Ivory-billed Woodpecker found in Arkansas.

[carpetbagger]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0427woodpecker27-ON.html

[REP]

1. Really! Thought They Were Near Extinct

[carpetbagger]

6. They were supposed to have been completely extinct.

There haven't been any US sightings since the 1950's, none anywhere since the last sightings in Cuba in the 1980's. A grad student reported one in Louisiana several years ago, but this was never re-found.

[REP]

8. I Thought There Were Three In Louisiana

I can't tell you why I thought that; just a random fact that bobbed to the suface when I saw your post. I could be wrong!

[Straight Shooter]

14. Ah, some good news today.

I love it. But then again, my entire deck is a bird feeder :7

[stevedeshazer]

2. Incredible

This is the Holy Grail of North American birders.

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. That's cool. A happy bit of news, thanks. Not enough of that kind lately

[Jersey Ginny]

4. Shoot it and stuff it

Maybe some Repuke can make a buck.

[Withywindle]

5. I can't believe it! I can't believe it!

NPR has it too, airing tomorrow: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4622633


Here's a link from an eyewitness.
http://www.birdingamerica.com/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm


I'm a park ranger's daughter. My family had me learning about identifying birds and animals and plants and mourning endangered and extinct species before I was fully toilet-trained.

If this is true, I can't put into words what it means. :cry:

[Jersey Ginny]

7. OK, this is a happy thread, I take back my comment!

I'm happy for all the birders out there.

[Withywindle]

12. I wasn't offended...

...all too true of some people and their attitudes.


Or, even, cut their habitat down and build crappy subdivisions!

That's the reason they were thought to be extinct in the first place.

[stevedeshazer]

10. Yes, indeed

Thanks for the links!

No joke, this is almost like finding a live mammoth. This bird was long thought to be extinct.

I sure hope it's true.

[Withywindle]

17. You're welcome...

I got 'em from a little bird-watching group on Livejournal. Apparently the Dept of the Interior is making some kind of announcement tomorrow morning - nothing from them officially about it being about this, but certainly the rumors are flying around. Er, no pun intended.


I really, really hope it's true. I really hope there's a viable breeding population.

Well, the Peregrine Falcon was on the brink once. And dedicated human work is bringing back the California Condor too. Maybe....*crosses fingers*

[stevedeshazer]

21. I saw a pileated woodpecker just yesterday

I hadn't seen one in years.

Lots of bald eagles here, too.

The California Condor is a magnificent bird...I hope they can go wild again.

Peregrines are starting to nest here, too. :)

[Withywindle]

25. Ooh, bald eagles.

Niiiice.

The condors seem to be doing OK, in Arizona. Still too soon to tell, they're really vulnerable. But so far so good. Here's the latest on that from the Peregrine Fund: http://www.peregrinefund.org/notes_category.asp?category=California%20Condor%20Releases%20in%20Arizona


When I was a kid my dad showed me a Peregrine nest on an office building in Baltimore (his home town). It was like seeing the Mona Lisa (the real one, not a reproduction).

[rocktivity]

9. Cute.

:headbang:
rocknation

[expatriate]

11. Wow!

That would really be something, if it is true - the ivory-billed woodpecker has been throught to be extinct since the late 1930's, and most sightings of it have been found to be sightings of the pileated woodpecker instead.

I remember elderly black people in Louisiana, where I grew up, telling stories about these birds. They called them "Gros Bec" or "The Lord God Bird" because they were so big.

Thanks for posting about this. Wish my Dad, the avid birdwatcher and Arkansas resident had lived to see this day!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

15. I also remember NPR ran a story a few years ago...

about Cornell's search for it. They turned up nothing.
I hope this is it! I will remain skeptical only because I don't want to be disappointed.
A pileated woodpecker (similar to the Ivory) is an amazing sight to see in the forest, I can only imagine how this must feel to the person who saw it.

[Withywindle]

19. Pileateds are so beautiful

Saw quite a few of them in the VA woods as a kid. Very dramatic birds.

Never seen an Ivory-bill, obviously, but they're supposed to be even bigger and more striking.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

20. My ornithology class saw a pileated a couple of weeks ago.

It was very exciting. The class ran to get a glimpse.
Some people get them at their bird feeders (suet). I envy them.
http://www.wbu.com/pics/pileated.htm
edited for link. Check it out!

[ailsagirl]

28. I've ever only seen one Pileated and I was blown away!!

I heard that the Pileated was the model for Woody Woodpecker!!

They're awesome birds!!

:)

[kittykitty]

31. First time I saw one I thought it was a goose perched on the side of my

tree. It was right outside my kitchen window, larger tha life. My mind couldn't accomodate what I was seeing at first, but then it kicked in that this huge bird ws Piliated Woodpecker. I have since seen several more here in S. Central PA.

[anitar1]

32. A pair of pileated woodpeckers used to

come to my backyard every year . Have not seen them for 5 years now. More houses being built in our area ect. They are beautiful to watch.

[ailsagirl]

38. And they have this wonderful maniacal call... they're beautiful

To think the Ivory-billed are even larger is pretty amazing!!

I hope they are thriving, wherever they are.

[OneBlueSky]

30. about 30 or so years ago, I managed a campground in the . . .

Palisades Interstate Park in New York . . . it happened to by the old NYU football camp, and the cabins were make of chestnut that had been cut in the park many years earlier . . .

anyhow, one day a pair of pileated woodpeckers shows up and decides to take up residence . . . and their favorite food source seemed to be the window frames in the cabins, which they promptly began destroying one by one . . . gorgeous, majestic birds, but you could hear the rat-a-tat from morning til night, and they were doing a lot of damage . . . whenever we'd tack heavy screening over the windows they were working on, they'd just move on to another . . .

fortunately, they decided to leave of their own accord after about a week . . . watching them at work was quite the experience, though . . . and I've never seen one since . . .

[eleny]

13. Here's a pic

[sendero]

35. Thanks!

I was dissapointed that there was no pic with the article. :)

[freethought]

16. This is great news but,

I would prefer to see some pictures or something first. Get some hard evidence and then, hopefull we can work on protecting it.

[NickB79]

18. It says they have one on video

According to the NPR link provided above, this has been known for over a year and kept quiet as they buy up more land around the area to protect the birds.

From the NPR article:

"But this time, Joyce reports that experts associated with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in New York and The Nature Conservancy were able to confirm the sighting. They kept the find a secret for more than a year, partly to give conservation groups and government agencies time to protect the bird’s habitat.

The Nature Conservancy has been buying and protecting land along the White and Cache Rivers for years, along with the state and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. Since the discovery, they've bought more land to protect the bird."

Amazing.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

22. That was smart.

I read the links provided in previous posts and I feel a few rays of belief creeping in!
I can't wait to discuss this with my ornithology professor this weekend!

[theHandpuppet]

36. Kudos to the Nature Conservancy!!

We should send them letters of thanks!

[ailsagirl]

39. Thank God for organizations like those!!! n/t

[Must_B_Free]

23. well don't that just put the wood in your pecker....

ha ha ha haa-ha

[crispini]

24. That would be so cool! nt

[Arugula Latte]

26. I'm waiting for the inevitable Arkansas woodpecker/Clinton's penis joke

Anyone? Anyone?

C'mon -- We just haven't heard enough about Clenis.

All that aside, this is great news!

[ailsagirl]

27. WOW!!! I am thunderstruck!!! I've always been so sad that

they were extinct, or appeared to be-- this gives me tremendous hope.

THANKS for posting this!! It made my day!!

:toast: :toast:

[hunter]

29. Yes!

:) :) :) :) :)

[AlienGirl]

33. OMG!! This is the best news I've seen all day!

:bounce: The "Lord Gawd Bird" LIVES!

Tucker

[dbt]

34. Kick for the Wonder State!

Perhaps this will, in some small measure, make up for all the peckerheads running around loose here.

I :loveya: Arkansas!

[blindpig]

37. praise the gods

I just heard this morning and posted in E&S. I am so fucking happy.

This will surely complicate bu$hes effort to eviscerate the ESA. Those big birds require a lot of territory and will need a lot more if they are to be recovered to a minimally viable population, 500 breeders. There is NO room for compromise.

[legally blonde]

40. This is so awesome

I'm beyond excited about this. The ivory-billed woodpecker is a beautiful bird.

[Withywindle]

41. The N.C. and the rest of the partnership has a new web site up

http://www.ivorybill.org/


And here's a nice poem, "Lord God Bird" by Samuel Southworth:

Lord God Bird

(The search for the Ivory-billed
Woodpecker goes on:
Louisiana, 2002)

You're out there, I know,
Perched high above
Soft stagnant waters,
In sunlight and shadow,
With your own goals in mind.
Close to two feet tall
Of tightly-focused feathers,
Each thought that you have
Is punctuated, underlined,
And hammered home twice.

(read more: http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/lordgodbird.htm

[Hidden Stillness]

42. A Haunting Story; CBS News Had On Tonight

CBS Evening News had a really moving story on this re-found bird today, April 28th, and you can watch video of it at CBSNews.com, (I wish I knew how to save those things onto disk). It starts off so spine-tingling, you just see the flash for a few seconds, on the video camera accidentally recording it, and then it was verified several times over the past year until the announcement now. It was apparently known as the "ghost bird" besides its other nicknames, because of its wariness. This bird was so presumed extinct that it is not even in any bird book I have, although if you look at it, it does look like a Pileated Woodpecker, except when it flies and you get those beautiful wings. They played an old recording of its haunting call during this CBS story, and had the last, until now, film and still photos of it, from the '40s. All the deep joy about its discovery--it is like the past coming back to life, as if things might really be safe forever. They had a quote (can't remember but it might have been Gene Sparling), near tears, on how sometimes, rarely, you actually get a second chance. For all the damage we have done, and all the complete death and loss, this was like something beyond an ordinary mortal meaning. I only hope people will not be able to figure exactly where these places are where they have been sighted, or it will become like the Monarch butterfly location in Mexico, now threatened.

The greatest woodpecker sighting I ever had was a sudden, close-up look at a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker that landed on a neighbor's cedar tree and was punching holes for sap. It isn't rare, of course, but not supposed to be in my part of the state. I looked at it from about 15 feet away and even got binoculars--that bird is so incredibly beautiful when you can really see it, pictures don't show it. I was entranced. The only one I ever saw.