Although discussions of the ivory-bill literature have already been underway in a number of other threads, we have decided to compile published material into a single resource here for the benefit of our members. Because there is so much material, we will do a series of posts, encompassing books and journal articles, popular articles, and web pages. Naturally this resource will change over time, and unlike the “resources” thread, this one is open for member input. If you wish to edit these original posts, please be careful. We prefer that members make their suggestions for edits as separate posts or PM’s, and we will make the appropriate changes to the publication lists.
It almost goes without saying that we have not read every one of these items. Many are included on the presumption that they contain important ivory-bill info. In some cases this may be incorrect.
Historically, the “ivory-bills” were considered to be only 2 species, one of which consisted of 2 subspecies. However, recent molecular work suggests that it is equally valid to divide them into 3 species. At any rate, the Cuban ivory-bill appears to be no more closely related to the North American form than is the imperial woodpecker. For this reason we have considered all 3 forms to be “ivory-bills,” and have included material pertaining to Campephilusprincipalis, C. bairdii, and C. imperialis.
We have left out newspaper and major news media articles because there are just too many and the web links are too unstable. There are undoubtedly hundreds if not thousands of such articles in existence.
This thread is not merely for citing material. It is a discussion thread in which members are encouraged to exchange ideas and perspectives on these materials. Of course, if you feel that another thread, such as “Ivory-bill Feeding Patterns and Behavior” is more appropriate for your post, by all means put it in one of those. We will of course be monitoring all of these threads and will edit these lists accordingly. We may consolidate some threads in the future, we’ll just see how it goes. As always, remember that ibwo.net is a place for researchers to share with each other in a warm and encouraging environment.
Last edited by fangsheath : 11-01-2007 at 10:16 AM.
Baynard, O.E. 1914. Two months in the Everglades. Oologist 31:36.
Bendire, Charles Emil. 1895. Life Histories of North American Birds, Volume 2, From the Parrots to the Grackles: With Special Reference to their Breeding Habits and Eggs. United States National Museum Bulletin 3:42-45.
Bent, Arthur Cleveland. 1939. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers. United States National Museum Bulletin 174:1 - 12. (Ivory-bill entry, prepared by Arthur A. Allen, available here: http://birdsbybent.netfirms.com/dh01-110/ivorybill.html)
Campbell, J.S., J.J. Kuhn, G.H. Lowery, Sr., and G.H. Lowery, Jr. 1934. Bird-Lore’s thirty-fourth Christmas census. (Tallulah, La.) Bird-Lore 36:55.
Capainolo, P., S.P. Kenney, and P.R. Sweet. 2007. Extended-wing preparation made from a 117- year-old Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) specimen. Auk 124(2):705-709.
Chapman, F. M. 1930. Notes on the plumage of North American birds. Bird-Lore 32:265–267.
Charif, R.A., K. A. Cortopassi, H. K. Figueroa, J. W. Fitzpatrick, K. M. Fristrup, M. Lammertink, M.D. Luneau, JR., M. E. Powers, and K.V. Rosenberg. 2005. Notes and double knocks from Arkansas. Science 309:1489.
Collinson, J.M. 2007. Video analysis of the escape flight of Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus: does the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis persist in continental North America? BMC Biology 5:8. (Available here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/5/8)
Cooke, W.W., and C. Hart Merriam. 1888. Report on bird migration in the Mississippi Valley in the years 1884 and 1885. U.S.D.A, Division of Economic Ornithology.
Cory, C. B. 1886. The birds of the West Indies, including the Bahama Islands, the Greater and the Lesser Antilles, excepting the islands of Tobago and Trinidad. Auk 3:337–381. (Available here: http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v00...0337-p0381.pdf)
Dennis, J.V. 1966. A preliminary report on the woody plants, birds, and mammals of the Congaree
Swamp, South Carolina. Report to National Park Service, Congaree National Park, Hopkins, SC.
Eastman, W. 1958. Ten year search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Atlantic Nat. 13:216–228.
Edge, R. 1943. The Singer Tract and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. P. 22 in Conservation for victory. Publ. no. 88, Emergency Conserv. Comm., Annu. Rep. 1942, New York.
Ellis, J.B. 1918. Ivory-billed Woodpecker not yet extinct. Oologist 35:11-12.
Estrada, A. R., and G. Alayón Garcia. 1986. Reporte de expedicion: Busqueda de Carpintero Real. El volante Migratario 6:15.
Estrada, A. R., and G. Alayón Garcia. 1986. La existencia del Carpintero Real o Pico de Marfil en Cuba, es realidad, no un sueno. El Volante Migratorio 7:25-27.
Fitzpatrick, J.W., M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau, Jr., T. W. Gallagher, B. R. Harrison, G. M. Sparling, K. V. Rosenberg, R. W. Rohrbaugh, E. C. H. Swarthout, P. H. Wrege, S. Barker Swarthout, M. S. Dantzker, R. A. Charif, T. R. Barksdale, J. V. Remsen, Jr., S. D. Simon, and D. Zollner. 2005. Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in continental North America.
Science 308:1460-1462. (Available here: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten.../308/5727/1460)
Fitzpatrick, J.W., M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau, Jr., T. W. Gallagher, and K. V. Rosenberg. 2006. Response to Comment on "Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in continental North America". Science 311:1555. (Available here: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten...311/5767/1555b)
Fitzpatrick, J. W.; M. Lammertink, M.D. Luneau, Jr., T.W. Gallagher, B.R. Harrison, Sparling, K.V. Rosenberg, R.W. Rohrbaugh, E.C.H. Swarthout, P.H. Wrege, S. Barker Swarthout, M.S. Dantzker, R.A. Charif, T.R. Barksdale, J.V. Remsen, Jr., S.D. Simon, and D. Zollner. 2006. Clarifications about current research on the status of Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in Arkansas. Auk 123:587–593. (Available here: http://www.ibwo.org/PublishedAukLetter.pdf)
Fitzpatrick, J.W., M. Lammertink, M.D. Luneau, Jr., K.V. Rosenberg, Kenneth V.; T.W. Gallagher, and R.W. Rohrbaugh. 2006. Response to letter by J. A. Jackson. Auk 123:1189.
Fitzpatrick, J.W., M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau, Jr., T. W. Gallagher, and K. V. Rosenberg. 2007. Response. Science 315:1496.
Journal articles, reports, official brochures, G-R
Garrido, O. H. 1985. Cuban endangered birds. Pp. 992–999 in Neotropical ornithology (P. A. Buckley, M. S. Foster, E. S. Morton, R. S. Ridgely, and F. G. Buckley, eds.). Ornithol. Monogr. no. 36.
Goslin, R. 1945. Bird remains from an Indian village site in Ohio. Wilson Bull. 57:131.
Hardy, J. W. 1975. A tape recording of a possible Ivory-billed Woodpecker call. Am. Birds 29:647–651.
Haymond, R. 1869. Birds of Franklin County, Indiana. Indiana Geological Survey Annu. Rep. 1:209–235.
Hill, Geoffrey E., Mennill, Daniel J., Rolek, Brian W., Hicks, Tyler L., and Swiston, Kyle A. 2006. Evidence Suggesting that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers (Campephilus principalis) Exist in Florida. Avian Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux 1:2. (Available here: http://www.ace-eco.org/vol1/iss3/art...CO-2006-78.pdf)
Howe, R.H., and King, L. 1902. Notes on various Florida birds. Contributions to North American Ornithology 1:30.
Hoyt, R. D. 1905. Nesting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Florida. Warbler (2nd ser.) 1:52–55.
Hoxie, W. 1887. Probable occurrence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker on Pritchard’s Island, S.C. Ornith. And Oologist 12:122.
Jackson, J. A. 1989. Past history, habitats, and present status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Rep. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Atlanta, GA.
Jackson, J. A. 1991. The history of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Cuba [abstract]. Pitirre 4:6.
Jackson, J. A. 2006a. Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis): hope, and the interfaces of science, conservation, and politics. Auk 123:1-15.
Jackson, J. A. 2006b. The public perception of science and reported confirmation of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. Auk 123:1185–1189.
Jones, L. 1903. The birds of Ohio. Ohio State Acad. Sci. Spec. Pap. no. 6.
Lammertink, M., and A. R. Estrada. 1995. Status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis in Cuba: almost certainly extinct. Bird Conserv. Int. 5:53–59.
Lammertink, J.M., J.A. Rojas-Tome, F.M. Casillas-Orona, and R.L. Otto. 1997. Status and Conservation of Old-Growth Forests and Endemic Birds in the Pine-Oak Zone of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. WWF Biodiversity Support Program Publ. 160. (Available here: http://www.worldwildlife.org/bsp/pub...s/status1.html)
Laurent, P. 1887. Notes on birds of Levy County, Florida. Ornith. and Oologist 12:157-159.
Laurent, P. 1917. My Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Oologist 34:65-67.
Loftin, R. W. 1991. Ivory-billed Woodpeckers reported in Okefenokee Swamp in 1941–42. Oriole 56:74–76.
Lowery, G. H. 1935. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Louisiana. Proc. Louisiana Acad. Sci. 2:84–86.
Mattsson, B.J., R.S. Mordecai, M.J. Conroy, J.T. Peterson, R.J. Cooper, and H. Christensen. 2008. Evaluating the small population paradigm for rare large-bodied woodpeckers, with implications for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Avian Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux 3(2): 5. (Available here: http://www.ace-eco.org/vol3/iss2/art5/)
Moore, G. E. 1949. Elusive Ivory-bills. Bluebird 16:1.
Moore, G. E. 1954. Ivory-bills again. Bluebird 21:2.
Murphy, E.E. 1937. Observations of the bird life of the middle Savannah valley, 1890-1937. Contr. Charleston Mus. 9:29.
Murphy, J. L., and J. Farrand, Jr. 1979. Prehistoric occurrence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), Muskingum County, Ohio. Ohio J. Sci. 79:22–23.
Nehrling, H. 1882. List of birds observed at Houston, Harris Co., Texas, and in the counties Montgomery, Galveston, and Fort Bend. Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club 7:170.
Phillips, J.C. 1926. An attempt to list the extinct and vanishing birds of the Western Hemisphere. Verhandlungen VI Internationalen Ornithologen-Kongresses Kopenhagen: 512-513.
Ridgway, R. 1889. The ornithology of Illinois. Illinois Nat. Hist. Surv., Springfield, IL. 1:374–376.
Ridgway, R. 1898. The home of the Ivory-bill. Osprey 3:35–36.
Ridgway, R. 1914. The birds of North and Middle America. Pt. 6. Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. no. 50.
Rosenberg, K.V., R.W. Rohrbaugh, and M. Lammertink. 2005. An Overview of Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Sightings in Eastern Arkansas in 2004-2005. North American Birds 59:198-206. (Available here: http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/NAB/v05...198-p00207.pdf)
Last edited by fangsheath : 04-05-2010 at 02:26 PM.
Shackleford, C.E. 1998. A compilation of published records of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Texas: Voucher specimens versus sight records. Bull. Texas Ornithol. Soc. 21:34-41. (Available here: http://www.houstonaudubon.org/html/IBWShackelford.pdf)
Short, L. L. 1982. Woodpeckers of the world. Delaware Mus. Nat. Hist. Monogr. Series no. 4.
Short, L. L. 1985. Last chance for the Ivory-bill. Nat. Hist. 94:66–68.
Short, L. L., and J. F. M. Horne. 1986. The Ivorybill still lives. Nat. Hist. 95:26–28.
Short, L. L., and J. F. M. Horne. 1990. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker: the costs of specialization. Pp. 93–98 in Conservation and management of woodpecker populations (A. Carlson and G. Auln, eds.). Rep. 17, Swedish Univ. of Agric. Sci., Dep. Wildl. Ecol., Uppsala, Sweden.
Shull, A.M. 1985. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants: Review of the status of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Federal Register 50:14123-14124.
Sibley, D.A., L. R. Bevier, M. A. Patten, and C. S. Elphick. 2006. Comment on "Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America". Science 311:1555. (Available here: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten...311/5767/1555a)
Sibley, D.A., L. R. Bevier, M. A. Patten, and C. S. Elphick. 2007. Ivory-Billed or Pileated Woodpecker? Science 315:1495.
Spahr, Timothy. 2005. Searches for Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in the Apalachicola River basin of Florida in 2003. North American Birds 59(2):210-215. (Available her: https://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/NAB/v0...210-p00215.pdf)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 200x. Recovery Plan for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, Georgia. (Available here: http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/100719.pdf)
Van der Schalie, H., and P. W. Parmalee. 1960. Animal remains from the Etowah Site, Mound C Bartow County, Georgia. Florida Anthropol. 13:37–54.
Angell, T. 2002. The Ivory-bill’s Last Stand. Living Bird 21:11-16.
Anonymous. 1885. Forest and Stream 24:508.
Audubon, John James LaForest. 1835-38. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker. In: Birds of America 4. ISBN 0-8109-2061-1 (H. N. Abrams 1979 edition - the book itself is in the public domain; ivory-bill entry available here: http://www.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F26_G1b.html)
Bailey, H.H. 1925. The Birds of Florida. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD.
Baker, J.H. 1950. News of Wildlife and Conservation; Ivory-bills Now Have Sanctuary. Audubon 52:391-392.
Barbour, T. 1945. A Naturalist in Cuba. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, MA.
Bird, A.R. 1932. Ivory-bill is Still King! American Forests 38:634-635.
Boardman, G.A. 1885. The Big Woodpeckers. Forest and Stream 24:388.
Chapman, F. M. 1908. Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist. D. Appleton and Co., New York.
Christy, B. 1943. The Vanishing Ivory-bill. Audubon 45:99-102.
Clarke, S.C. 1885. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Florida. Forest and Stream 24:367.
Cokinos, Christopher. 2001. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds. Warner Books, Inc.
D., W.A. 1885. The Great Woodpeckers. Forest and Stream 24:427.
Dennis, J.V. 1967. The Ivory-bill Flies Still. Audubon 69:38-44.
Dennis, J. V. 1984. Tale of Two Woodpeckers. Living Bird Q. 3: 18–21.
Dennis, J.V. 1988. The Great Cypress Swamps. LSU Press, Baton Rouge. ISBN 978-0807115015
Elliot, C.N. 1932. Feathers of the Okefenokee. American Forests 38:202-206.
Gallagher, Tim W. 2005. The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0-618-45693-7
García, F. 1987. Las aves de Cuba subspecies endémicas. Editorial Gente Nueva, Havana, Cuba.
Garrido, O. H. 1975. Catálogo de las aves de Cuba. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
Gordon, Theodore. 1909. Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Forest and Stream 72:892.
Gosse, P. H. 1859 [1993]. Letters from Alabama (U.S.) Chiefly Relating to Natural History. Univ. of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. [Available here (ivory-bill entry pp. 91-93): http://books.google.com/books?id=fCg...tters+alabama]
Gundlach, J. 1876. Contribución a la ornitología Cubana. Impressa La Antilla, Havana, Cuba.
Gundlach, J. 1893. Ornitología Cubana. Impressa La Habana, Havana, Cuba.
Hoose, Phillip M. 2004. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York. ISBN 0-374-36173-8
Howell, A.H. 1932. Florida Bird Life. Florida Dep. Game Fresh Water Fish, Tallahassee.
Jackson, J.A. 1988. The History of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Mississippi. Mississippi Kite 18:3-10.
Jackson, J.A. 1991. Will-o’-the-wisp. Living Bird Q. 10:29–32.
Jackson, J.A. 1996. Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Pp. 103–112 in Rare and endangered biota of Florida (J. A. Rodgers, Jr., H. W. Kale II, and H. T. Smith, eds.). Univ. Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Oberholser, H. C., and E. B. Kincaid. 1974. The Bird Life of Texas. Vol. 1. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
Pearson, T. Gilbert. 1936. Birds of America. Garden City Books, Garden City, N.Y.
Peterson, R.T. 1988. My Greatest Birding Moment. Audubon (Suppl.) 90:64.
Ridgway, R. 1910. A Manual of North American birds. 4th ed. J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Rosen, J. 2001. The Ghost Bird. New Yorker May 14, 2001:61-67.
Scott, W. E. D. 1903. The Story of a Bird Lover. Macmillan, New York.
Short, L. L. 1988. Status and conservation of woodpeckers. Pp. 161–163 in Bird Conservation 3 (J. A. Jackson, ed.). Univ. of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Shackleford, C.E. 1998. A compilation of published records of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Texas: Voucher specimens versus sight records. Bull. Texas Ornith. Soc. 31:34-41.
Shufeldt, R.W. 1890. A Skeleton of the Ivory-bill. Forest and Stream 35:431.
Snyder, Noel. 2007. An Alternative Hypothesis for the Cause of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's Decline. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Camarillo, Ca.
Snyder, Noel F.R., David E. Brown, and Kevin B. Clark. 2009. The Travails of Two Woodpeckers: Ivory-bills and Imperials. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Stoddard, H. L. 1969. Memoirs of a Naturalist. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Sutton, G. M. 1936. Birds in the Wilderness. MacMillan Co., New York.
Sutton, G. M. 1967. Oklahoma Birds. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Tanner, James T. 1941. Three Years with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, America’s rarest bird. Audubon 43:5–14.
Tanner, James T. 1942. The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. National Audubon Society, N.Y.
Tanner, James T. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Texas Game and Fish 14:15, 30-31.
Terres, J.K. 1961. Discovery. Great Moments in the Lives of Outstanding Naturalists. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia.
Weidensaul, Scott. 2002. The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species. North Point Press, N.Y. ISBN 0-374-24664-5
Wilson, Alexander, Charles Lucian Bonaparte, Robert Jameson, George Ord, and William Maxwell Hetherington. 1831. American Ornithology: Or The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. [Available here (ivory-bill entry pp. 132-138): http://books.google.com/books?id=Upk...-navigational]
Winkler, H., D.A. Christie, and D. Nurney. 1995. Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. ISBN 0-395-72043-5
Yell. 1885. The Big Woodpecker. Forest and Stream 24:407.
Last edited by fangsheath : 01-17-2010 at 06:55 AM.
Note: Web pages are organized alphabetically by page title. The Laboratory of Ornithology’s web site on the ivory-bill, which contains an enormous amount of information, is at the very bottom of this post.
Gosse, P. H.. 1859 [1993]. Letters from Alabama (U.S.) chiefly relating to natural history. Univ. of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
I do not have a library near me that is likely to have this book. Jerome Jacson in his Birds of North America Online article about the IBWO says the following:
"Gosse (1859) also reported a large “ Cerambyx ” as well as the seeds of cherry (Prunus sp.) in the stomach of one Alabama bird; a second had only cherries in its stomach."
If any of you have access to the original source, can you tell me where and when the birds referred to as having cherries in their stomachs were collected?
I have not seen the original material, but according to Tanner, Gosse collected 2 ivory-bills near Selma, Alabama. These are the 2 birds mentioned above. Tanner gave no dates.
Gosse, P. H.. 1859 [1993]. Letters from Alabama (U.S.) chiefly relating to natural history. Univ. of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
I do not have a library near me that is likely to have this book. Jerome Jacson in his Birds of North America Online article about the IBWO says the following:
"Gosse (1859) also reported a large “ Cerambyx ” as well as the seeds of cherry (Prunus sp.) in the stomach of one Alabama bird; a second had only cherries in its stomach."
If any of you have access to the original source, can you tell me where and when the birds referred to as having cherries in their stomachs were collected?
I found it! I forgot the greatest library of all time, the internet. Gosse's book has already been scanned by Google Books and can be found here:
The bit about IBWOs starts on page 91. It is a fascinating account. The book includes a nice illustration of a pair of IBWOs The letter in which the author mentions collecting two IBWOs "yesterday" was dated June 10, so I assume the date of collection was June 9. That seems to be about the time black cherries start to ripen (though Radford, Ahles, and Bell say the fruiting season is July to August, I recall them ripening more in June and July near Charleston)
The author made the following observation about woodpecker behaviour, though I believe he was at this point referring to the PIWO rather than the IBWO:
"I have often been amused to observe the skill with which they keep the trunk or branch between themselves and me and me, moving round as I move, and now and then peeping the scarlet crown round the edge to reconoiter."
I have observed the same behavior in PIWOs. I would guess IBWOs do it as well.
If I have time I would like to read the whole book. The author makes many useful historical observations. He speaks of woodpeckers, including the IBWO, feeding on the dead girdled trees in pastures and fields. It certainly seems the IBWO was willing to leave the deep forest back then.
Good job, much appreciated. With regard to the ivory-bills leaving deep forest, I would also note that Allen's observations of the birds foraging in Florida were clearly in partially cut pine forest, very open indeed.
I would include Cooke's Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley 1884-1885. That appears to be the precursor to his later 1914 work. It also appears to be the source for the claimed Oklahoma sitings and inclusion of that state in the bird's range.
There is a also a well written article in Waterman and Hill's Travellers companion about Ivory bills in Illinois and their range. (Regional magazine - Gilsdorf 2007).
Last edited by Jesse Gilsdorf : 11-14-2007 at 06:08 AM.
Reason: additional information
I was just looking over the Plates in Tanner's book. I would be willing to wager that the book does not contain all the photographs Tanner took in the Singer Tract. Does anyone know if there are other Singer Tract photos in the Cornell collections or in their library? Are there perhaps even some unpublished IBWO photos in Tanner's papers? If nothing else, there may be printed photos with much better resolution than those published in "The Ivory Billed Woodpecker." I am particularly interested in photos of feeding sign, as I am sure Tanner probably took many such photos. The negatives, at least, must be around somewhere.
Thank you so much for the link. Here is a photo of IBWO feeding sign on a hackberry taken in June 1937 by Tanner (link only because I am not sure of copyright issues):
Below is a picture I took in Congaree in March 2007. Those are the conical holes I am always going on about. Any resemblance? (It was hard to tell because the tree was so long dead, but I think the tree I photographed was a hackberry as well - just going by texture of the wood)
edited:
Now try it, Fang
It is being shortend - just close the gap after //
http:// proregulus.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-almost-certainly-ignored-this-article.html
For some reason the link above does not seem to work for me. I do recollect a very vivid description of the Singer Tract by Tanner, I wonder if it is in this article.
Does anyone have a copy of the May 2001 issue of Birdwatch? I sure would like to read that essay.
"Birdwatch" is a British publication so don't know how readily available it would be in the States. A somewhat similar piece of Tanner's also appeared in the July/Aug. 2000 edition of Bird Watcher's Digest possibly more findable --- worth noting that Tanner actually died in 1991, so these are both just reprints of earlier writings. Most of his later writings, while interesting, don't really add much to what he said in his Monograph, and you have the further complicating factor of memories potentially being altered over time.
Things are a bit slow the week before Christmas, so I was wandering through IBWO.net. I was reading Fangsheath's list of publications and realized I had never read Agey and Heinzmann's paper on the Central Florida sightings for myself. What a fascinating read. I am convinced they had a breeding pair somewhere in Central Florida back in the late 1960s. It is a shame they never got a photo. They also made some observations that I wanted to comment on.
First, they hypothesized that IBWOs would feed on Sabal palmetto by stripping off the leaf boots. I always wondered about historical sightings on the barrier islands of South Carolina. The live oak/red bay forests out there seem particularly unsuitable for a bird like the IBWO. I figured they might have been specializing on pines out there. The Sabal hypothesis makes me rethink that conclusion. Next time I am out on Hunting Island, I am going to look to see what may be living in the boots of the Sabal leaves. Maybe there is something interesting there.
The second observation I found particularly interesting was the predominance of conical holes. They checked with observers in PIWO-only areas and they did not see such holes. Their description fits what I have been seeing out in the Congaree. They describe PIWO diggings as more ragged, in which I would also concur. I also note that when PIWOs excavate a deep hole, they are usually somewhat rectangular rather than round and they do not taper nearly as much as the conical holes I have seen. I see both round, conical holes and the more typical rectangular and less tapered holes in the hot zone of the Congaree, but only the latter in non-hot zone areas. Oddly enough, I see the PIWO-type holes in the large cypress/tupelo swamp in the low boardwalk area of Congaree (Muck Swamp), but no tapered holes. In the sweegum-dominated stands not yards from the Muck Swamp, though, the conical holes are very abundant in sevaeral different types of trees. Whatever makes the holes does not seem to like to feed on cypress or tupelo.
At any rate, if anyone else out there has been lazy like me and not read Agey and Heinzmann for themselves, I would strongly reccomend taking the time to do so. It sounds like it could have been written about any of today's hot zones. The pattern is undeniable.
says the IBWO could live 30 years. Does anyone know of any support for this contention in the scientific literature? I have heard of woodpeckers living long years in captivity (over 20), but I also have heard that in the wild the longest recorded life for a woodpecker was around 15 years.
There doesn't seem to be much in the literature to support a longevity of 30 years. Jackson had a captive red-cockaded that lived 17 years. Fitzpatrick et al. (2006b, above) cite studies of black woodpeckers indicating a maximum longevity of about 14 years and pileateds 10 or so, based on survivorship rates. In captivity of course longer spans are very possible.
Things are a bit slow the week before Christmas, so I was wandering through IBWO.net. I was reading Fangsheath's list of publications and realized I had never read Agey and Heinzmann's paper on the Central Florida sightings for myself. What a fascinating read. I am convinced they had a breeding pair somewhere in Central Florida back in the late 1960s. It is a shame they never got a photo. They also made some observations that I wanted to comment on.
First, they hypothesized that IBWOs would feed on Sabal palmetto by stripping off the leaf boots. I always wondered about historical sightings on the barrier islands of South Carolina. The live oak/red bay forests out there seem particularly unsuitable for a bird like the IBWO. I figured they might have been specializing on pines out there. The Sabal hypothesis makes me rethink that conclusion. Next time I am out on Hunting Island, I am going to look to see what may be living in the boots of the Sabal leaves. Maybe there is something interesting there.
The second observation I found particularly interesting was the predominance of conical holes. They checked with observers in PIWO-only areas and they did not see such holes. Their description fits what I have been seeing out in the Congaree. They describe PIWO diggings as more ragged, in which I would also concur. I also note that when PIWOs excavate a deep hole, they are usually somewhat rectangular rather than round and they do not taper nearly as much as the conical holes I have seen. I see both round, conical holes and the more typical rectangular and less tapered holes in the hot zone of the Congaree, but only the latter in non-hot zone areas. Oddly enough, I see the PIWO-type holes in the large cypress/tupelo swamp in the low boardwalk area of Congaree (Muck Swamp), but no tapered holes. In the sweegum-dominated stands not yards from the Muck Swamp, though, the conical holes are very abundant in sevaeral different types of trees. Whatever makes the holes does not seem to like to feed on cypress or tupelo.
At any rate, if anyone else out there has been lazy like me and not read Agey and Heinzmann for themselves, I would strongly reccomend taking the time to do so. It sounds like it could have been written about any of today's hot zones. The pattern is undeniable.
Your right great piece, I've seen PIWO and Red-Bellied both forage palms, for insects and their fruits or seed. There is a Red-Bellied nest in a broken of palm in the front yard of my neighbors house down my street. I would think palms are very important to all woodpeckers at least here in S. FL.
Does anyone out there know more about the ranch?
Is it still undeveloped?
50 mile radius around HH state park is huge; does anyone know the direction from HH?
I think it was south closer to Lake O, but some of the trees don't sound right for that area?
I think most people will be amazed at all the recent activity in La. Steinberg did not start out to do a book primarily on La., but he found so many recent reports that it ended up that way. Even I, who consider myself now "in the loop" got some very useful info. I found his interactions with Fielding Lewis quite enlightening. Old friends like Tommy Michot and Garrie Landry also figure rather prominently. "Team Elvis South" has been plugging away very quietly, but now the cat will be out of the bag.
Since Scott Ramsey's name is mentioned prominently, I would like to say that I consider Scott to be a quiet hero of ivory-bill conservation, not to mention black bear and others. He is not interested in taking the credit he deserves, but he has worked and continues to work to save as much forest in his area as possible. The best way to express our gratitude is to respect his privacy and his sanctuary from the clamor of modern life.
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