Ivory-billed Woodpecker Specimen

Male Ivory-billed Woodpecker:  Anniston Museum of
Natural History; Anniston, Alabama

   
    On March 9, 1890, William Werner took a male Ivory-billed Woodpecker specimen in Hillsbourgh  County, Florida.  Werner found a nest with eggs and both male and female birds present. While Werner was unsuccessful in procuring the female Ivorybill he did manage to shoot the male.  He also procured the nest cavity and eggs.  The male specimen along with the nest cavity and eggs are on display at the Anniston Museum of Natural History in Anniston, Alabama.  

     Living only a few hours from Anniston I made a trip in 2006 to photograph and take measurement of the ivorybill, the nest cavity and entrance.  The cavity entrance measured 4(h) x 3 5/8(w) inches, which seems small for an ivorybill cavity entrance hole.

     The Anniston Museum of Natural History mount is by far the best specimen among all the skins and mounted ivorybills I have encountered.  It is interesting that the taxidermist used red eyes on the mount.  Ivorybills have yellow eyes and to my knowledge there are no written observation reports of an Ivorybill with red eyes.
     If you are interested in seeing this specimen for yourself follow this link,  http://www.annistonmuseum.org to the museums website for directions and contact information.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Eggs:  Close-up from above image

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Painting by Edwin Deming, 1899

     I recently purchased a print of a painting by Edwin Willard Deming.  Deming was born in 1860 at Ashland, Ohio.  When he was six months old his parents moved to western Illinois, which was on the frontier at the time.  Deming grew to be a talented artist who, in the latter third of the nineteenth century painted and sculpted the Native American lifestyle.

     The above painting is one of many that illustrates the children’s book, Indian Child Life, written by Deming and his wife Therese.  The book was published in 1899.  The painting is of two Winnebago Indian children sitting on a blanket as they point and look at two male ivory-billed woodpeckers in a nearby tree. 

     My limited research on Deming has turned-up nothing on the source of the reference material he may have used for the birds in the painting.  In the story that appears with the painting the birds are referred to as, “Two great, big woodpeckers, with great red heads.” 

     Perhaps Deming had see a woodcut or painting of ivorybills, or perhaps he had seen a specimen.  From what I have read Winnebago Indians in the 1800’s occupied parts of Illinois and Okalahoma.  Since Deming lived in the area throughout his early years, he may have indeed seen ivorybills in the wild himself.  Whatever the source, he did not use the name, Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the painting.  The fact that two males are represented in the painting makes me think that Deming only had knowledge of male ivorybills, and perhaps was unaware that females have a black crest.

No matter the source nor the limit of Deming’s knowledge of Ivory-bills, I am very happy to add this print to my collection of ivorybill memorabilia.  

To see an electronic version of “Indian Child Life,” with color illustrations,  go to: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32301/32301-h/32301-h.htm

To read more about Edwin Willard Deming, go to:

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=1208

Recent Ivory-billed Woodpecker Sighting in Arkansas

A recent, possible Ivorybill sighting has been announced by Jackson Roe, who says he and his father encountered two Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Arkansas.  This is the first claim I have heard of anyone seeing two birds since my January 22, 2005 encounter that took place three-quarters of a mile (as the ivorybill flies) north of Arkansas HWY 17. 

You can read Roe’s account in his Thursday, September 30, 2010 post, on the following blog:   http://saveaspeciescorp.blogspot.com