-- End-of-month Miscellany --

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Jackson Roe asked me to note his latest endeavor at the Wattensaw WMA (Arkansas) to lure IBWO with a home-made Ivory-billed model:

https://ibwosearch.blogspot.com/2019/02/2019-decoy-camera-trapping-for-ibwos.html

Short video showing his set up here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsnC_FSuIzc

Models have been used before. Other than Bobby Harrison thinking he had lured an IBWO on at least one occasion with one, I can’t recall any claimed successes with them, but always worth a try. Below a couple of the robotic models that have been created or used in the past:

Nothing much to report (in the way of sightings or signs) from a second team of searchers exploring parts of north Louisiana.

...A side-note: for any who don't know, Bill Thompson III, long-time birder, writer, podcaster, group leader, editor of "Bird Watcher's Digest," was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this past December and has been undergoing treatment since. For any who wish to follow his progress, or send a donation or well-wishes check here:

https://www.caringbridge.org/public/bt3updates

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-- Louisiana Deployments --

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Mark Michaels brings folks up-to-date on their La. efforts with this post on the deployment of remote recording units:

https://projectcoyoteibwo.com/2019/02/19/trip-report-february-2019-multiple-units-deployed/

Actually, the one, almost casual line, in the post that most interests me is that they have collected some sweet gum bark scrapings that may be tested for DNA.  The chance of detecting IBWO DNA of course is slim indeed, and despite working in genetics ~15 years, I’m not even sure what the viability of detecting woodpecker DNA from bark scaling is? If they even could detect Pileated DNA that would be quite fascinating and add another tool to the search arsenal. My guess is that such testing will come up empty. More obviously, bird feathers and bird droppings can reveal identifiable DNA. If there is an expert out there who can fill us in more though about the feasibility of DNA testing on bark scrapings I’d be interested to hear about it…

ADDENDUM:  someone involved writes in to clarify/confirm that the DNA analysis, if done, involves new advances in genetic testing that may or may not be successful in this instance.
(BTW, I'll probably do some sort of short post at end of coming week; if anyone has specific updates they want included with it let me know.)

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-- IBWO Researchers' Forum --

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Just a quick note to say that the IBWO Researchers’ Forum seems to have fixed whatever the issue was with their site and I’ve had no problem bringing it up the last 48 hrs. (after a year of difficulties). So if you had given up on it, you can now try again:

http://ibwo.net

And by the time you read this, Mark Michaels is reporting that his team may have "all the recording devices deployed" at their La. search site (not sure if that means 200 devices(?) or a smaller number). Mark expects to report on this trip in a week-or-so at the Project Coyote site.

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-- Acoustic Monitoring Set For Louisiana --

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Mark Michaels has announced the newest phase of the search endeavor in central Louisiana which involves deploying 200 remote acoustic recording units made available from the National Aviary in collaboration with the Kitzes Lab of University of Pittsburgh, as well as additional technical support, with a hope of pinpointing any IBWO activity in the area:

https://projectcoyoteibwo.com/2019/02/02/an-exciting-new-search-strategy-and-two-newly-noted-calls-from-march-2017/

Deployment begins by the end of this week, and will cover some areas not part of their main search focus, listening for both 'kents' and double-knocks. Of course acoustic data gathering has been carried out before, never leading to definitive photography or video (despite putative sounds), but Mark notes:

"The technology has advanced considerably since the organized ivorybill searches in the early 2000s."

If by any chance such an approach led to finding Ivory-bills one can only begin imagining how many other locales would need to be similarly monitored. :)

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