-- And Back to Illinois --

 -------------------------------------------------------------

Having grown up in central Illinois I’ve long thought that both southern Illinois and southeast Missouri were actual possibilities for the IBWO, despite low attention paid to such locales (...and Bill Pulliam made us aware of western Tennessee as well).

Louisiana searcher Matt Courtman reports on one of the Facebook IBWO group pages that he will be searching in the S. Illinois area (which is part of the Cache River watershed) on Friday, November 6 (if he’s literally devoting just one day, not sure how extensive a look he'll get, but no doubt a fun area to explore and spend a day, with or without the prize).

He links to this 2010 'technical' paper from Jeff Hoover on the region/habitat:

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17081/INHS2010_29.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

In some other side news, someone else at the same FB group has mentioned the 2018 discovery of the Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo (previously assumed long-extinct). Almost every year it seems some believed-extinct creature is re-discovered, and I don’t usually bother mentioning such news, except that in this case it is a relatively large, strictly tree-dwelling animal, confined to small remote areas… hmmmm… sound familiar? I’ve hypothesized in the past that the difficulty of IBWO documentation may be that, over time, the species has become a largely arboreal bird (in remote areas) rarely coming down low or to the ground, and essentially remaining out-of-human-sight most of the time.

A couple of bits on the kangaroo here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wondiwoi_tree-kangaroo

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/elusive-tree-kangaroo-spotted-first-time-90-years-180970413/

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-- From Dean Hurliman, Iowa Woodcarver --

 -------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, nothing new IBWO-wise, but Dean Hurliman has contacted me with new carvings!  Regular readers here will recall that Dean is the Iowa woodcarver who made many incredible life-size replicas of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker… and gave them away for FREE to interested parties some time back.

Well, he has some new offerings…

He writes me in part:

“The story of the great auk is an agonizing one important especially now in this era of impending extinction of sundry species.  As you know I've made many an IBW, but also Carolina parakeets and passenger pigeons and now two great auks.  I would like to get maximum exposure for these carvings, perhaps in some small maritime museum.  Perhaps your followers would find some interest in this.”

As you can see Dean is hoping to find a very special and appropriate home for these ‘specimens’. If you can help out contact him at: deankarenhurliman2 AT a Gmail account.

Thanks for all you do Dean!

Dean’s message reminded me of a wonderful, touching volume (a novel actually) that I loved in my youth, called “The Great Auk” by Allan W. Eckert. If you can find a copy give it a read!

And as he has previously done, Dean penned his own tribute to this bird in the following poem he sent along:

*************************************

Padraig’s‌ ‌Ave‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Auk‌ ‌ ‌

 ‌

It‌ ‌shames‌ ‌me‌ ‌now‌ ‌how‌ ‌I‌ ‌pursued‌ ‌

that‌ ‌gentle‌ ‌race‌ ‌of‌ ‌tame‌ ‌pen‌ ‌gwyn,‌ ‌

who‌ ‌hoped‌ ‌vast‌ ‌seas‌ ‌would‌ ‌keep‌ ‌‘im‌ ‌safe‌ ‌

from‌ ‌long‌ ‌boats‌ ‌of‌ ‌us‌ ‌scramblin’‌ ‌men.‌ ‌

 ‌

A‌ ‌thought‌ ‌it‌ ‌struck‌ ‌on‌ ‌midnight‌ ‌watch‌ ‌

(the‌ ‌best‌ ‌they‌ ‌comes‌ ‌a‌ ‌little‌ ‌late):‌ ‌

The‌ ‌auk‌ ‌had‌ ‌worth‌ ‌beyond‌ ‌our‌ ‌need‌ ‌

of‌ ‌blanket‌ ‌fill‌ ‌or‌ ‌oily‌ ‌bait.‌ ‌

 ‌

Me‌ ‌sainted‌ ‌mother’s‌ ‌blessed‌ ‌book‌ ‌

schooled‌ ‌me‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Holy‌ ‌Word:‌ ‌

of‌ ‌how‌ ‌the‌ ‌seas‌ ‌were‌ ‌filled‌ ‌with‌ ‌cod‌ ‌

and‌ ‌how‌ ‌He‌ ‌marks‌ ‌both‌ ‌man‌ ‌and‌ ‌bird.‌ ‌

 ‌

I’ve‌ ‌risked‌ ‌Nantucket‌ ‌sleigh‌ ‌rides,‌ ‌

cast‌ ‌many‌ ‌a‌ ‌net‌ ‌with‌ ‌pride‌ ‌

but,‌ ‌o’‌ ‌this‌ ‌pen‌ ‌gwyn‌ ‌thing‌ ‌has‌ ‌left‌ ‌

unease‌ ‌and‌ ‌bitter‌ ‌gall‌ ‌inside.‌ ‌

‘Afa‌ ‌crown‌ ‌says‌ ‌that‌ ‌‘e’s‌ ‌got‌ ‌

a‌ ‌mortal‌ ‌soul‌ ‌like‌ ‌you‌ ‌or‌ ‌I‌‌

but‌ ‌keep‌ ‌that‌ ‌ave‌ ‌to‌ ‌yourself‌ ‌

if‌ ‌Sister‌ ‌Aine‌ ‌be‌ ‌kneelin’‌ ‌by.‌ ‌

 ‌

From‌ ‌these‌ ‌Grand‌ ‌Banks‌ ‌I‌ ‌takes‌ ‌me‌ ‌leave‌ ‌

to‌ ‌raise‌ ‌an‌ ‌extra‌ ‌pint‌ ‌o’‌ ‌wine‌ ‌

abeggin’‌ ‌the‌ ‌Great‌ ‌Auk’s‌ ‌pardon.‌ ‌

(How‌ ‌sadly‌ ‌some‌ ‌lives‌ ‌intertwine.)‌ ‌

 ‌

                               ‌DSH‌          ‌2020‌ 

‌

*************************************

 ‌

Dean's‌ ‌Notes‌:

The‌ ‌great‌ ‌auk‌ ‌is‌ ‌not‌ ‌closely‌ ‌related‌ ‌to‌ ‌penguins,‌ ‌but‌ ‌seaman‌ ‌Padraig‌ ‌had‌ ‌no‌ ‌interest‌ ‌in‌ ‌taxonomy.‌  ‌He‌ ‌was‌ ‌a‌ ‌19th‌ ‌century‌ ‌Irish‌ ‌Catholic‌ ‌-devout,‌ ‌introspective,‌ ‌though‌ ‌somewhat‌ ‌independent‌ ‌in‌ ‌theology.‌  ‌The‌ ‌word‌ ‌“pen‌ ‌gwyn”‌ ‌ ‌is‌ ‌not‌ ‌Irish,‌ ‌but‌ ‌Welsh.‌  ‌I‌ ‌could‌ ‌not‌ ‌resist‌ ‌using‌ ‌it.‌  ‌The‌ ‌“sleigh‌ ‌ride”‌ ‌meaning‌ ‌may‌ ‌be‌ ‌researched‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌reader.‌ ‌

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-- The Ivory-billed Woodpecker.... and Eschatology --

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Is the existence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker "increasingly left to the realm of myth"?... a recent essay via Emergence Magazine:

https://emergencemagazine.org/story/the-lord-god-bird/

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-- Kenn Kaufman Ponders... --

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Renowned birder Kenn Kaufman attempts a fair-minded answer to the question of the Ivory-bill's existence:

https://www.audubon.org/news/ask-kenn-kaufman-ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct

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ADDENDUM:  In a comment below “John” references a graph of Hz levels for IBWO kents that didn’t make it into his comment. Here is the graph (and I assume this is based on the IBWO calls recorded by Cornell originally at the Singer Tract, but I'm not clear since it specifically references Mennill/Proj.Coyote data):

-- Open Thread --

———————————————————————

I’m pretty distracted with everything else going on in the world these days, so only happened to check the blog a few days back to discover 60+ comments (still continuing) on the last post — probably only a few individuals involved, but still will start a fresh “open thread”  here if anyone wishes to begin anew with some IBWO-related discussion (or you can continue at previous post if preferred, but I think hard to follow).

I will ask 2 things (just for lack of time though, will try to stay out of things):

1)  please don’t engage in personal attacks on other interested parties, and

2)  I’d prefer if those using the “Anonymous” tag would still give themselves a "label," at beginning or end of comment, to make it easier to read who is saying what to whom about what. Label could be “Abe Lincoln” or “R-9348172-MWX4” for all I care so long as you use it consistently, so your comments (and who you're responding to) can be more easily tracked.

———————————————————————

-- Those Were The Days --

Just feeling a tad nostalgic about those heady days of Ivory-bill excitement over a dozen years ago, and taking a trip down memory lane via some of the media it spawned:

Trailer for the fictionalized independent film “Woodpecker”:

Trailer for Scott Crocker’s documentary “Ghost Bird”:

Sufjan Stevens' haunting song/memorial to the Ivory-bill, “The Lord God Bird”:

…also several novels, centered around the Ivory-billed Woodpecker came forth:

“The Life List of Adrian Mandrick” by Chris White

“The Lord God Bird”  by Russell Hill

“The Lord God Bird”  by Tom Gallant

(…and actually long-preceding all of these was Greg Lewbart’s “Ivory Hunters”) 

-- Rewards.... will anyone ever collect? --

———————————————--------------——

A story out of Louisiana, principally from Matt Courtman, mentioning a current $12,000 reward from Louisiana Wilds for information leading to an active Ivory-bill nesthole or roost hole:

https://www.redriverradio.org/post/12k-reward-offered-finding-rare-woodpecker

Can anyone confirm that either the original $10,000, or later $50,000 reward, for info leading to IBWO confirmation are still active and in force (or have they been dropped)?

————————--------------—————————

-- Another Blast From the Past --

———————————————————————

While biding time, figure it might be worth mentioning again a topic discussed here long ago and recently brought up over at the “Ivory-billed Woodpecker — Re-discovered” Group on Facebook, which is Noel Snyder’s ‘alternative hypothesis’ for the decline of the IBWO (focusing on human predation, instead of habitat loss). Respected ornithologist Snyder wrote of his hypothesis over a dozen years ago in a lengthy monograph, which I don’t believe is available on the internet (other than through a paywall)? He did make the same arguments later in book-form in “The Travails of Two Woodpeckers: Ivory-bills and Imperials.”

Anyway, Geoffrey Hill wrote a review of the monograph back at the time here:

https://tinyurl.com/vlwaffz

Birder Gary Graves also chimed in on it on the Arkansas listserv as I reported in this old posting:

https://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2007/10/snyder-hypothesis.html

The point of all this being that IF habitat loss was not as major a force in this species' decline as Tanner led people to believe, than the species' chance of surviving through the bottleneck of the 1940s was that much greater. I'd like to say 'time will tell,' though it is always possible that time has run out.

———————————————————————

-- Waiting For Winter News --

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1)  The Ivory-bill Researchers Forum, where at least a few searchers, as well as other interested parties hang out, is funded for another year.

(p.s… if you had given up on it during the glitchy phase where it wasn’t loading properly for some of us, it seems to work fine now):

http://www.ibwo.net

2)  I didn’t watch the recent “Extinct or Alive” episode searching for the IBWO in Louisiana — will view it if/when it shows up on the Web/YouTube, but haven’t seen any particularly positive reviews of it from those who did view.

3)  With leaves off the trees, we’re into some prime search months now, but haven’t heard anything new from “Project Principalis” in Louisiana of late:

https://www.aviary.org/Ivory-billed-Woodpecker

4)  If you can stomach Facebook and allowing (demonic???) Mark Zuckerberg to control your life, the long-running “Ivory-billed Woodpecker Re-discovered” group can be worth following:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/

Miscellaneous folks sometimes cite sightings/encounters with IBWOs, occasionally recent but more often in the distant past. Most of the claims aren’t terribly detailed or convincing or followed up on, but here’s an example of one (from E. Texas) with at least a bit more specifics from the ‘early 2000s’:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/permalink/2797326180288794/

Lastly, because of some recent discussion over there I just want to stress again (talked about a lot previously) that some research argues that the Ivory-bill in early North America was likely a species of rich upland (largely pine) forests, NOT of bottomland or swamp areas. Early and rapid decimation of upland forests by white settlers may have pushed the bird into bottomland areas where it had to re-adapt while facing more competition with Pileateds, and also succumbing to hunters. In short, the long-held presumption that the species requires first-growth hardwood forest to survive may have no real basis; even possible the species was never well-adapted to bottomland swamps -- it may only require dead-and-dying trees (for food) and large living ones (for habitat)... and safety from humans.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

-- "Extinct or Alive" program --

———————————————————--------——

I don’t get cable or streaming so won’t see this myself, but there is apparently an episode of “Extinct or Alive” airing on December 11, centered on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (I believe in Louisiana). The show, led by scientist/outdoor-adventurer Forrest Galante is in its second season, but I really know little about it.

Galante  was on the Joe Rogan podcast (2+ hrs.) earlier this year (though I don’t think the IBWO came up):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0ZIq-yWEM

If anyone knows more about this specific IBWO episode, or wants to comment more generally about “Extinct or Alive” feel free to below. Otherwise, perhaps report on it after it airs, since I likely won't view it.

————————————————-------—————

-- Pileateds --

——————————————————————

This wonderful video of Pileateds was posted recently over at the “Ivory-Billed Woodpecker — Re-discovered” group on Facebook (from Sue Keeler's FB page):

…of course there are loads more YouTube videos of Pileateds if you've got some 
time to kill ;)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pileated+woodpecker

——————————————————————

ADDENDUM: just discovered this 2nd (older) great video from Sue Keeler of a Pileated family:

(perhaps she has more, but I didn't check further back)

-- Hope, Fading and Springing --

---------------------------------------------------------------

Trying not to be too speculative here these days, but with another lull in news, will go ahead and be a little what-iffy ;)

One would like to believe that some of the most promising places for Ivory-bills like the Congaree, the Apalachicola, the Atchafalaya, the Big Thicket, are simply so huge, dense, and difficult to traverse, that despite the many man-hours of unsuccessful searching devoted to them over decades, the species’ presence there can never be fully discounted. Especially so, if the species is wary, a fast flyer, and certainly few in number; it could evade detection even when in a searcher’s near-presence. Maybe. Still, odd that remote automatic cameras have failed to capture them, and that even fleeting glances or auditory encounters have been so few and hard to replicate, and not a single active roost or nest-hole found in all that time. Perhaps the species has truly disappeared from such places long ago (except for an occasional fly-through), and too much time has been wasted concentrating on such regions. Maybe.

Even if such locales are devoid of IBWOs there’s always the hope that over the decades individual birds may have moved on to historically less well-established (or seriously-considered) locations such as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, et. al., where searching has been much less rigorously conducted.

I mention all this because of a recent posting over at the “Ivory-billed Woodpecker Rediscovered” Facebook group that linked to an old (well, 2017) piece on Michael Collins’ work — I hadn’t re-looked at it since it came out, so only recently discovered all the comments added to it, including several claimed sightings for the species. The sightings claims are more of what one typically finds across the Internet — not terribly credible, nor including the sort of detail one would like, and almost never with photos (or when there are pictures, clearly of a Pileated).  Nonetheless, one FB responder picked out one Tennessee claim as interesting, which read verbatim as follows:

“In 1991 I was turkey hunting and had the sighting of a lifetime. For at least 20 minutes a hen ivorybill worked on a old tree and flew down to a rotten log and caught bugs no more than 25 yards from me. I am 100% certain of what she was and would take a polygraph or be hypnotized to prove it. I am very familiar with pileateds and she was not, black and white head and lots of white on the wings. The kicker is where she was. Clinch Mountain valley, near Cherokee lake in TN. Not supposed to be here, but knew several old folks who saw them.I have seen 2 or 3 since, but never that long and good of a sighting. Any biologist that wants to look for themselves I would help any way I could.”

Again, I wouldn’t place too much weight on the claim, except that it did remind me of a story writer Sam Keen told in his book “Sightings” many years ago — a childhood story from 1942, of living in Pikeville, TN. (eastern TN.) and being present when an Ivory-billed Woodpecker was shot and killed (he couldn’t absolutely confirm that it was an IBWO, only that the adults he was with at the time claimed it was one). Clinch Mountain Valley is perhaps an hour or two further east (from Pikeville); neither locale with any significant history of IBWO claims or searches.

When USFWS/Cornell did their large Southeast search for the Ivory-bill they only suggested a few locales in the far western edge of Tennessee as being worth any time (because of a few claims and the habitat). Excellent Tennessee birder Bill Pulliam (now deceased) also left hints about the possibility of IBWO presence in far western TN. I was never able to get a straight answer from him as to whether he honestly believed IBWO were there, or merely thought it fell within the realm of outside possibility, though I think it was more the latter case (I always thought that perhaps after his death, if he truly believed in IBWO existence in his state, something in his papers or writing might have been found to back that up). 

Anyway, the western edge of TN. borders on the southeast corner of Missouri, the southern tip of Illinois, and the northeast edge of Arkansas (near the 'Big Woods' area), all oddball locales for which I’ve heard occasional rumors of IBWOs over the decades. (Kentucky, southern Indiana, Oklahoma, and certainly parts of Alabama, Georgia, and perhaps N. Carolina, not usually associated with traditional range maps for IBWO, have also produced rumors/claims from time-to-time.) But of course no one is going to look much in these places without stronger evidence to lead them there. Is it like the old joke of the fellow looking for his keys under the lamp-post where the light is, instead of where he lost them a block away? The acreage of southern woodland that is not regularly monitored, nor even very accessible, is enormous... 

Unfortunately, I’m going in circles here, in that I’ve discussed this possibility in the distant past — that perhaps we’ve spent most of our time, spinning our wheels, searching in all the wrong places (based upon false assumptions); places that have already been scoured many times over, and the birds have moved on to further locales, not part of (but adjacent to) their older, traditional range? IF the species is EVER found and documented it may be astounding to discover how much we've gotten wrong over the decades! That's a big IF, but

hope springs eternal….

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-- October Bits --

___________________________________________

Catching up on a few things:

In the future, the former “Project Coyote” search for the IBWO in Louisiana will be carried out under the heading “Project Principalis” in partnership with the National Aviary:

https://www.aviary.org/Ivory-billed-Woodpecker

Mark Michaels will soon be updating all this info on their old Coyote site and describing plans for the winter search/monitoring. [I'll probably add a link here when he does so.]

Jackson Roe asked me to pass along this video of his current search method in Arkansas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgH5tTvPnXQ

One of the Ivory-bill groups on Facebook recently mentioned that the current issue of the “Bluebird,” ornithological journal reports on a museum Ivory-bill skin with a history linking to a site in Michigan. I’m pretty open-minded about what the original IBWO range may have been, but verrry doubtful of them ever residing in Michigan. If anyone has read the article (I haven’t) and can tell us some of the specifics of what they argue I’d be curious to hear. Certainly Ivory-bill artifacts were traded by Native (and other) Americans and could have easily made their way to Michigan, but if they are claiming that a live IBWO was taken in Michigan at some point I can’t imagine what their evidence trail would be (other than verbal report, which would be iffy or mistaken).

Finally, news of a new Honeyeater species being discovered in Indonesia:

https://twitter.com/DrColinTrainor/status/1180337484099543040

_____________________________________

-- Final? Paper From Mike Collins --

----------------------------------------------------------

Mike Collins announced today on the Arkansas birding listserv, the publication of what may be his last paper on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker:

http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=1593441&MLID=&MLNM=Arkansas

...I'm doubtful he’ll get a very positive reception from the listserv (if any reception at all), but we'll see...

The full paper is in the statistics journal at this link:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2330443X.2019.1637802

(I haven't had a chance to look through it yet)

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-- Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Laugh... --

__________________________________________________

Ready for a chuckle?... An astute reader sends me this short commercial from a financial company ;)

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/oshA/tiaa-woodpecker



Thanks, I needed that!
_________________________________________________

— Another One Passes On… —

----------------------------------------------------------- 

Add one more individual to the history bin of the grand Ivory-bill saga…

Mark Michaels and others send word that Bob (Robert, Rob) Russell Jr., retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, died suddenly on Sunday June 30 at 73 years of age. Bob was a long-time, intrepid, optimistic Ivory-bill searcher. I only spent a few days with him close to 20 years ago in the aftermath of the David Kulivan Pearl River sighting, and then had occasional emails back-and-forth over the years. At that time I believe he was working on an Ivory-bill book, which may have been pre-empted by the later Cornell excitement in the Big Woods of Arkansas and the mini-flurry of books which followed that. 

Bob always had a couple of intriguing Ivory-bill stories to tell, though never with quite as much detail or documentation as I was hoping for (he was a long-time birder and searched for other rarities as well). I often couldn’t tell which stories to take most seriously, but at least his optimism was a bit contagious. Writer/birder and fellow Minnesotan Laura Erickson described Bob as “one of the kindest, warmest people I've ever known, a great birder, a total optimist (he never lost hope that an Ivory-billed Woodpecker was lurking somewhere) and lots of fun, too.”

If/when I come across a more extensive obituary of his life I may add it on here.

ADDENDUM:  here is one online obituary for Bob (if folks know of others feel free to pass them along):

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/saint-paul-mn/robert-russell-8767800#remembering

...and Mark Michaels sends along this tribute from Bob's long-time friend/columnist Jim Williams:

http://www.startribune.com/remembering-a-longtime-bird-advocate/513095212/

----------------------------------------------------------- 

-- Recap, Nothing Much New --

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Another media article out of Louisiana on the Project Coyote effort:

https://www.wwno.org/post/search-controversial-woodpecker-continues-louisiana

...mostly re-hash of history of the search effort, brought a bit up-to-date by the end, but no new findings reported.

ADDENDUM:  Mark Michaels comments on the story here:
https://projectcoyoteibwo.com/2019/05/16/a-look-back-and-a-look-ahead-project-coyote-on-wwno-seasons-end-and-future-plans/

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-- Persistence --

------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Michaels points us to this nice current article on the ongoing search/hope for Ivory-bills (perhaps a bit unfortunate that it gets published on April 1, but oh well!):

http://www.wagmag.com/the-holy-grail-of-birds/?fbclid=IwAR29lV-H7aVUCyQh0lcIQZRTAqIP4V25osgHQnSSSbi3bE0WC9K9HFevX8k

(One small bit of new info from the piece, I hadn't previously heard, is that Mike Collins is said to be writing a book based upon his claims/experiences.)

Meanwhile, over at their “Kints” blog (and with a little assist from woodcarver Dean Hurliman) the Carlisles have posted some wonderful Mississippi photos! ;)

https://ibwos.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-dreams-23-march-2019.html

Soon the forests will fully sprout out, the winter search season will be over... yet again, and Ivory-bills, IF they exist at all, will have maintained their Holy Grail status.

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