Tuesday, January 24, 2006

-- More on Beak Gouges --

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Steve Holzman and Paul Sykes have put forth some preliminary results/information on tree gouge or groove
differences as potential diagnostic signs for Ivory-bill vs. Pileated presence. This won't be everyone's 'cup of tea,' but for those specifically interested in this area of study check out their thoughts here:

http://www.coastalgeorgiabirding.org/misc/grooves.htm

And "Fangsheath" on BirdForum has also been intensively pursuing the tree gouge measurement line-of-study and has an interesting recent post dealing with confounding issues of "pseudogouges" here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=506963&postcount=1543

(If you're not already following it there may be other posts of interest to you on this particular thread of BirdForum, as well, so check it out)

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Beak gouges may be a great way to find evidence that the bird has been in a specific location. However, please note that Paul Sykes and Steve Holzman have been measuring from the bottom of the groove and not to the top. This makes a large difference in the measurements value.

Fangsheath and I have adopted this method of measurement so that we have a standard across the field. Good luck and good hunting!!