Imperial Woodpecker Art

  

   This is a handcolored lithograph of an Imperial Woodpecker from the book, Das Buch der Welt.  The book was published by, Hoffmann'sche Verlags-Buchhandlung“ in Stuttgart/Germany, 1866.  The artist is E. Hochdanz who was a prominent natural history illustrator of the time.

     Other birds in the illustration are the: Northern Flicker (yellow shafted flicker, or Yellowhammer if you’re from Alabama), Female red-naped Sapsucker, as the red on the forehead extends to the bill.  This could possibly be a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker as illustration of this era lack accuracy, and Lewis’s Woodpecker. I am extremely happy to add this to my collection of Ivory-bill art!

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Update

     Bill Pullium has done additional analysis of the imperial woodpecker, Rhein film, in relation to the Luneau video.  The 11 comments that follow the new information that Bill presents are worth reading as well.
Follow this link:
http://bbill.blogspot.com/2011/11/woodpecker-wingbeats-revisited.html 

Interesting exchange of comments!

Imperial Woodpecker mount I photographed
at the American Museum of Natural History.
Photo by Bobby Harrison; 2006.
Courtesy of the AMNH

     There is an interesting series of comments on the the "IVORY-BILLS LIVE" blog.  Those making the comments are: Cyberthrush, Bill Pulliam, David Sibley, Fred Virrazzi, and Mark (?).  Click on the link below to  see the comments made for Tuesday, November 08, 2011 post.   A very interesting exchange takes place;  it makes for interesting reading.

http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2011/11/further-imperial-analysis.html#links

Additional Imperial Woodpecker Sites

Here are some additional links about the Imperial Woodpecker:


     Tim on "Science Friday," November 11, 2011:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201111113

     The Wilderness Center has posted a pod cast interview with Tim Gallagher about the Imperial Woodpecker and his adventures in Mexico.  The pod cast can be found at:

http://www.wildernesscenter.org/podcasts/files/wild-ideas...the-podcast-136.mp3

Tim's interview is 35 minutes long and begins  24minutes, 21 seconds into the pod cast.  This is an excellent interview.  Great job Tim!

     Tim Gallagher's article, "Return to Darango," in Living Bird Magazine.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=2314&utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=9fd3ba100c-Cornell_Lab_eNews_2011_10_2610_26_2011&utm_medium=email#top

Analysis of Imperial Woodpecker Film

Painting from the
Auk, 1889; Vol. 15,  No3; p217-223

     Ivorybill investigator Bill Pulliam has posted an analysis of the launch behavior, wing beat rate, and flight mechanics of the 1956 William Rhein imperial woodpecker film. The analysis compares the imperial film with the Luneau ivorybill video with interesting results.  Follow this link and read the report for yourself:    http://bbill.blogspot.com/2011/11/imperial-film.html

Imperial Woodpecker in the News

     Living Bird Magazine has published a recent artilce written by Tim Gallagher about the only known photographic images of the Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico.  The article describes how woodpecker expert Martjan Lammertink found the film, and the trip that he and Tim made to Mexico to find the location where it was shot.   The film of the female Imperial was taken by dentist William Rhein in 1956, just south of Guacamaylta, in the state of Durango.  
     A scientific article was published in the Auk as well.  Martjan was the lead author of the Auk article with Tim and others as co-authors of the article.  The following links will take you to the Auk article abstract, and the film.  Enjoy!

Auk article abstract:  www.birds.cornell.edu/imperial
The film:  http://www.youtube.com/embed/bZCTPkQIJj4?rel=0

     In addition to the articles in Living Bird and the Auk, the story has appeared across the world on the web and in newspapers.  I was contacted by "grrlscientist" for permission to run my photo of the Imperial, Ivory-bill and Pileated specimens that I took at the Ammerican Museum of Natural History on her blog.  The image ran with the Living bird article.  You can see the image on this blog at the October 12, 2010 post,  and at the address below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/grrlscientist