[TN-Bird] Ivory-billed Woodpecker reported seen
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 21:23:21 -0400
TN-Birders:
fyi, from The Birds of Arkansas Discussion List today.
Let's go birding......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellis, William D" <ellisw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 10:11 AM
Subject: Re: IBWO at PB
In response to Bill Shepherd's message about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
that I am fairly confident that I saw at Pine Bluff on 7/28/05, here are
my details (Cornell's form plus additional), sent to Cornell Laboratory
of Ornithology and to Max Parker. I should add, I had no doubt at all
that I was viewing a large woodpecker, resembling a Pileated Woodpecker.
1. Name/Address/State/Zip
William D. Ellis, PhD
6012 Snowdens Run Road, Eldersburg
Maryland
21784-6737
443-520-8809 (secondary)
billellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (primary)
2. Date
07/28/05
3. Time
1745 hours
4. State
Arkansas
5. County
Jefferson
6. Coordinates
Estimated from DeLorme Arkansas book map, page 50, index G3:
34 deg 14 min 10 sec N
91 deg 59 min 30 sec W
7. General Location
SE of Black Dog Lake, Delta Rivers Nature Center, Pine Bluff Regional
Park,
1400 Black Dog Road, Pine Bluff
8. Specific Location
Flying East overhead about 75 to 100 feet high, above trees that were
about 50 ft in front of me. I was on the boardwalk on the SouthEast
side of Black Dog Lake (which I believe is a wide area of a bayou).
(Note: This report was prepared from written notes that were prepared
about 3 hrs after the sighting.)
9. Weather & Lighting
Mid-80s (F), calm, clear sky, sun behind me and to my right, about 2.5
hours before sunset.
10. My Encounter
While I was birding, I saw a large bird flying ESE above the trees,
which were about 25-50 ft tall. I was facing S. My initial bare-eyed
impression was of a cormorant, based on shape and level flight. After
viewing the bird through binoculars, I thought that the bird was a
Pileated Woodpecker (PIWO). After consulting a Sibley - East guide, I
realized that it could not be a PIWO (see item #18). My initial
bare-eyed view was forward of lateral, and all views were ventral. My
binocular view was just rear of lateral, then from the rear as the bird
flew further away.
I have extensive experience viewing PIWOs, but aerial views have mostly
been without binoculars, of birds gaining elevation or coming down. I
did not remember where the white on a PIWO underwing is; all I have seen
is a flash of white and red from a mostly black bird. After consulting
the Sibley PIWO supplementary page to his large guide, I realized that
the bird had to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (IBWO), because of the
underwing pattern (see item #18).
11. Habitat
Moist bottomland woods along a bayou - cottonwoods, sycamores, willows,
and hickories were dominant; also baldcypress, sugarberry and dogwood.
Vernal pools (dried up) were present. (Note: I am not sure that this
habitat is relevant, since the bird appeared to be overflying the site.
Its trajectory was toward an extensive area of forest on an "island"
surrounded by Lake Langhoffer, and lacking roads or human disturbance.
Some of the north end of this area (about 1 mile E), that I did access,
appeared to be bottomland forest with ponds and dried vernal pools - a
good potential home base for an IBWO.)
12. How long observed?
View of bird was about 15 to 20 seconds total - 5 sec w/o binoculars, 5
sec with binocs and near-lateral view, and 5-10 sec with binocs and rear
view.
13. Distance to bird
About 90 to 110 ft (simple trig from data given).
14. Using Binocs?
Yes
15. Brand/Model/Power
Nikon LXI 10x42
16. Supporting evidence?
No
17. If so ...
n/a
18. Plumage
Rear half of underwing was white (my most significant field mark
observed); balance of bird appeared dark. No white was seen on front
half of wing.
19. Body size
About the size of a PIWO; no objects were nearby to base a size estimate
on).
20. Body shape
Bill, head, and body forward of wings was about the same length as the
body and tail rearward of the wings - that is, the the bird looked about
symmetrical about the wings. I do not remember seeing a crest. Tail
was pointed, not fanned.
21. Bill Length
Long, stocky, pointed bill that merged smoothly with head.
22. Bill color
No bill color was noticed; no impression of a white bill was perceived.
(Note: background was blue sky.)
23. Length of neck
Bill, head, and body were continuous; no separate proportions were
noticed.
24. Length of tail
Tail was not distinguished from body; no length was discerned.
25. Flight pattern
Flight was straight, direct, without any undulations such as seen with
PIWO and other woodpeckers. Bird did not change altitude or direction.
Wing flapping was slow and steady; a rough estimate of flapping speed
would be similar to a Turkey Vulture, and slower than a Black Vulture.
(NB - no white existed on primaries forward of midline of the wing, as
would be seen on a TUVU)
26.Behavior
n/a
Final Note - I having been a serious birder for the past 4 years, and
also during 1978 to 1990. Of course, I have never seen an IBWO! I also
did not expect to find one in Pine Bluff, although I have searched
Dagmar State Park (within the Cache River NWR) for one.
Supplement #1
I returned to the general area tonight where my sighting of 28 Jul 2005
occurred.
In the woodlot, there were at least 4 to 5 trees that appeared to have
been stripped of their bark. All were topped - the trunks appeared to
have been broken off, although they were all about 6 inches or more in
diameter (lightning? tornado?). I understand that Tanner reported IBWOs
to be disaster area opportunists (per William Shepherd, Little Rock).
The most convincing tree was about 20 ft high, 10-12 inches in diameter,
with a section of bark missing from the top down about 3-4 ft; the
stripped area was about 4-6 inches wide at the bottom, and squared off
in shape, and about 10-12 inches wide at the top. There was at least
one large hole in the middle of this bare area, about 2-3 inches in
diameter. (There were Red-headed (adult & immature) and Downy
Woodpeckers present in the woodlot during my visit.)
Another tree, still alive with (willow?) leaves on the branches, was
about 6-8 inch dia., but completely denuded of bark the top 1 to 1.5 ft.
(Also "topped".) Another tree with bark missing, about 8-10 inch dia.,
appeared to be missing bark along crack lines also apparent in the bark
still present. That is, the bark may have fallen off as the dead tree
aged. Unusual, however, was the large hole in the middle of this
de-barked area. A shallow conical hole about 5-6 in dia. with a center
hole about 2 inch dia. that went through the tree, letting light
through.
Supplement #2 will follow (more stripped trees)
Bill Ellis
Back in Eldersburg, MD (Baltimore area)
-----Original Message-----
From: The Birds of Arkansas Discussion List
[mailto:ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bill Shepherd
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 3:54 PM
To: ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IBWO at PB?
Bill:
Yesterday morning Brantly Buck and I searched the trails around the
Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center, as you and I did last
Saturday.
But this time we walked almost the whole trail system twice. Just like
last time, we neither saw nor heard an Ivory-billed Woodpecker and
neither saw nor heard a Pileated either.
... [etc.]
Bill Shepherd
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