibility of ivorybills perishing in fallen roost trees during Katrina, but few cypresses came down. Early in the fall, I was optimistic about relocating the birds in the hardwood zone after finding the stripping of tight bark in the areas where I had sightings last February, but there never seemed to be any return visits to those trees. I'm hoping the birds will return to the hardwood zone in the coming weeks.

1-29-07. It's a nice day here in the Pearl, but I decided to stay inside after spending another night coughing.

1-30-07. Exactly a year ago, I returned to the Pearl for the prime search season and had a bonanza in February. This morning brought back memories of last year. The woodpecker activity has really picked up. Lots of other birds were also active, including a hermit thrush that was singing. It was a great day to be out in the kayak. The weather was overcast and slightly chilly, and the Pearl was like a sheet of glass with only the slightest current.

1-31-07. It was chilly and windy, and there was very little woodpecker activity. One of the visitors heard a double rap.

2-1-07. Yet another rainy day. It was an easy decision to stay in since I'm still sick. I hope the weather will be better this month than it has been so far this search season.

2-2-07. It was a year ago today that I had my first definite sighting. This morning, I did some searching with the visitors. This afternoon, we visited the cypress zone to search for cavities. On previous trips down there, I wasn't aware that hollow cypresses (the only mature ones that survived logging) are suitable for roosting and ignored them. We found several impressive cavities, including this one.

2-3-07. This was a lucky date for me in previous years. I heard kents in 2000 and had a sighting in 2006. No such luck this year, but at least I finally seem to be getting over being sick. I spent the morning in the kayak and visited the Yaupon Holly patch (where I heard kents in 2000) this afternoon. The berries should now be at peak ripeness, but there was a poor crop this year (following a bumper crop last year). I have recently been using a laser rangefinder to obtain measurements that are accurate to within a half of a meter. When I obtained the video last year, the kayak was backed into a known observation position between trees on the opposite bank. Using GPS, I estimated the distance from this position to the base of the tree where the bird in the video was perched to be about 120 meters. Using the rangefinder, I determined that the distance to the point in the fork where there bird was perched is 128 meters. Since the performance of the rangefinder is dependent on light conditions, I repeated this measurement on different days and obtained the same result. I aimed the rangefinder at different parts of the fork and found the measurement to be consistent. I also used the rangefinder to measure the distances to pileateds that I photographed. With this data, it's possible to make absolute comparisons between the profiles of pileateds and the bird in the video. Since I didn't have this capability last year, my only choice was to scale images by optimizing the apparent fit. This approach is much less effective than absolute scaling, especially since part of the bird in the video was hidden by a branch in the foreground. Using absolute scaling, I have obtained some promising preliminary results. For example, the bill of a pileated appears quite feeble compared to the bill of the bird in the video. As opportunities arise, I will obtain additional pileated data to test the robustness of this approach for comparing profiles. I also plan to use this approach to analyze wing size and shape.

2-4-07. It was an overcast and chilly morning, and there wasn't much woodpecker activity. Since the bill comparison is so dramatic, I'm going to focus on obtaining additional pileated data. Maybe I'll luck into additional ivorybill data in the process.

2-5-07. This morning, one of the visitors heard several kents. This afternoon, we donned chest waders and took a five-hour hike deep into the Pearl. We started at English Bayou and hiked south and a little east. It's very difficult going through the fallen trees, vines, and sloughs.

2-6-07. It's been a rainy winter, but the weather has been gorgeous lately. It was chilly early this morning, but then it became almost spring-like.

2-7-07. This morning, I visited the area south of Old Hwy. 11. There were pileated drum rolls coming from several directions. This recording contains two from close range (about 35 meters) and one in the distance.

2-8-07. Do you see the little red, white, and blue sign in the lower right part of this photo? It says, "U.S. PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING." This land is on the Pearl near where I have seen ivorybills. The government recently purchased it. Do you suppose they're planning to set it aside to help protect the ivorybill? Guess again. It's going to be a live firing range for the military. This land will soon be trashed, and the disturbances will affect a large portion of the best remaining habitat in the Pearl. It includes more than two square miles, and most of the sightings and most of the best remaining hardwood habitat are within a mile of this area.

2-9-07. I went for a hike with one of the visitors. It's always tough going in the Pearl with all the fallen trees, but this area is about the worst I've seen due to all the briar patches. I used the laser rangefinder to measure the cavities that I found in December. As this photo indicates, the lower one measures more than four inches vertically but less than four inches horizontally (the reference circles are four and five inches in diameter). It appears that it might have been about four-by-five inches before scar tissue formed. There is also a tree with interesting foraging sign in that area, and there has been more work on it since December.

2-10-07. One of the visitors joined me on a trip up to Henleyfield, Mississippi. I scouted the area in the fall, when a local showed me a convenient access point. The water level is much higher now, and it was necessary to wear chest waders to cross the swamp. This panorama shows some of the habitat.

2-11-07. While a visitor used my kayak this morning, I photographed casts of ivorybill and pileated bills that were made from museum specimens.

2-12-07. Last year, I searched almost exclusively by kayak. By moving quietly and covering a lot of territory, I managed to find a hot zone where the birds remained for several days. This season, I'm spending more time searching on foot and visiting areas that I never visited last year. The going is tough on foot, but it has been interesting going deep into the swamp in chest waders. This morning, I walked in and connected up with an area that I had previously only approached from the opposite direction. By the end of this search season, I will have covered a good bit of the Pearl south of Old Hwy. 11.

2-13-07. I was paddling along this morning and noticed a pair of eyes staring at me from near my foot. It was a lizard that took up residence in the kayak overnight. I let it out on the shore and continued on. Later on, I pulled in to shore to move some fallen branches out of the way. I lost my balance in the muck and fell backwards. I caught myself with my left arm and heard something crack. My wrist is broken. Many thanks to Chris Feeney for helping me out of the swamp and to Susan Epps for taking me to the hospital. I'll get back out there as soon as possible.

2-14-07. The break is near the lower end of the radius. The pain wasn't too bad, but I nearly passed out and was hit by a wave of nausea right after it happened. It will probably be a while before I'll be able to kayak. Fortunately, there's plenty of work to be done on the ground, and the visitors can patrol the waterways. I will try to get back out there tomorrow. I got a cast put on this afternoon. I had to choose a color and, of course, opted for camo green.

2-15-07. Last night, I had a nice dinner with Cornell's Mobile Search Team. It was especially interesting to hear Martjan Lammertink describe what the Pearl was like before Katrina. This morning, I decided to stay in for another day in order to let the swelling in my hand go down a bit. It will be a while before I'll be capable of handling a kayak. It's still a challenge just to zip up a jacket.

2-16-07. The hot zone started lighting up a year ago today. I hiked in there this morning just in case history was going to repeat itself. It was cold and a little windy, and the woodpeckers weren't very active.

2-17-07. Over the past two years, I'm averaging 1.5 sightings on this date. The catch is that all of the sightings were last year. This morning, I stayed on the trails during a six-mile walk with the visitors. It was cold and windy, and woodpecker activity was minimal.

2-18-07. I sat out a day and read "The Hunt for the Whooping Cranes," by J. J. McCoy, which has the following interesting passage:

"Skeptics jeered at the failure of American and Canadian biologists to discover the nests. They could not or would not understand the difficulties of trying to find a handful of cranes in such a large wilderness as northwestern Canada. The majority of these scoffers had neither field experience in searching for elusive birds nor a familiarity with the remote territory that had to be carefully and painstakingly scrutinized."

2-19-07. Since the rest allowed me to regain some use of my hand (simple things such as zipping up my jacket), I decided to rest again today.

2-20-07. Since this is the anniversary of the day that I obtained the video, I had to pay a visit to the hot zone. Since I probably won't get out there very often until my arm heals, I made sure to get some photos that I had been meaning to get for some time. For example, this photo shows the scene where I heard kents from behind a fallen tree on February 18, 2006. The water level was higher that morning, and I was able to drift up close to the fallen tree. The ivorybill called from behind the fallen tree for a few minutes. I was within about twenty feet of the ivorybill. A robin was just above scolding it. Then I heard kents coming from directly behind me, which is where I came upon an ivorybill perched on a snag two days later (when I got the video).

2-21-07. Since it was raining and I have to keep the cast dry, I didn't make it out today.

2-22-07. A visitor and I did a four hour hike into some of the most interesting and isolated habitat I have seen in the Pearl. We bushwhacked down from English Bayou and saw some interesting habitat along the way. For the first time, I found scaling of tight bark from an oak. The weather is really starting to warm up.

2-23-07. I'm going to stay in today in order to let my arm rest up after yesterday's hike.

2-24-07. This morning, I did a four hour hike to the east of Oil Well Rd. The route took me through some interesting off-trail habitat. At three points, I waded across English Bayou, which is much deeper and wider further downstream. After the third crossing, I headed north to Indian Bayou Rd. and then headed back to Oil Well Rd. on one of the trails. It was windy, and woodpecker activity was minimal.

2-25-07. I woke up with a tired and aching body, looked over the map, tried to decide where in thirty-plus square miles to search today, and decided to take the day off.

2-26-07. I spent the morning walking trails at the Honey Island Swamp. I've never had a sighting on foot, but most of my work on the ground has been surveying habitat. This morning, I walked around as quietly as possible and managed to sneak up on some turkeys. I got some video of this one as it flew away.

2-27-07. I've been searching an area of about thirty square miles between I-10 to the south and Old Hwy. 11 to the north. The boat launches at Stennis are ideally located about three miles north of I-10 just above the transition between the cypress zone and the hardwoods. I've been spending most of my time in the hardwoods, but the last two sightings were deep in the cypress zone. I've decided to spend more time in the cypress zone since there have been no definite encounters in the hardwoods this search season. I did some scouting down there this morning.

2-28-07. The morning started out beautiful but ended ugly. Early on, there were many birds singing, including the first Yellow-throated Warblers of the season. Just after I returned to the boat launch, four military boats sped by. It looked like a scene out of a Vietnam war movie. They were heading in the direction of the land that is going to become a live firing range. Perhaps this is the day the invasion begins.

3-1-07. I decided to stay in today since bad weather is predicted. I don't want to get caught in a storm with a cast that needs to be kept dry.

3-2-07. I spent the morning down south, where we had two sightings in the fall. I found some interesting foraging sign and heard the first parulas of the season. I had the wrist checked this afternoon. The doctor has decided that it would be best to install a plate. I'm scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. I might do some searching over the weekend, but I may be done for this year.

3-3-07. This afternoon, I found this interesting pine that seems to want to be a live oak. I'm not sure if it grew this way because of being repeatedly topped or if it's an exotic species. A friend sent me some ivorybill treasures that he has been collecting since the 1960s, including important articles that are hard to find and personal letters from John Dennis, Jim Tanner, and George Lowery. Many articles on the ivorybill are hard to find because ornithology journals refuse to publish anything of any substance on the subject. They will publish papers based entirely on opinion, such as Jackson's paper in the Auk last year, but they won't publish papers that contain new data from the field. The two articles that I found most interesting are the following:

W. Eastman, "Ten Year Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker," Atlantic Naturalist 13 (1958).

J. W. Hardy, "A Tape Recording of a Possible Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Call," American Birds 29, 647-651 (1975).

Eastman's paper contains information about ivorybill searches in various locations in the 1950s. Hardy's paper analyzes Dennis' recording from the Big Thicket. It contains Blue Jay imitations of hawk calls that not only sound right but even match sonograms remarkably well. I found the following quote from this paper to be very interesting:

"I have proceeded with the analysis of this tape recording and determination of the mystery voice with complete satisfaction that John Dennis is not only perfectly reliable as a field ornithologist, but that he is also both absolutely honest and completely rational with respect to the events of the recording and possible existence of the woodpecker. Further, after listening to the tape many times I see no reason to believe that it represents a fabrication or a recording of an earlier recording of the Ivory-bill in the Cornell Library of Sounds. It is necessary to make these statements because, to be candid, Dennis' honesty and rationality have been questioned a number of times (though not in print) in recent years. Similar skepticism has greeted other evidence that has appeared in recent years regarding the existence of the Ivory-bill."

The letters contain some fascinating quotes by Dennis, who is one of the most admirable figures in the search for the ivorybill. The letters and articles shed light on the attitudes of those who criticized Dennis' work and set back conservation efforts during that period. It is very similar to what is happening today. Here's an interesting quote by Dennis:

"Of course, there is always the question of confusion with Pileated Woodpecker. But is it scientifically accurate to say that every Ivorybill report is a case of mistaken identification? I know for a fact that I saw the Ivorybill in the Big Thicket. Surely anyone with my experience with woodpeckers should know the difference. And I surely hope that jealous charges that I may have falsified my documentation in some way would be taken for what they are worth -- garbage."

3-4-07. After having much more than my share of luck last year, I wasn't able to locate a hot zone this year despite covering more territory and having more help. I have pondered the possible reasons. Maybe the birds moved a short distance to an area that is hard to access. Maybe they moved ten miles up the Pearl. Maybe they moved to another river basin (this seems unlikely with all the dead trees in the Pearl). Maybe one bird died and the other moved out of the area to find a new mate. Maybe they're feasting in dead pines just outside the Pearl (we have spent some time in these areas, which are vast and mainly private property). After considering all these possibilities, it has come to light that Capt. Holly has been gathering intelligence information on my search. Now I know how he managed to elude me this year.

3-5-07. I was shocked to receive an email from John Dennis today. As I will explain later, this is not a joke.

3-6-07. I had surgery on my arm today. It was apparently a nasty break. It took an hour longer than expected to re-break it, get everything lined up, and install a plate. John Dennis was perhaps the most successful searcher since the Singer Tract was logged. He obtained photos in Cuba, had sightings in Texas, and also had some success in Florida. According to Whitney Eastman's account from the Chipola in 1950, Dennis was part of a group that saw a female ivorybill fly across the river. From the wording of the account, it's not clear that everyone (including Dennis) saw the bird, but it does give the impression that everyone heard kents. In a 1985 letter, Dennis mentions that he intensively searched from 1966 through 1970 in South Carolina, Florida, and Texas. Based on this extensive experience, he concluded that it takes a couple of years to search out and find the ivorybill in only a single swamp. In another 1985 letter, John Morony (a museum director) wrote to Dennis about a pair of ivorybills in the Atchafalaya in 1979 and 1980. He was certain that the birds were there, but the site had to remain confidential since it was being leased by a large hunt club. The main topic of these letters was that it would be a mistake to declare the ivorybill extinct. The literature mentions that Jerome Jackson was opposed to this designation, but he wasn't the only one.

3-7-07. Today is my 49th birthday, and the experience with the arm is a reminder that I'm not indestructible. The email that I received a few days ago was from John Dennis' son and namesake. It's great to see that the son is taking an interest in the ivorybill and the father's work. I will try to keep searching for at least a few more weeks. I won't be able to use the kayak, but good habitat can be reached on foot.

3-8-07. I might try to get out for a walk tomorrow, but I will have to be very careful and remain on the trails. Meanwhile, I still have the eyes and ears of a visitor in the field. There has been a tendency to dismiss ivorybill reports by non-birders (and birders and ornithologists as well). Whitney Eastman's 1958 paper in the Atlantic Naturalist contains an excellent example of why this is a mistake. Eastman recruited snake hunters during his search in Florida. In March of 1949, he started out in the Big Cypress with a snake hunter named George Espenlaub, who had seen ivorybills there in years past (unfortunately the particular years are not mentioned). They didn't find any ivorybills in the Big Cypress, but they did encounter one of Espenlaub's fellow snake hunters, Eugene Coppedge, who told them about two sightings in the Chipola, including a pair that he saw just a few months earlier. Another non-birder, Muriel Kelso, also provided important information on the Chipola birds. In March of 1950, Eastman visited the Chipola with John Dennis, Ed Rowe, and Fred Dye, where they had several ivorybill encounters, including separate sightings of both sexes. It's not clear which members of the party saw the birds, but the words "we observed" and "we saw" were used in the report.

3-9-07. I did some investigating in the pines to the south and found an area with lots of bark scaling. There are many such areas in the aftermath of Katrina, but this one really looks intriguing. There are hardwoods mixed in, including a large oak with lots of scaling near the top. This will be a good area to monitor as my arm recovers, and it's near one of the sightings. Last night, I did some research on broken wrists on the web. I wasn't aware that this type of injury can be so serious. I was shocked to learn how badly my arm was damaged from simply falling from my feet. After thinking about it, I suspect that the severity was due to the fact that there was a strong twisting motion after my hand was planted on the ground.

3-10-07. In 1951, Eastman continued his search for ivorybills in Florida near Silver Springs. Less than a week earlier, Coppedge and three Indians had observed a pair of ivorybills in the area. This was the same Eugene Coppedge whose reports from the Chipola led to Eastman's sightings there in 1950. So Coppedge was clearly a reliable observer. Eastman, Rowe, and Dye spent four days there but were unable to locate the birds. Unlike other, more arrogant, ornithologists, Eastman didn't dismiss the reports just because he wasn't able to find the birds. He described the area as ideal for ivorybills due to "the extensive land holdings in large tracts, the inaccessibility of much of the swamp, and the very large trees which provide an excellent food supply."

3-12-07. This was another day of sitting on the sideline hoping that my arm will recover. I'm planning to get out for a walk tomorrow morning. I haven't obtained any new data in more than a year, but I have an idea where there could be an undiscovered image. Immediately after the sighting on February 2, 2006, I took seven wide-angle photos of the habitat. After flushing and flying into the woods, the bird might have kept an eye on me from deep in the woods (this is exactly what happened the day that I got the video). It's tedious to scan images for hidden gems, but it paid off when I scanned the video.

3-13-07. Another ivorybill searcher gets a Purple Heart. Ironically, it's the same one, Chris Feeney, who helped me out of the swamp after my fall, and he was already injured at the time. He had taken a nasty fall a few days earlier during a visit to the Henleyfield area. He kept soldiering on for several weeks and recently arrived home, where an x-ray revealed broken ribs. Not realizing how badly he was hurt, I had teased Chris for not nailing the landing on his fall and took off a few points in rating it (a backwards fall that got him tangled up in a thick patch of briars was much better). He retaliated a bit while towing me in the kayak back to Stennis. Seriously, there are hazards out in the swamps, especially in places with lots of fallen trees and strong currents. It's a wonder that there hasn't been something more serious than broken bones.

3-14-07. I'm still not feeling up to getting back out in the field. Maybe tomorrow. This morning, I got up early to record some calls of a Great Horned Owl. A visitor heard kents recently. So hopefully, there will be some action in the coming weeks. The visitor also reports that the first Swallow-tailed Kites have arrived.

3-15-07. There was a severe storm last night. I decided to stay in one more day since the after-effects continued into this morning.

3-16-07. I finally made it into the field again. The trees have become greener and the bird song has picked up. These changes were really noticeable after being out of action for so long. I saw a turkey hunter who told me about seeing an ivorybill a few months ago in the same area where we had sightings on October 21 and December 20. We're going to have to start spending more time down there, even though cypress-tupelo isn't ideal habitat according to conventional wisdom (the Zeiss search focused on the area north of the cypress-tupelo zone).

3-19-07. I had to visit the doctor this morning and didn't make it out to the swamp. I saw my first Swallow-tailed Kite of the season along I-10 on the way to the doctor's office. The wrist seems to be recovering well, but it was a bit of a shock to see all the hardware in the x-rays. I was surprised that the doctor gave me a light-weight removable cast less than two weeks after the surgery. I did make it out over the weekend and found an interesting cavity in a live sweetgum. I've been trying to figure out why all of the recent sightings have been down in the cypress-tupelo zone. A birder in Texas has suggested that it could be due to hurricane damage in the hardwood zone. I hadn't considered this possibility since the ivorybills used that area last year. According to the literature, the amount of food is supposed to peak a few years after a hurricane, but perhaps it happens earlier after a major hurricane like Katrina.

3-20-07. It was a beautiful morning in the swamps. It was the first time in five weeks that I didn't have to lug around a heavy cast on my arm. I heard my first Yellow-throated Vireo of the season. I spoke with the turkey hunter again and got the exact location of his sighting. He was hunting deer at the time. From the hunting schedule, he determined that it was either the last week of November or the first week of December. The other sightings in that area were on October 21 and December 20. The trail has probably gone cold by now, but we'll definitely spend some time down there.

3-21-07. It was another beautiful spring morning here in the Pearl. I explored a trail that I had never tried and found an area where Katrina missed most of the hardwoods. As the arm recovers, I'll be restricted to light walks in the hardwoods. There's still one visitor here, and he plans to do some searching down near the latest sightings. I have plans for working that area when my arm is fully recovered. The following excerpts from an article by David Nevin in the early 1970s illustrate some of Tanner's misconceptions about ivorybills (and also of Dennis):

"Paul Sykes, the skeptic field biologist, and Tanner were sent to check on Dennis' report. The results were grim. Tanner holds a low opinion of the Big Thicket in general, and even lower as possible Ivory-billed Woodpecker habitat. He readily admits that when he went to check Dennis, he didn't expect to find ivorybills. Neither he nor Sykes was impressed with Dennis' field techniques and within two weeks they reported that they believed Dennis was mistaken."

"Dennis began prowling a remote section of the Neches River swamp, an area of logical ivorybill habitat that hadn't been cut for years. One day, from a point a mere 50 feet from him, the bird suddenly flew up from the ground ('very unusual for an ivorybill,' Tanner later observed, 'very unusual')."

There must have been something effective about Dennis' techniques. Unlike Tanner, Dennis succeeded in finding ivorybills outside the Singer Tract (in multiple locations, in fact). The comment about ivorybills flushing from the ground is nonsense. I have seen them do this several times as have other searchers. As a veteran searcher of forty years recently told me, Tanner's comments about the habitat and his lack of favorable response to credible sightings probably damaged the bird almost as much as did the people that cut the trees down. Many of those trees probably wouldn't have been cut down if Tanner had supported Dennis. Will we be stupid enough to allow history to repeat itself? So far, there appears to be a good chance that this will happen. From the comment about giving up after two weeks, it is clear that Tanner had no idea how to find ivorybills. Anyone who has seriously searched for and found this species will agree that it usually takes much longer to have a sighting where ivorybills are present. In a 1985 letter, Dennis mentioned that Tanner's "earlier work in the Singer Tract was everything anyone could wish for in the way of scientific accuracy but needs modification in light of more recent findings. For example, I am far from being the only ornithologist who questions his thesis that the Ivorybill was dependent on virgin timber. Also his estimate of numbers for the whole of the Ivorybill's range was much too conservative. It takes a couple of years to search out and find the Ivorybill in only a single swamp. How could he come up with a figure of 20, I believe it was, for the whole of the southeastern United States? Millions of acres of good Ivorybill habitat existed at the time he made his study."

3-22-07. This morning, I briefly visited the pines to the south of Stennis (where a NASA biologist had a sighting in 2002), while the visitor started searching in the area of the most recent sightings. We're excited about working down in the cypress-tupelo zone, but parts of the Honey Island Swamp have also become intriguing. Some large pockets of hardwoods survived Katrina, and Oil Well Rd. and the turkey season are closed again this year. Since it's a three mile walk down Oil Well Rd., this will be the second spring in a row that the area gets few visitors, which could make it attractive to ivorybills. Here are some additional comments by John Dennis in 1985:

"There are other persons just as conscientious and reliable as I am who have reported sighting the Ivorybill. Some of these sightings go back only two or three years. Most of these persons have not come forward publicly because of fear of ridicule or because they thought it was in the best interests of protecting the Ivorybill."

"I am aware of situations where the announced discovery of the Ivorybill would jeopardize its safety. Certain hunting clubs or individual hunters, fearful that land will be removed from their hunting grounds, would even kill the Ivorybill to prevent this from happening. Also some persons are still fearful that museum collectors would take specimens. While I feel that this is no longer a problem, there is a question in the minds of some people."

I'm aware of several birders who have avoided going public with their sightings for fear of ridicule, including one who had a sighting in the Big Thicket in the 1960s. Some birders don't even want it to be known that they're searching for ivorybills. I don't understand the reasons for these concerns, especially now that ornithologists at major universities have announced that the species exists. Mary Scott is an example of an observer who kept quiet in order to protect the birds. For years, I have heard stories about hunters threatening to kill the Pearl ivorybills. I believe these threats should be taken seriously. During the 1950s, there was evidence that Whooping Cranes were being shot during migration. This problem was resolved by conducting a public relations campaign along the migration corridor. Something similar needs to be done throughout the range of the ivorybill. Something else that was done to save the Whooping Crane was a heroic decade-long effort to locate the breeding grounds. The motive of the search was to make sure there were no threats to breeding that might lead to extinction. A heroic effort is now needed to reduce threats to breeding ivorybills. So far, there is no sign that this is being done anywhere. Unfortunately, there seem to be far fewer heroes now than there were fifty or sixty years ago. I would like to think that nobody would still consider taking a specimen, but this idea was listed as a possible (but "not acceptable to most people") option in the minutes of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker Meeting that was held at LSU in January 1986.

3-23-07. Here's another interesting comment from the minutes of the 1986 meeting:

"Jerry Jackson will write a paper 'Countdown to Extinction' or something to that effect stating we are working toward an October 1992 date to a declaration of extinction (50 years after the publication of Tanner's monograph on the IBW)."

This almost makes it sound like the extinction of the ivorybill was considered by some to be a cause for celebration. This was the meeting in which James Tanner and Lester Short wanted to declare the ivorybill extinct, but Jackson was opposed. He wasn't the only one who was opposed. In advance of the meeting, John Dennis wrote a long letter to one of the attendees (Charles Welch) stating his reasons why he thought it would be a mistake to declare the ivorybill extinct:

(1) Habitat in the South protected from lumbering because of the possible presence of the Ivorybill would no longer be protected (with unfortunate results for any possible remaining Ivorybills and other species dependent upon this kind of habitat).

(2) A declaration of extinction would discourage any further search for the bird.

(3) A declaration of extinction would be scientifically unsound. The bird has been declared extinct before and always has a way of reappearing. For example, the Ivorybill in Cuba was thought to toward the end of the last century but was rediscovered by Davis Crompton and myself in April of 1948.

During this meeting, it was decided that the best bets for ivorybills were the Atchafalaya, Santee, Congaree, Tensas, Altamaha, Tombigbee, Yazoo, Suwanee, Pascagoula, Apalachicola, and Big Thicket and that the long shots were the Pearl, Bay St. Louis, Darlington Creek (LA), Savannah River, Ochlochconee, Black River (SC), Tunica Swamp (LA), Big Cypress, Bear Creek (AL), and Homochitto River (MS). The fact that the Big Woods and the Choctawhatchee weren't mentioned is an indication of how little was known about ivorybills back then.

3-24-07. Last year, I was excited to come up with the idea for paddle-cam. Aiming the paddle-cam is similar to aiming a pair of binoculars. This tool allows you to get on a bird almost instantly without setting down the paddles or reaching for the camera. It was designed for ivorybills flushed from the riverbank. I would have gotten several stunning videos if I had had it last year. I was confident that I would get some good video with it this year, but the ivorybills didn't return to the same areas, and I got hurt in an accident. I now have an idea that is even more exciting than paddle-cam, but it will have to remain a secret until later in the year. World-class experts will be helping me to implement this idea. In the meantime, I will patiently wait for my arm to heal, enjoy spring migration, and continue searching on foot. I'm considering the possibility of continuing my search much later into the season this year. I suspect that the paradigm that ivorybills can only be found in the winter and early spring is just another of the misconceptions left over from the Tanner era.

3-25-07. It will probably be about three weeks before the doctor clears me to go out in the kayak. This has been very discouraging because I've never even had a possible sighting on foot--at least not until this morning, when a bird with a duck-like flight streaked across my path at canopy level. This sighting was similar to a possible sighting that I had last April, but this time I got the binos on it just before it disappeared from view. The belly was dark and the undersides of the wings appeared to be white. I also saw my first Hooded Warbler of the season.

3-26-07. I returned to the area of the possible sighting. It was the kind of sighting that one wouldn't expect to be repeated, and indeed I didn't have any luck this morning. The song of incoming migrants has really picked up. The following excerpts are from the minutes of the 1986 ivorybill meeting:

"Bruce Crider reported on the Atchafalaya sightings and photos of the 1970's (Lowery's reports). He noted that the 'dog trainer' had several other photos besides the two that had been shown, but stated the gentleman who made the photos was so upset by their authenticity being questioned, that he would not allow anyone else to look at the locality. Bruce had seen the other photos and discussed the IBW with the person. Sightings were supposedly made at least through spring 1982. The area is a hunt club, difficult to reach, and may still retain up to 600 acres of virgin timber."

"Tom Michot then reviewed his 1981 sighting in the Atchafalaya, near Duck Lake and Patterson, LA. The photo he took was difficult to confirm, due to leaves and highlights, but most of the ornithologists believed it to be a pileated woodpecker."

"Paul McKinney, a graduate student at LSU, discussed a 1973 sighting on the Congaree Swamp near McBee NWR in SC (along Black River). Mrs. Tammy Dabbs (Columbia, SC) reported hearing IBW and talking with people who had seen them. State and FWS (Paul Sykes) were contacted; Sykes toured the area briefly, and stated he believed no IBW were there. Sightings continued in the area through 1981."

By 1986, John Dennis was aware that the ivorybill doesn't require virgin timber, but Tanner's dogma continues to dominate even today. The idea that a mere 600 acres could make any difference to a species that actually depended on virgin timber is downright silly. As an employee of the FWS in Lafayette, Tom Michot must have spent a great deal of time in the swamps and seen hundreds of pileateds. So it's hard to believe that he would have mistaken a pileated for an ivorybill. It would be interesting to see that photo and for the ornithologists to explain why they thought it was a pileated. I can only laugh when someone briefly visits an area and declares that there are no ivorybills.

3-27-07. An exceedingly interesting (but maddeningly terse) source of information on the ivorybill is, "Memoirs of a Naturalist," by Herbert L. Stoddard, who grew up in Florida and saw twelve to fifteen ivorybills between 1896 and 1900 near where Allen found a pair in 1924. He also saw three ivorybills in the 1950s. He mentioned that ivorybills could often be found feeding on beetle larva in pines in the late summer and fall (we had a sighting in the pines to the east of Stennis last September). Those who parrot the phrase, "the last accepted sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker was in 1944," have obviously never read the works of Stoddard, Eastman, Dennis, and others. In the 1960s, Tanner and Sykes visited the Big Thicket and declared that ivorybills weren't there. Stoddard also visited the Big Thicket (where he appears in a photo with Dennis in 1967), failed to see the birds, but believed they still existed and had a chance to survive. Who are you going to believe? Someone who only saw ivorybills at one location? Someone who never saw an ivorybill? Or someone who saw ivorybills at several locations over a period of more than sixty years? Last June, I followed up on an ivorybill report from the DeSoto National Forest in southern Mississippi. It was an exciting report because of the location (suggesting movement of ivorybills between the Pearl and the Pascagoula) and the quality of the sighting (the observer was resting quietly in the woods when the bird flew in and landed nearby). A list of reports published a few years ago included one from the DeSoto National Forest in 1978. I wasn't aware of the significance of that report when I originally read about it. I am convinced that small populations of ivorybills exist at many locations and that these populations are not isolated. This hypothesis is consistent with the pattern of reports over the years and the fact that the species has survived (small and isolated populations wouldn't have survived). Many birders and ornithologists don't believe this hypothesis, but that's only because they have the misconception that ivorybills should be observable during brief visits to sites where they are present.

3-28-07. This morning, I spent some time just north of Old Hwy. 11. This is where Kulivan had his sighting in 1999. I've only been up there a few times. The ivorybills could easily hide out in such a rarely visited area. I also paid a brief visit to one of the roads that goes south of Old Hwy. 11. Hooded Warblers were everywhere. I've never seen so many of them. The weather is pretty hot this week. The visitor continues to search in the area of the most recent sightings. He has now spent more than two months in the Pearl. It's great to see such devoted searchers. I hope he gets a sighting. I wouldn't mind getting another one myself.

3-29-07. It was a beautiful morning in the Pearl, and I took the time to get some photos. Hummers started showing up the last few days. There has been more work on the cavity that I recently found in a sweetgum.

3-30-07. Going for walks in Honey Island Swamp is one of the few options for searching that I'll have until my arm is healthy enough to paddle a kayak. I'm now staying at a house in Waveland, Mississippi. The drive from there to Honey Island Swamp and then to Stennis Space Center, where I'm working afternoons and evenings, is about sixty miles. I decided to take a day off from the long drive. I took a walk here at Stennis and saw my first Eastern Kingbird and Orchard Oriole of the season. The oriole was in the same place as last year. The Yaupon Hollies are now loaded with flowers.

3-31-07. Periods of bad weather are predicted for the next few days. Between drizzles this morning, I paid a visit to the northeast corner of Stennis, where I usually find something interesting. This time, I saw a Swallow-tailed Kite flying from the direction of the Pearl. Last year, I often saw the kites flying back toward the Pearl after a day of gliding over the pines.

4-2-07. This morning, I had my wrist x-rayed again. It's looking good, and I should be able to get back out in the kayak two weeks from now.

4-3-07. I took a long walk in the Pearl this morning. It's the first time since my surgery that I was able to do that without feeling half-dead at the end. It's nice to be getting my strength back. It wasn't my first time under general anesthesia, but for some reason it really took a toll on me this time. Woodpecker activity is now way down. I heard several pileateds drumming and calling but only saw one of them.

4-4-07. I didn't make it out today. Since the middle of January, I've had the luxury of extra sets of eyes and ears in the field, but the time has come for the last of the visitors to head home. It's a shame that neither of them had a sighting (neither did I during that period), but we had a lot of great experiences.

4-5-07. Last year, there was a fire in the pines to the south of Stennis. A biologist had a sighting in that general area in 2002. There is lots of bark scaling in the burned pines this year, but I haven't managed to catch any of the culprits in the act. This morning, I paid another visit to the area and found quite a bit of fresh scaling.

4-6-07. After several days of miserable heat and humidity, a pleasant cool front passed through a few days ago, and the visitor decided to stick around a little longer. We took a nice walk this morning in an area where Swainson's Warblers arrived a few days ago. We missed them but saw the first Summer Tanager of the season. We also saw a Swallow-tailed Kite carrying nest material. While walking along the riverbank, I pulled up in my tracks just before stepping on a large and gray snake. I believe it was a cottonmouth about to shed its skin. The large cavity in the sweetgum now appears to have been abandoned. The bird was probably spooked away since the trail is nearby.

4-7-07. It's windy and unseasonably chilly this morning. The visitor is taking a final kayak ride to last year's hot zone. I may have discovered a pattern in the ivorybill movements here in the Pearl. There's a large area of pine forest to the east of Stennis. During his youth in Florida, Herbert Stoddard observed that ivorybills prefer this type of habitat in the late summer and early fall. Early in the past two falls, there have been a total of three sightings in that area, which also contains swamps, the Jourdan River, and the Catahoula Creek. The location of the sighting on September 30 lies on a line that passes through a location at Stennis where kents were heard in 2000 and 2005, the hot zone where I had several sightings in 2006, and another area in the Pearl where there have been encounters in different years. What appears to be a pattern might just be a coincidence, but the fact that the points lie right on the line suggests that this is a flight corridor between the Pearl and the Jourdan. Last year, I often saw Swallow-tailed Kites flying along the same corridor back toward the Pearl late in the afternoon.

4-8-07. I'm taking today off to get some work done (that sounds a bit oxymoronic). After staying a little longer to enjoy the break in the weather, the visitor has finally left for home.

4-9-07. Last week, I had some pain in the arm. That had me worried before I realized it was probably due to the cold weather. During the past few days, I felt several pops in the arm. That had me worried until I realized it's probably just part of regaining flexibility. I've been cleared to go back out in the kayak next week. Until then, I'll probably take some time off to catch up with things at work.

4-10-07. There are some basic facts about images that some birders don't seem to understand. Click here to learn about two of them.

4-11-07. I decided to take another day off from field work. According to weather reports, the rain that we've been having should be passed by tomorrow. So I'll probably get back out there for the next several days. I now feel that I have done about all I can with the data and its presentation. Returning to the field to obtain supporting data, taking measurements, and making models is a long process, especially when working on your own most of the time.

4-12-07. This morning, I did some searching on the Mississippi side. It was sunny and the temperature was very pleasant. I saw the rarest woodpecker in the Pearl (it has white trailing edges on its wings). I saw an immature of this species several months ago. This is the first adult I have seen in the Pearl in more than a year. It was a red-headed, which I have seen less than half as many times as the ivorybill in the Pearl (with the exception of an immature that spent some time in the tallows). I also saw my first Green Heron of the year. Indigo Buntings have been all over the place for the past several days. Eastern Kingbirds, Great-crested Flycatchers, Orchard Orioles, and other migrants are also starting to show up in good numbers. I've been throwing bird seed in the grass near the parking lot at Stennis. This helped keep the fat on about a hundred Chipping Sparrows, including these holdovers.

4-13-07. After hearing my first Chuck-will's-widow of the season, I picked up a friend and his eighth-grade son for a visit to the Pearl. It was their first bird watching experience. With razor-sharp eyes, the youngster spotted a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a late Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We also heard the first Wood Thrush of the season.

4-14-07. Rain and wind are predicted this weekend. I'm just about ready to get back out in the kayak, but I may take a few days off to get caught up on things at work.

4-15-07. We've been having severe weather this weekend. After the heavy rains yesterday, the wind was howling last night and this morning. It must have brought down many of the dead trees that were still standing in the Pearl. I'm presently living in a house in Waveland, Mississippi. This neighborhood was devastated by Katrina. With all the abandoned and overgrown lots, it's pretty good for birds. There are a pair of Great Horned Owls in the yard, which I named Bubba and Virginia. I recorded one of them calling about a month ago. This morning, I stopped down the street to take some photos of this tree, which appears to have been hit by lightning.

4-16-07. I finally made it back out in the kayak, and the arm seemed to hold up just fine. There were a few pops, but I believe that's just part of the process of regaining flexibility. Although the ride went well, it was difficult getting out of the kayak at the end since the wrist is still weak. I don't yet feel comfortable putting much weight on it. So it's a struggle getting out. This Swallow-tailed Kite put on a nice show. I captured a few minutes of its maneuvers on the paddle-cam, but the focus isn't sharp since it was so close and the camera was focused at about 50 meters (don't want any auto-focus fiascos). While paddling into a narrow channel, I noticed a piece of plywood in the water up ahead and was puzzled to see one end of it lift out of the water. I then realized that a gator had been lying on it and was sliding off the side as I approached.

4-17-07. I was planning another kayak ride, but I woke up with a lot of soreness in my hand and wrist. Rather than over-do it, I decided to stay off the water today and visited the area south of Stennis, where a field biologist saw an ivorybill on this date in 2002. The Yellow-breasted Chats have arrived in the open areas down there.

4-18-07. I made two attempts to get out on the water this morning, but it started raining both times.

4-19-07. This morning, I visited the old hot zone for the first time since early March. It sure looks different with all the leaves in. As expected, woodpecker activity is now dramatically lower than it was the last time I was in that area. After returning to the boat launch, I figured out a way to get out of the kayak that doesn't cause too much pain in my left arm, which held up well during the ride. Last year, I heard about a sighting by a field biologist in the Pearl. This afternoon, I finally had a chance to get some details. It was actually in the late 1980s, and the location is right in the thick of things.

4-20-07. I did another overflight in a Cessna today. The Pearl doesn't look anything like it did back on December 4. I tried to get some high-definition video, but the wind kept blowing the lens shutter closed, and I switched to the standard camera. The images aren't very good because the flight was a little bumpy. Several times, I saw birds flying over the treetops. Although we were at 900 feet, it was easy to identify herons, hawks, and vultures. It should be possible to identify an ivorybill from that height. These images show habitat in the area of the most recent sightings, which were between late October and late December. This image shows the boat launch at Stennis (note that good habitat begins just across the river). This high-definition image shows Oil Well Rd. looking toward the south. This image shows some bends in the West Pearl River. This image shows the mouth of Mike's River on the lower left. The land at the bottom of the picture is part of what is slated to become a live-fire range for the military. Out in the distance are locations where ivorybills have been seen and heard.

4-21-07. Right after the accident, I had the impression that it was only a small fracture and that I wouldn't be sidelined for long. During the last doctor visit, I learned that the radius had actually snapped in two. This revelation and the fact that a plate had to be installed have caused me to face up to the fact that I'm not indestructible. So I've been gradually easing myself back into kayaking. This morning, I tried some power stroking with the paddles, and the arm held up fine. There's a little pain when I push with the left arm, but pulling doesn't cause any pain. The wrist still doesn't flex like it should, but it seems to be improving. I found this fresh cavity in the old hot zone. In order to estimate the diameter, I measured the distance using the laser rangefinder. In the overlay in the bottom photo, the inner circle is four inches in diameter and the outer circle is five inches in diameter. This cavity is fairly large, but it was probably made by a pileated since there has been no sign of the ivorybills in that area this year.

4-22-07. I took a five-hour, fourteen-mile kayak ride to do some scouting. My arm held up, but a few blisters formed on my hands. I found some interesting foraging sign, such as this bark stripping on a live tree. There were several other trees in the area with similar bark stripping. I'm excited about this area, which is far from the old hot zone by kayak but not as the ivorybill flies. Last year, a spider like this one fell in the kayak with me. It was nice to observe this one from a distance. I really lucked out in finding the place where I'm staying in Waveland. Besides the pair of Great Horned Owls, there have been some nice migrants at the feeder. For the past few weeks, there's been a large gang of Indigo Buntings. This morning, there were eight Blue Grosbeaks and four Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. There was also a Yellow-breasted Chat singing in the yard.

4-23-07. I'm going to rest up today and let my arm recover from yesterday's workout. I had a sighting of a pair of ivorybills in the Choctawhatchee on January 19. The birds were moving around in the canopy. When one of them took a short flight, I got a brief (but good) view through binoculars of the field marks on the dorsal side of the right wing. I had the paddle-cam running, and had been through that footage several times. While perusing it again today, I found one of the birds as it takes off in level flight. It has the same deep and rapid flaps as the bird in the Pearl video. Although it was more than a hundred meters away, the bird is fairly well resolved (slightly better than the bird in level flight in the Pearl video) in the high-definition video.

4-24-07. First thing this morning, I noticed that one of the overgrown lots down the street has been bulldozed. I hope it isn't where Bubba and Virginia built their nest. It's nice to see people rebuilding their homes, but it's also sad to see the loss of the scrubby growth that took over after Katrina. During a nice kayak ride, I enjoyed a great show by a Mississippi Kite. The Swallow-tailed is the star in the Pearl, but the Mississippi is a gorgeous bird in its own right. The woodpecker activity was much greater this morning than it has been for a while.

4-25-07. My allergies are really bad today, and I'm tired from working late last night. So I'm going to stay inside today. I heard a couple of Chuck-will's-widows at Stennis last night. After being mystified by their calls many years ago, hearing them always brings back memories of growing up in Florida. The smells of certain types of vegetation that have come to life recently in the Pearl also remind me of those days in the swamps along the Hillsborough River. I have uploaded some short movies from last week's overflight. These mov files were created on the Macintosh and might not play on some computers. When converted to the more universally compatible avi format, they're too large to upload onto my site. The movies show habitat along the Middle River (much of which is silted in), Wastehouse Bayou, the East Pearl (the military is planning to use the land on the left side of the river as a live firing range), and English Bayou (upstream and downstream versions). These movies show only a tiny fraction of the good habitat that survived Katrina. There are plenty of hiding places for ivorybills.

4-26-07. Due to bad weather, I didn't make it out this morning. I continued to peruse the Choctawhatchee video and found a few interesting items. During the flight, there's a frame when the wings are raised that shows a black body and a white underwing, with a well-defined boundary between the two. There's also a hint of a dark strip up the middle of the underwing, and the flaps are deep and rapid just like in the level flight of the bird in the Pearl video. There's an unusual sound as the bird takes off in flight.

4-27-07. There are lots of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks coming through. There were two males at the feeder in Waveland early this morning, and I saw or heard several more in the Pearl. The paddle-cam came in handy once again. This Broad-winged Hawk streaked just a few feet over my head to snatch a lizard from one of the trees hanging over the water. This is the kind of encounter that would be over long before you could reach for a camera.

4-28-07. I decided to stay in this morning after noticing that the incision on my left arm was inflamed. It only appears to be an external irritation, but I don't want to take any chances.

4-29-07. I visited the area south of Stennis this morning. After comparing the new version of the Pearl flight video with the Choctawhatchee video, I could hardly sleep last night. It's really exciting that the flight styles are so similar. I'm looking forward to learning more about this species as additional videos are obtained. I'll be getting my final set of x-rays tomorrow morning.

4-30-07. I received a clean bill of health from the doctor this morning. It's nice to have this episode behind me. The doctor let me take a photo of the x-rays that were taken a few days before the surgery. In the x-ray on the right, the doctor drew in two pencil marks to illustrate how the radius and hand should be aligned. The hand was displaced to the left when the broken end of the radius slipped out of place. Everything is lined up in the x-rays that were taken after the surgery.

5-1-07. I have returned to the Choctawhatchee for a short visit.

5-2-07. I drove back to the Pearl last night. During the brief visit to the Choctawhatchee, I returned to the site where I obtained the video in January. Since the water is now a little higher and the paddle-cam was sitting in my lap when the video was obtained, it wasn't possible to view the scene from the exact same position as in the video. Since the leaves have come out, it wasn't possible to see the tree from where I was sitting in the kayak that morning. I took along a print-out of an image that shows the tree, but trees can be hard to recognize from different vantage points. I used trees in the foreground of the photo as reference points, got a compass heading, and walked toward the location where the tree appears in the video. I found a snag that looked about right but wasn't certain since it seemed somewhat different when viewed from below. This morning, I determined that it was the correct snag after checking the video, which is of higher quality than the print-out and shows the tree from slightly different angles. The snag has been dead for years and is completely pock-marked by foraging. As can be seen in this photo, the tree is isolated from other trees.

5-3-07. After waiting around for a plumber to arrive this morning, I didn't have time for a kayak ride.

5-4-07. It's been raining all morning, and I need to take my car in for a repair. I won't make it out today, but I have some suggestions for those searching for ivorybills. Both of my videos were obtained following sightings, but I didn't have either bird in sight while the video was being captured (with the exception of noticing movement before part of the Pearl video was obtained). In the Pearl, I obtained footage shortly after the sighting as well as more than ten minutes later. In the Choctawhatchee, I had been paddling for a while when I came upon the birds, and I was concerned about running out of tape. So I rewound the tape, which took a few minutes (this was a tough decision, and it may have been a mistake). I got the footage more than five minutes later. In both cases, I was not aware at the time that I had obtained any footage. Some of the events that I captured were very brief and came without warning. These experiences suggest that it's important to remain alert after an encounter because the bird may hang around and watch from a distance; keep the camera running and aimed in the right general direction with a wide field of view; and inspect the video very carefully and save a digital copy. It's also important to remain still and silent. The day before my sighting in the Choctawhatchee, there was another sighting in the same area, but the birds flew away when the observer approached them. Last week, I captured this Broad-winged Hawk on paddle-cam after it flew just over my head and got a lizard. While playing back that footage with the volume turned all the way up, I noticed what seems to be an interesting vocalization coming from the bird.

5-5-07. It's difficult to search pine forests, where visibility and access are usually limited. While driving back and forth between Stennis and Waveland, I've been keeping an eye on the extensive stands of dead pines along the road. I've also done some searching in the burned pines to the south of Stennis and visited that area again this morning. The highlight was a stunning Red-headed Woodpecker that flushed from nearby.

5-6-07. This morning, I kayaked a few miles and then walked about a half mile out into the swamp to check out an area that looked promising during the recent overflight. The walking is always tough with all the fallen trees and thick undergrowth, and the heat and humidity have also gotten bad. You always need to be careful walking out there alone, and safety is really on my mind after the accident in February. I made it out and back without any problems and didn't even need to use the GPS to find my way back, but then I almost rebroke my arm while pulling the kayak back into the water. I tripped over a submerged branch and fell back just like I did in February. Without thinking, I stuck out my left arm again to break my fall. By a miracle, it planted on the hatch cover on the back of the kayak. The hatch cover caved in and broke my fall instead of my arm.

5-7-07. Since we're having strong gusts of wind, I'm going to stay off the water this morning and get some work done in the office.

5-8-07. It was a nice and cool morning, and I visited the areas south of Stennis again. Just after I arrived, five Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks circled over. Later on, I got a photo of this pair.

5-9-07. I went for a walk through flooded cypress-tupelo swamp this morning. With each step, my feet sank about six inches in the mud. My knees are now aching from repeatedly pulling my feet out of the mud. I found a nest full of Prothonotary Warbler chicks in this snag. Near the center of the photo, there's a hole on the back side of the snag. The chicks are just below that point. The entrance to the nest is straight down into the broken-off snag. I found this cavity on a large cypress near where I had a sighting on October 21. I saw several dragonflies.

5-10-07. I visited the Honey Island Swamp this morning. I hadn't been over there for a while. I was hoping to see a Swainson's Warbler, but there was no sign of them. The highlight of the morning was a stunning female Summer Tanager up close and in excellent light conditions. Over the weekend, I'll be babysitting some possums for a rehabber, but I'll still have time to get out in the field.

5-11-07. Dalcio Dacol and I kayaked up English Bayou and then hiked to the west. It's almost impossible to find ivorybills on foot in such habitat, but it's important to get out there and explore. We didn't find any interesting foraging sign or cavities, but I heard what had to be ivorybill foraging within a mile of that area last fall.

5-12-07. Dalcio and I launched our kayaks near Picayune and tried to paddle over to the Bogue Chitto River this morning. We had to make a long portage over rocks at a point where the rapids have taken the lives of several boaters over the years. After the portage, we launched downstream in a strong current and dodged fallen trees until my kayak got hung up by one of them. The kayak turned sideways and came close to capsizing in the current. I considered removing the paddle-cam and putting it in the dry bag, but the kayak would have gone over if I had stopped fighting the current. I finally managed to break loose from the tree, and we continued downstream. Since the fallen trees became more numerous and the habitat didn't look very promising, we finally decided to turn back. We saw several snakes in the water, and there were lots of cuckoos in the woods and flying across the water.

5-13-07. A special Mother's Day thanks to my friend Gretchen in Slidell. She and her husband, Paul, raised three of the nicest kids I've ever known (they're all currently attending LSU). Gretchen has been extremely helpful to the ivorybill search here in the Pearl. She has opened her home to visiting birders and taken us out in her motorboat to distant sites that are hard to reach by kayak. Gretchen loves animals and does rehab work with squirrels, possums, and other small mammals. She's very enthusiastic about the ivorybill and became hooked on learning about birds after seeing her first Prothonotary Warbler on one of our trips to Perch Lake. After two straight grueling days in the field, I'm going to take it easy today. It felt good to sleep in a little later than usual.

5-14-07. I spent the morning in the Honey Island Swamp. I walked down to the end of Oil Well Rd. and beyond. It's a long walk now that Oil Well Rd. is closed to vehicles. I encountered a turkey and a family of pigs on the trails, and these are signs that few people have been down there lately. The only woodpecker activity was a red-bellied and a few pileateds drumming in the distance.

5-15-07. I have a lot of work to get done this week and only had time for a brief stop south of Stennis this morning. There's still a long way to go this search season. I have an exciting new idea and will be getting help implementing it. I'm confident that the idea will eventually lead to sightings, good videos, and possibly to the locations of feeding areas and roost and nest cavities. Late this afternoon, I watched Gretchen release four possums. I hope they will do well out there on their own. She will return to check on them for a few days. She has five more smaller ones that aren't yet ready to release.

5-16-07. We're having severe thunderstorms, and I need to get some work done. So I probably won't make it out today. We returned to the release site late this afternoon and found one of the possums cowering in a hollow log. Gretchen took it home and will release it with the other group in a few weeks. Hopefully, the other three possums are finding food and shelter. We will continue to check on them for at least a few days.

5-17-07. Parts of the yard in Waveland are flooded much of the time. With all the recent rain, the frogs have been very active. Here is what it sounded like at 1:00 a.m. just outside the window. I got back out in the kayak this morning, and there was a lot of bird activity. I checked on the possums late this afternoon. There was no sign of them. At this point, finding them would probably be harder than finding an ivorybill.

5-18-07. I visited the area south of Stennis again this morning. It has a nice mix of habitat and is good during migration. I was hoping for some late migrants, but it seems that most of them have already passed through. I found a red-billed nest and noticed that two of the whistling-ducks are still in the area. The weather was so nice this afternoon that I decided to go ahead and visit an area that I had planned to visit over the weekend. I attempted to get into this area before, but the water was always too low and the kayak would eventually drag on the bottom. With the recent rains, I was able to get through this time. The area is chock full of gators. Several of them came crashing and splashing off the banks as I passed by. I also had close encounters with a few submerged gators that thrashed near the kayak. That always gets the adrenaline going. One of those meetings was during a side cruise into a flooded cypress-tupelo forest.

5-19-07. I was awakened in the wee hours again. The last time it was frogs. This time it was dogs. There was a gang of them wandering through the neighborhood. They resembled a pack of wolves until a chubby little wiener dog brought up the rear with its belly nearly dragging on the ground. There was nearly a confrontation with the two dogs next door, but the gang finally wandered off after a round of posturing and sniffing, and I went back to bed. After the sun came up, I paid my first visit to Texas Flat Rd. in months. They still haven't paved it, but it's now possible to drive nearly all the way across it. I started on the east end, which is just north of Exit 13 on I-10, and drove west to a point just north of Stennis. The road that heads south to Stennis is closed at the boundary, but I have explored that area from inside Stennis. There are open areas, pine forest, lakes, creeks, and swamps on either side of Texas Flat Rd. There are hardwoods just to the east of where we had a sighting in September. According to Stoddard, ivorybills do most of their foraging in pine forests during late summer and early fall, but I wouldn't be surprised to find them out there at other times since there are various types of habitat mixed in.

5-20-07. I took a long walk through Devil's Swamp this morning. It was probably the longest walk I have taken during the search, but it wasn't the hardest since I didn't have to climb over fallen trees. Devil's Swamp has more foraging sign than just about any other place I have visited. Much of it appears to be pileated work, but some of it looks interesting. I saw a coyote and my first Kentucky Warbler of the season.

5-21-07. I'm staying in the office today in order to get caught up on things at work. Over the next few weeks, I'll be doing routine patrols in hopes of flushing an ivorybill along the bank or being in the right place at the right time for a flyby. I won't be posting updates every day. With migration essentially over, there won't be anything interesting to report unless I get lucky. Searching for ivorybills is one of those things that has long periods of boredom and the occasional moment of excitement.

5-23-07. My plan for today was to go out in the kayak after lunch. I was hoping that breaking the pattern of morning kayak rides might lead to something. So far, the weather hasn't been looking favorable. There was a little rain earlier, and now the wind has picked up. It was nine years ago today that I found a Mourning Warbler at Wakefield Park for the first time. For the next few years, my favorite birding activity was to look for Mourning and Connecticut Warblers at that northern Virginia park during migration. I hated to miss it this spring, but the ivorybill issue is too important to walk away until the job is done. The wind is still gusting and is predicted to stay up around 15 mph until this evening. So I won't make it out in the kayak this afternoon.

5-24-07. Yesterday evening, I found a sick Mourning Dove in the street in front of the house in Waveland. Five others were around it and seemed to be looking out for it. I took it inside so that it would be safe from cats, but it died during the night. This morning, I paid a brief visit to the area south of Stennis. If the weather cooperates, I'll go out in the kayak this afternoon.

5-25-07. The wind finally calmed down this morning, and I made it out in the kayak. There was a good deal of pileated activity, including a pair of noisy fledglings following an adult. There was also a good deal of kite activity, including the first appearance of The Magnificent Seven (plus one) since last spring. A friendly little gator cruised by on the way back, when the wind started to pick up again.

5-26-07. This morning, I put the kayak in at Poole's Bluff, which is on the Louisiana side up near Bogalusa, and paddled to the south. I was hoping to take one of the small channels that goes off to the east, but they're all badly blocked by fallen trees. The habitat along the banks of this part of the Pearl isn't very good, but there's good habitat just to the east. I will try to take a flight over this area before I finish up this search season. Just below the dam near the boat launch, several egrets were using various objects caught in the eddies as fishing platforms.

5-27-07. I had to paddle back against a strong current yesterday. Since my surgically-repaired left arm and hand started throbbing later on, I decided to take today off and relax.

5-28-07. The plumbing at the house in Waveland sprung a leak. I stuck around this morning and waited for the plumber to come and repair it. I then decided to take care of some other work around the house. So I didn't make it out in the field today.

5-29-07. Thunderstorms are predicted for the next three days, but I'll try to get out in the kayak this afternoon if it clears up.

5-30-07. I got back out in the kayak after the rain let up this afternoon. The water in the Pearl is about as high as it gets. I was a bit nervous being on the water with thunder in the distance. I can handle gators, snakes, bugs, spiders, heat, humidity, cold, gunshots in all directions during the hunting season, and death marches, but I do not like lightning. I saw a Swallow-tailed Kite carrying nest material, which seems odd for a species that arrives in March. Maybe it lost a nest in the recent storms or to a predator. When I got back, I noticed that the kayak had taken on a good bit of water and discovered a crack near the front end. It was easy enough to repair using a heat gun and a welding rod that's made of the same type of plastic as the kayak.

5-31-07. Early this morning, there were Purple Martin fledglings in one of the dead pines behind the house in Waveland. A Blue Jay landed in the tree near them and was immediately dive-bombed by the adults. On the way to Stennis, I came across a turtle on the edge of the highway. I changed my plans to visit the areas of the sightings last fall and took the turtle to the area south of Stennis, which is away from roads and seems to be a good place to release a turtle. Late this afternoon, I went with Gretchen to release the rest of the possums. This group seemed to be more curious than the previous group. They immediately started exploring. It was a pleasant evening, with plenty of birds. A pileated flew in to forage in the pines and a chat was singing nearby. We enjoy a displaying nighthawk, which went into a dive close enough several times so that we could hear the whoosh of its wings.

6-1-07. The prime season for ivorybill searching has finally arrived. If you think this is baloney, you have been reading too much Tanner. During the next week or so, I'll be taking time off from work and doing "wide patrols" in search of Capt. Holly and his gang and may not be posting much. Late this afternoon, I found these cavities, which are near the hot zone and the most interesting that I have seen in the Pearl.

6-7-07. This has been one of the most exciting weeks since the search began. With the help of a biologist and two of his colleagues (who are all world-class at what they do), I started implementing an idea that opens up a new dimension to searching for ivorybills. I can't go into details (such as who, what, and where), but we spent time in river basins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, and these photos provide some hints. We're very excited about the idea, which will hopefully provide a higher detection rate than other approaches and be effective even when the leaves are out. After months of planning and thinking about the idea, the thrill of finally getting to try it out was just short of the thrill of a good sighting. During a visit to the Pascagoula, we explored some promising looking bayous, such as this one, and found some interesting foraging sign. During a visit to the Choctawhatchee, we saw beautiful flowers and impressive cypresses, including this view from inside a hollow tree.

6-8-07. We took the mother of all death marches into the swamp today. We only went in about a mile and a half, but it was brutally hot, and the going is exceedingly tough in that habitat. On the way back, we ran low on water, and I started getting cramps in my hamstrings, which totally locked up when I fell in the mud. At one point, I was concerned about making it back to the boats. At the end of the death march, I felt like heat exhaustion was coming on and took a dip in the bayou, but the water was too warm to provide any relief. Despite the struggle to get there and back, it was worth it to scout a new area in the Pearl, and we found what may be the tallest tree (not including pines) between I-10 and Old Hwy. 11. When hiking into such habitat, it's easy to appreciate the difficulty of finding ivorybills. It's impossible for one person (or even a small team) to do an adequate job of covering such a vast area.

6-9-07. The visitors departed this afternoon. After yesterday's hellish experience, we limited ourselves to a light morning in the field today. I always enjoy visitors, but it was a special pleasure spending time in the field with these guys, who are incredibly talented. They came here at their own expense and provided training and gear. I'll do my best to make their investment pay off.

6-10-07. I'm going to take it easy for a few days and let my aching body recover. In the meantime, here are some more photos that I recently obtained.

6-11-07. The temperature is usually in the high 80s at this time of year. During the past few days, it has been in the high 90s. Combined with the high humidity, the conditions are dangerous for doing field work in remote areas. I'm going to wait for a break in the weather.

6-13-07. The weather has cooled off to a nearly tolerable level, but I'll be tied up in the office all day tomorrow. I'm planning to get back out in the field again on Friday.

6-15-07. I was planning to spend some time in the field but decided to wait until tomorrow since there might be a possibility of going by motorboat. The area that I'm working is about two hours away by kayak, which makes it hard to arrive at a reasonable hour, spend time searching, and then arrive back at the office in time to get any work done.

6-16-07. I got my ass kicked out there today. I wanted to climb a tree that the visitors didn't have time to rig. Last week, we took a six hour death march to pin down the location of the tree, which we had spotted from the top of another tree a few days earlier. This tree towers over the canopy and is located in a great spot, but it's deep in the swamp. I considered going in on foot again, but it's a good thing that I decided to go by kayak since the area is now flooded. The kayak ride there and back is four to five hours. It was closer to five hours today since the kayak was leaking and loaded with heavy gear. I was able to paddle to within 300 meters of the tree, and then I dragged the kayak the rest of the way. I made two attempts to get a line in the tree with a bow and arrow. I made pretty good shots (especially for a beginner), but then there were problems. I used the fishing line that was attached to the arrow to pull a stronger line over the tree. Then I attached the climbing rope, but both times it got hung up and broke. I had to give up after the second attempt in order to make the long trip back before dark. I will try again next weekend if I can get a ride on a motorboat. It's downright scary going out in the middle of the swamp and climbing trees alone. I had a hard time getting to sleep the past two nights thinking about it. Even without climbing, it's dangerous to go out there alone, and I was reminded of that today. While I was trying to install the line, a massive animal charged directly toward me through the swamp. It was coming like a locomotive. I couldn't see it, but I could tell that it was veering from side to side in a sinusoidal motion (perhaps to dodge cypress knees) by the way the vegetation was moving. I was standing in knee deep water on top of a thick ooze, which extended as far as I could see in all directions. That critter--whatever it was--caught me in a vulnerable situation. I yelled out and clapped my hands, and it turned back. Last week, I heard a double rap near this area. I heard several of them today, each time when the wind was blowing. It would be interesting to track down the tree that's making those sounds. During the return trip, a fish leaped right over the bow of the kayak. I was exhausted when I got back to the boat ramp, but some guys offered me a cold beer that really hit the spot. It's still hot but not nearly as bad as it was last week. After approaching the big tree from a different direction, I have now covered a path that goes from I-10 all the way to Old Hwy. 11 by foot or kayak. On the Pearl, this would just be a long kayak ride, but I have now done it the hard way--through the interior of the Pearl.

6-18-07. We might be back on the trail of the Pearl ivorybills. I use the term "we" because the recent visitors will deserve as much credit as anyone if indeed the birds are in the area where I have recently heard double raps. On June 7, I heard a double rap while we were trying to find an approach to a tall cypress that we had spotted from the top of another tall cypress. Since there was a light breeze, I wrote it off as a probable false alarm caused by two branches banging together. On June 16, I returned to the area and found a route to the tall tree. While trying to rig the tree for climbing, I heard several more double raps. Once again there was a light breeze, and I figured it was the same branches banging together. After checking the map, I realized that the two locations are more than a kilometer apart, which seems to be too far for double raps to carry from one source to the two locations where I heard them. After repairing the leak in the kayak, I will return to the area, which seemed promising even before I heard the double raps. The bird in the Pearl video flew directly toward this area at the end of the video. Several weeks later, I saw a possible ivorybill flying in a direction that crosses the same point. Several other clues point to this area, including its remoteness, the abundance of tall cypresses, and the proximity of the hardwood zone. If it turns out to be a false alarm, it will be interesting to track down the branches that are producing the double raps, which were distinct and sounded perfect.

6-20-07. I returned to the area where I recently heard double raps but didn't have any luck. The leak in the kayak got worse as the day wore on, and it eventually became difficult to keep up with bailing. After getting back, I found a fine crack in an unexpected location. One of the visitors gave me an inclinometer, which is useful for measuring tree height. This afternoon, I used it to measure two of the trees that we rigged and found them to be about 75 and 80 feet. They have large branches suitable for observation positions at about 71 and 66 feet, which is well above the canopy and provides a great view. If I can get some help in the field, I will spend some time in those trees during the next few weeks. Then I will have to return to Virginia for a while. We had an intense thunderstorm in Waveland last night. The frogs became active after the yard got flooded. It was amusing to note that they went quiet every time there was a flash of lightning.

6-22-07. When I got back to Waveland the other day, I noticed a Brown Thrasher that was flying around the yard and seemed to be looking for something. Then I noticed its mate lying dead in front of the window on the front door. I will cover the window with stickers to prevent this from happening again. I have repaired the kayak and plan to try it out this afternoon. I usually wouldn't be concerned about a leak, but I want to keep the climbing gear dry. I obtained a rope bag and some other gear yesterday and am now ready to begin spending time in trees. The introduction to tree climbing was an exciting experience. It was awesome to get up there and look across the Pearl from just above the canopy. I had an idea what it would be like from trips across the I-10 bridge, but those were just brief glimpses. Back in April, I went on a scouting trip to search for tall cypresses. I found several that looked promising, and we started with them when the climbers arrived. We first rigged the 80 footer, which provides a great view. We spotted several other trees from that tree and used a laser rangefinder and compass to estimate their UTM coordinates. It would have been difficult to find them without this technology. In the summer, the view is usually limited deep in the swamp, and you have to get close to a tree to see its crown. On two occasions, we navigated to within 25 meters of tall trees before finally spotting them. During the past nine months in the Pearl, I spent my spare time reading three stacks of books. The best of these (in no particular order) are:

* Robert Porter Allen, "On the Trail of Vanishing Birds." Published in 1957, this book discusses field work by the author, including the search for the nesting grounds of the Whooping Crane.
* J. J. McCoy, "The Hunt for the Whooping Cranes." More on the search for the nesting grounds of the Whooping Crane.
* Richard Rhodes, "John James Audubon."
* Geoffrey E. Hill, "Ivorybill Hunters: The Search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness."
* Richard Preston, "The Wild Trees." A wonderful book about trees and climbing.
* Julie Zickefoose, "Letters from Eden."
* Candice Millard, "Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey: The River of Doubt." A great story about one of Teddy Roosevelt's adventures in South America.
* Simon Singh, "Fermat's Enigma." The story of Fermat's Last Theorem and how it was finally proved.
* Dee Brown, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." A must read for all Americans.
* Hampton Sides, "Ghost Soldiers." Story of the Bataan Death March and the liberation of survivors from a POW camp near the end of WW II.
* Paul Brickhill, "The Great Escape." A great WW II story.
* Erik Larsen, "The Devil in the White City." Non-fiction coverage of the historic World's Fair in Chicago that weaves in an account of a serial killer.
* Erik Larsen, "Thunderstruck." Non-fiction coverage of the development of the radio that weaves in an account of a murder.
* Hunter Davies, "The Beatles." Published in 1968 by an author who had the full cooperation of the Beatles.
* Charles R. Cross, "Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix."
* John Taylor, "The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball." The best and most thorough sports book I have ever read.
* Jerry West and Bill Libby, "Mr. Clutch: The Jerry West Story." The story of a great basketball player.
* Gary M. Pomeranz, "Wilt, 1962." The story of Wilt Chamberlain's record-breaking season and 100 point game.
* Walter Payton and Don Yaeger, "Never Die Easy." The story of a great football player.
* Jerry Kramer and Dick Shaap, "Instant Replay." A football classic that was recently republished.
* Bill Libby, "The Walton Gang." The story of the UCLA basketball dynasty and one of its greatest players.
* Jeff Greenfield, "The World's Greatest Team." Published in 1976, this book covers the Boston Celtics basketball dynasty.
* Charley Rosen, "The Pivotal Season." The story of the 1971-72 Los Angles Lakers, their 33 game winning streak, and the only championship of Jerry West's career.
* John Klawitter and Deacon Jones, "Headslap." The story of Deacon Jones, including his brilliant football career and the racism he experienced while growing up in Florida, as a college player, and in the National Football League.
* Rick Barry and Bill Libby, "Confessions of a Basketball Gypsy." The story of a great basketball player up to the middle of his professional career, including his role in the early days of the American Basketball Association.
* George Orwell, "1984."
* Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End."
* Ray Bradbury, "Fahrenheit 451."

6-23-07. My friends Gretchen and Tasha took me out to the big trees in their motorboat, which saved me hours of paddling. The gals courageously slogged 350 meters through the swamp with me to Tree 5, which is at least 88 feet. There's another branch that appears to be higher, but I wasn't able to get a clear shot at it with the laser. It took several shots with the bow and arrow before I finally got the line over the main fork. It was great to have help this time. When working alone, it's takes a lot of time to keep retrieving the arrow and making sure the line doesn't get tangled. There was a large snake up the tree. It was probably a rat snake based on Gretchen's description. The climbing gurus have advised me not to climb that tree until I get more experience.

6-24-07. I gave a friend a ride to the airport and didn't make it out today. A few days ago, I took this photo of one of the trees that we've rigged for observations. This 80-footer is the first tree that I climbed.

6-26-07. Since the experts have advised me not to climb alone, I'm in a holding pattern waiting for help to arrive. I should be back out there in a day or two.

6-27-07. It now appears that it will be a while before I get any help with the tree climbing, but I took a kayak ride out there today to get some tree data. I now have photos and measurements of the five trees that are rigged in that area:

Tree 1 is 72 ft. and rigged at 55 ft.
Tree 2 is 82 ft. and rigged at 73 ft.
Tree 3 is 80 ft. and rigged at 66 ft.
Tree 4 is 75 ft. and rigged at 71 ft.
Tree 5 is 88 ft. and rigged at 78 ft.

Each of these trees provides an excellent view out to several kilometers. They're spread along an arc that runs about 2.8 kilometers. When the currents are weak, it takes a little over an hour to reach Tree 1 by kayak. It takes nearly two hours to reach Tree 5, most of the way by kayak and then on foot for the final 350 meters. While at Tree 5, I took this photo of the vegetation through which a large animal charged me on June 16 (to the left of the broken tree). As I dragged the kayak on the way to Tree 5, it bumped into a submerged object and nearly rolled over. The GPS fell in the water, but I didn't notice it missing until a few minutes later. After failing to find it in that area, I started backtracking along the channel just in case it had fallen out earlier. There was no sign of it there. I returned to the area where the kayak hit the obstacle and spotted the GPS bobbing in the water. Recovering the GPS made my day, but I wasn't pleased to note that the kayak is still leaking.

6-28-07. I'm spending the day in the office in order to get some work done and let my body recover from yesterday's long kayak ride in the oppressive heat. I have a few more photos to show from yesterday. This photo shows a cypress knee (next to Tree 4) that is more than seven feet tall. This photo shows some of the hardware used by tree climbers. The pulley makes it possible to use the line to pull a rope up smoothly and to attach the rope at an ideal location (after climbing the rope up to the pulley, you're in a good position to step onto the large fork just below the pulley).

6-30-07. I absorbed another ass kicking today. A local arborist came out to help finish rigging Tree 5. It was really exciting to anticipate finally getting to see the view from up there. Walking through the swamp on the way out, we saw an absolutely gorgeous water moccasin. In contrast to its reputation as an aggressive snake, it just slowly slithered away. Everything seemed to be going well as the arborist climbed up using the line that I had set with the bow and arrow. While nearing the crown, however, he noticed that the tree is unsafe due to dying branches. Since there was no sign of this problem from the ground, it only goes to show how dangerous climbing trees can be. On the way back through the swamp, my right shoe came apart as I tried to pull my foot out of the mud. That shoe looks about like I feel right now.

7-1-07. Carrying climbing gear out into the swamp in the heat and humidity takes a toll on the body. So I'm taking it easy after yesterday's adventure. This afternoon, I cut one of the 300 foot ropes (donated to the cause by the climbing experts) into a 200 foot piece, which will be easier to carry into the field (and more than long enough for each of the trees we have rigged), and a 100 foot piece, which will be good for practicing. I recently did some practice climbing, which has boosted my confidence. I will soon be returning to Virginia, but first I would like to try at least one long observation session from above the canopy.

7-2-07. This morning, I discovered that the kayak is still leaking. There's a crack near where the seat is mounted. I've made several attempts to patch it, but this hasn't worked since the crack is at a high-stress structural point. While at the boat launch, I ran into one of the Pearl River WMA employees and had an interesting conversation with him. I had always been puzzled about the flow of water in the Pearl. He explained that it's due to man-made water diversion from the East Pearl. Lots of cypresses and other trees were killed by an increase in salt water intrusion that occurred after the East Pearl currents were reduced. He speculated that the silting in of the Middle River was caused by the way I-10 was engineered where it crosses the Pearl. It would be nice to see the Pearl restored closer to its natural state. Maybe the presence of ivorybills will help to make this happen someday. I picked up a new kayak this afternoon. It will be nice for the first time in more than a month to not have to bail water every time I go out in the kayak. I got the Wilderness Systems Pungo 120, which is supposed to be faster and sturdier than the Pamlico 120 that I used for the past two years.

7-3-07. I did my first solo climb this morning. I was very relieved to get that out of the way because the thought of climbing alone way out in the swamp really had me worried. The recent practice paid off. I went up the rope must faster, the climb wasn't as tiring, and I didn't get any blisters. I stayed in the tree for three hours and saws lots of birds. A Great Blue Heron flew in and landed below me and a little to the side. Later on, it apparently saw me and took off. Chimney Swifts flew within ten feet of me several times. A Barred Owl was calling from nearby. It would have been interesting to observe its reaction if it had seen me. It looks like it will be possible to identify ivorybills from at least a kilometer through binoculars. From that distance, it should be easy to see the flight style and flashes of white. Using more subtle hints (or jizz), it may be possible to identify them at even greater distances. It takes a lot of energy to paddle out there (about five miles), climb the tree, sit in the tree for hours, and then paddle back. This time, I didn't have to keep bailing water from the kayak. I love the new Pungo 120, seen here from the tree. The I-10 bridge is visible in this view to the south (the distance to the bridge in this zoomed photo is about two miles). This photo shows the view to the north. On the way back, I noticed that a chick from one of the Osprey nests has fledged.

7-4-07. This morning in Waveland, there was an electrical storm that was more impression than any Fourth of July fireworks display. The lightning strikes were close, and the thunder was incredibly loud. I wanted to record it, but the video camera was in the car. As the storm started to subside, I dashed out to the car and managed to record a thunder clap that had several reverberations. I've been fortunate not to have gotten caught deep in the Pearl in such a storm. When the climbers were here, we got caught out on the water in a torrential downpour, but there wasn't any lightning.

7-5-07. I went out to check on motion-activated cameras that a visitor deployed and got caught in a storm. It was too wet to swap out the data cards, but there was no sign of foraging on the target trees.

7-6-07. I've been planning to return to Virginia but keep pushing back the date. Now that we have several trees set up for observations, I've decided that it would be best to spend more time here. I hope to stay a few more weeks, but it will depend on the weather. Since it's a long kayak ride to the big trees, I will have to wait until later in the year if the current pattern of rain continues.

7-7-07. Gretchen and I returned to Tree 5, which is nearly 90 feet tall. Last week, an arborist noticed a large dying branch about 70 feet up and aborted the climb. This morning, I carefully inspected the tree through binoculars, and it appeared to have several "bomber" branches up higher. This time, I used a better fishing reel and line with the bow and arrow and got a nice shot over the main fork after four tries. As this photo shows, the view from up there is totally unobstructed because this cypress towers over the other trees. Since the location is excellent in terms of habitat, seclusion, and the history of sightings, I think there is a good chance that there will be some action from this tree. As this photo shows, there are a few more promising looking trees further to the north. This photo shows the view looking down on some of the surrounding trees. The wind started blowing fairly hard when I got up to about 80 feet, where I rigged the tree with a pulley. It was interesting to feel the tree sway with the wind. I'm exhausted from carrying gear out there through the mud and from the climb, but it was a great day.

7-8-07. Since the big day out in the sweltering swamp took a lot out of me, I'm taking it easy and getting some work done in the office today. When the climbing gurus were here, they would climb a tall tree, spot other tall trees, measure bearings and distances, and take photos. They spotted some trees that looked very promising from Tree 4. Since I didn't climb that tree, I wasn't sure which tree was which. By comparing these photos, which were obtained from Trees 4 and 5, it's clear that Tree 5 is the tall cypress in the foreground (435 meters in the distance) in the lower photo.

7-9-07. I'm not going to make it out in the field today. Over the next few days, I'm planning to check on the motion-activated cameras and do some other work in that general area. Last night, I successfully repaired my binoculars. The eye relief cups wouldn't stay in the up position. It's very annoying when one of the cups is out of place every other time you try to look through the binoculars. At an auto parts store, I found a radiator hose of just the right diameter. With a pocket knife, I carefully cut two pieces to use as spacers for holding the cups in the up position. It works great. Gretchen took some video while I climbed Tree 5, including these shots of the start, halfway up, entering the crown, and coming back down.

7-10-07. I checked one of the motion-activated cameras this morning. Everything went smoothly until I backed the kayak right into this wasp nest on the way out. It's about two feet over the water, and I had no idea it was there. I got nailed several times but somehow managed not to capsize. I spent the rest of the morning exploring an alternate route to Tree 5 that will be nearly an hour shorter. This photo of Gretchen at the base of Tree 5 gives an impression of the height of that tree.

7-11-07. After another grueling day out in the heat and humidity, I decided to take today off in order to rest up and get some work done in the office. This photo shows the recent repair to my binoculars. After losing a pair in a kayak accident last year, I thought about going with Zeiss but decided that a less expensive brand would be better for swamp use. The Nikons are very nice with the exception that the eye relief cups wouldn't stay in the up position. I eliminated the problem by inserting short pieces of radiator hose under the eye relief cups and fixing everything in place with glue. Before making the repair, I was ready to toss the Nikons into the deepest part of the Pearl River, but now I love them.

7-12-07. I have a motorboat lined up to take me out to the big trees, but there has been lots of thunder and lightning in the area. We made the boat trip late this afternoon and only got caught in a light rain. I'm now all set to begin some serious observing from the treetops. Should I tempt fate and get started on Friday the 13th? I'm not superstitious, but I might instead take care of the other camera box tomorrow. On the way back to Waveland this evening, I stopped at a shopping center and noticed something that had the appearance of a small angel fluttering above the parking lot. It was illuminated by the street lights, and appeared to be white, long tailed, and about the size of a sparrow. After it crashed on the parking lot, I walked up to it and it landed on my left knee. Up close, it appeared to have phosphorescent markings. I wanted to capture it and move it away from the lights, but it flew away. I have seen some large and interesting moths, but I had never seen anything like that one before.

7-13-07. It's important to stay sharp when doing the kind of work I'm doing in the Pearl, and that's hard to do day after day in the heat and humidity. So I'm going to take the day off, let my body rest, and get some work done in the office. I have received a very interesting data set from Richard Martin. On December 25, 2006, he recorded more than fifty calls in the Choctawhatchee at a site where there were high-quality ivorybill sightings that day and the previous day. The recordings were obtained on a video camera during the tail-end of a storm. The signal-to-noise ratio varies, but some of the calls are clear and kent-like. Some of the other calls are higher in pitch and resemble the calls that I recorded in the Pearl. Blue Jays have a similar call, but this species was not observed when these data sets were obtained, the movements of the ivorybill that I captured on video were correlated with the movements of the source of the calls, and I heard the calls two days earlier during an encounter with two ivorybills. There was also an intriguing report of these calls from the Congaree last year. Blue Jay can't be ruled out, but the plot has thickened. Jonny Kemp pointed out that the spectacular moth that I saw last night was a Luna Moth.

7-14-07. I took the shortcut to Tree 5 this morning. From the Stennis boat launch, it takes just over an hour, which cuts the trip in half. I get covered with sweat, mud, and slime on this route, but it doesn't completely sap my energy. I decided not to climb the tree since a thunderstorm started to develop after I arrived. On the way there, I had two close encounters with Water Moccasins and nearly got nailed by this one. I had stopped to mark the trail but didn't notice the snake just a few feet away until I heard its tail twitching in the water. After initially holding its ground, the snake swam a short distance and then disappeared into the ooze under the water. The other snake fled as I approached, but then it coiled up and hid under some debris. These encounters got me to thinking about the risks of slogging through swamps. I started to get over the snake scare as I approached Tree 5 and heard the familiar call of the Acadian Flycatcher that nests nearby.

7-15-07. It's a rainy and lazy day in the Pearl. I don't mind the rain, which cools things off, but the lightning that usually comes with it makes it dangerous to be out on the water or up in a tall tree. I was browsing through the photos taken from Tree 5 and noticed that the I-10 bridge is visible about three miles away in this one.

7-16-07. Most of the recent rain has been in the afternoon, but I woke up to the sound of thunder this morning and then drove to Stennis in the rain. More rain is predicted throughout the week, but I'm going to try to get in at least a few observation sessions from Tree 5 before returning to Virginia. A herpetologist is planning to join me in the field, and his interest perked up after hearing about the recent snake encounters.

7-17-07. Although the sky was partly cloudy at dawn, thunderstorms were predicted once again and ominous clouds began moving in from the west during the drive to Stennis. I'll try to get out to Tree 5 before the thunderstorms tomorrow, which are predicted for the afternoon. This afternoon, I visited the other motion-activated camera. It was my first visit to the old hot zone this month. A sighting was reported from that area about this time last year.

7-18-07. This morning, a herpetologist joined me on a visit to Tree 5, where he found this Water Moccasin. It was hiding out about twenty feet from the base of Tree 5, where it remained even after being handled. It's nice to know that Tree 5 has an armed guardian. I spent about an hour and a half in Tree 5 and got this panorama. It was my first observation session from up there. Lots of birds flew by, including this one. It's interesting to see the birds from above. I used known tree locations and a compass to determine that Tree 4 is the large tree in the middle of this photo. This dragonfly was hanging out in the crown of Tree 5, which provides a nice view of this water tower and these rocket towers over at Stennis.

7-19-07. Today I have something beautiful to show and something ugly to show. The beautiful thing is this 360 degree panorama of the Pearl from Tree 5 (with an appropriate web browser, it will appear as a very wide image with a horizontal scroll bar). It shows the old hot zone and other areas where ivorybills have been encountered. The ugly thing is this audio file, which I obtained yesterday during the walk to Tree 5. There are two types of guns in this recording. The first one fires about a thousand rounds per minute. The military is planning to conduct live-fire exercises in bottomland habitat that is less than a mile from the old hot zone. I don't know when this will start or what kinds of weapons will be used, but this kind of activity should not be taking place anywhere near bottomland forests along the major river basins in the southeast that contain ivorybills or habitat suitable for supporting them.

7-20-07. I visited Tree 2 with Gretchen and Tasha in their motorboat. They've been practicing climbing with me in the live oaks in their neighborhood. Since they wanted to climb a cypress but are still learning, I rigged the rope with a belay device to make the descent easier and safer. Gretchen and Tasha both handled the climbing very well. When I got to the top, I immediately recognized Tree 5 on the horizon at a distance of about 1.3 kilometers. I was never able to figure out which was Tree 4 as seen from Tree 3, but one of the climbing gurus cleared this up by sending a photo that he took when he discovered Tree 4 from Tree 3. This morning, I obtained this photo of Tree 4, which is the large tree on the horizon to the left. I went back to my photos from Tree 3 and found this one of Tree 4. It's exciting to get to know the lay of the land in the neighborhood. It will be even more exciting later in the year when we have observers stationed in several of the trees. Tree 2 provides nice views of a small bayou and a gnarly cypress. While I was in the tree, the ground support crew was hard at work below. Near the base of the tree, we saw this Five-lined Skink, which Jonny Kemp identified for me.

7-21-07. The time has come to return to Virginia. I'm packing up today and will be driving home tomorrow. My second year in the field was quite an experience. I only had two sightings in the Pearl, but it was special to see a pair of ivorybills in Florida since I grew up in that state. It was exciting to try out ideas such as paddle-cam and tree climbing and to take flights over the Pearl. It was a bummer to break my arm and then to need surgery. There were miserably cold days and unbearably hot days. I was exhausted and covered with filth nearly every day. Searching such a vast area often seemed hopeless. But it was all worth it. I want to thank all the visitors, especially the tree climbers, who came here at their own expense, taught me how to climb, donated a full set of climbing gear to the cause, and rigged several trees. I also want to thank Geoff Hill for welcoming me into his camp in the Choctawhatchee for a few weeks in January. Special thanks go to Gretchen and her family for giving us boat rides to remote locations and for opening her home to visitors. I'll be returning to the Pearl later in the year.

7-22-07. I made it more than half way back to Virginia and stopped to visit Richard and Lee Anne Martin along the way in Alabama. While working with Geoff Hill's group in the Choctawhatchee, Richard recorded some very interesting calls, had a possible sighting, and found some of the best foraging sign I have seen. I'm at a hotel not far from the Congaree. It would be awesome to stop there to climb a few trees, but I don't have the time right now.

7-23-07. During the long drive back home to Virginia, I had plenty of time to start formulating plans for this fall (if not earlier). My main goal will be to frequently spend time in the big trees. Near where a biologist had a sighting five years ago, there are 8000 acres of pine forest for sale at about $1000 per acre. This would be good land to buy up as part of a future wildlife refuge that would include the Pearl and adjacent habitat. In the short run, some of the pines could be killed and left standing in hopes of attracting the ivorybills and the rest could be logged to help pay for the land. In the long run, this land could be planted with long-leaf pines for a Red-cockaded Woodpecker colony.

7-25-07. I have obtained a copy of a new book by Francisco Erize et al. on the non-passerines of South America. I opened it and went straight for the woodpeckers. It's interesting that the red-necked is the only Campephilus illustrated in the leaned-back posture of an ivorybill. There's something about this species that really struck me when I saw it in Manu Park. The other Campephilus woodpeckers I have seen seem to be remotely related to the ivorybill. The red-necked seems to have some similarities in terms of shape and movements.

7-26-07. Using photos obtained on July 20, I've constructed a panorama from Tree 2 that shows Trees 4 and 5. These trees are spaced further apart than these zoomed photos suggest. Tree 5 is about 1.3 kilometers in the distance. Tree 4 is about 400 meters closer. Tree 3 is taller than Tree 4 and should also be visible, but I haven't yet been able to identify it from this vantage point. The tall tree in the foreground that is slightly to the left of Tree 4 and that sticks up above the horizon is consistent with Tree 3 in terms of height, location, and appearance.

7-30-07. I have enlarged the panorama from Tree 2 and added a marker for Tree 3. This appears to be the correct tree based on its shape, direction, distance, and height (compare with this photo of Tree 3). The only other possibility is the tall tree about the same distance to the right of Tree 4, but the crown of that tree seems to be too bushy. This wide-angle shot gives a better idea of the distances to the other trees. The dashed box corresponds to the area covered by the panorama.

8-4-07. I recently mentioned my interest in climbing trees on Peru Birds, and Michael Richardson suggested some great books on climbing trees in rainforests. Last week, I read "Life in the Treetops," by Margaret Lowman. I'm now reading "Life Above the Jungle Floor," by Donald Perry, who exploited his access to the canopy to obtain the first photos of the Tiny Hawk and the Great Potoo. Hopefully, this approach will also pay off in the Pearl.

8-15-07. I found an interesting image of a pileated underwing. The trailing edge is black, the translucent part of the leading edge is white, and the opaque part of the leading edge is dark gray (or black on some monitors). The same effects are responsible for the appearance of the ivorybill underwing in the classic photo from the Singer Tract in which the bird is flying overhead.

8-19-07. When studying video footage, it's easy to miss a brief event that takes place in a small part of the field of view. I didn't discover anything in the footage that I obtained in the Choctawhatchee until a few months later. It takes time to thoroughly search through that high-definition footage, which runs for eight minutes and totals more than seven gigs of data. I had already scanned it several times but decided to do it again this morning and discovered a few interesting items. I saw two large birds in the distant canopy when I arrived at the site that morning. Based on the way they were swooping between trees, I immediately suspected they were the two ivorybills that were seen a few hundred meters from that location the day before. This morning, I noticed that a large bird is briefly visible through gaps between the trees in the foreground as it swoops from right to left. It was about as far away as the two birds that were moving around in the canopy earlier, but it was lower and swooping downward.

A day-to-day log of the 2008 search season is posted here.