10 Year Anniversary of Ivory-billed Woodpecker Sighting

     I tried to post this last night after Tim and I got in from the bayou, but the hotel wireless was so slow that nothing uploaded after I posted on my photography blog.  So here is my 10 year Ivorybill anniversary post for February 27, 2014.

Bobby Harrison (L) and Tim Gallagher (R) on Bayou
Deview at the spot where they saw an Ivory-billed 
Woodpecker ten years today.  (Photo by Clara Gallagher)

     Ten years ago today, Tim Gallagher and I found an Ivory-billed Woodpecker on Bayou Deview just north of Brinkley, Arkansas.  Today, Tim and I were back on the Bayou for the 10^th anniversary of the sighting.  The day was much the same as ten years ago, sunny and chilly, but no bird today.  We revisited the site toasted the ivory-bill and trolled the bayou, both north and south of the highway 17 bridge.

     It is hard to believe that it has been ten years.  I remember the sighting as if were yesterday, and it was a life-changing event.  I have since logged countless hours in the swamps of Arkansas and Florida since that day, and I continue the search!

See Tim Gallagher’s post at: http://www.imperial-dreams.blogspot.com

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 

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

Tim Gallagher Interview

Tim Gallagher, Editor; Living Bird Magazine
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

     Tim Gallager was intervied on a NYC National Public Radio station concering "Pip," A Red-tailed Hawk nestling, whose parents built a nest on a 12th floor ledge of the New York Universtiy building.  Follow this link to hear the interview:  http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/jun/21/following-hawk-cam-goodbye-pip/

The following is the program description from the website with additional links:
Pip is preparing to leave the nest, and the Hawk Cam, and start his life in the wilds of New York City. We get an update on the hawk family from Emily Rueb, senior producer on the Metro desk at the New York Times, and Tim Gallagher, editor of Living Bird magazine at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and author of Falcon Fever: A Falconer in the 21st Century.

Ivorybilled Woodpecker and Tim Gallagher featured on CBC Raido

   Tim Gallagher, Author of The Grail Bird, is featured in a pod cast today, on CBC raido.  The five minute segment is edited from an hour long interview.  This weeks DNTO ("Definitely Not The Opera") program feature is on bird stories and how they have changed lives.   Tim’s story is the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. To hear the program follow this link to the pod cast:

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/dnto_20110326_47229.mp3

To read a synopsis of this and other stories aired on the program go to: http://www.cbc.ca/dnto/promote/2011/03/24/share-your-bird-story . 

To order a copy of The Grail Bird, follow this link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Grail-Bird-Rediscovery-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker/dp/061870941X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301166432&sr=1-1