[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Ivorybills



  I’ll be speaking on Ivorybills at the May 2 meeting of New Hope Audubon 
Chapter in Chapel Hill(rescheduled from original March date), but more 
immediately, for those who didn’t see it on BirdChat I’ve pasted below 
the(lengthy)synopsis of the La. search just ended (summary: no sight 
confirmations, some tantalizing auditory and secondary indicators, and 
another month of acoustic data yet to be collected and analyzed):

**Rob Gluck     Chapel Hill     thrush@hotmail.com

-------------------------------------------------

The 30-Day Zeiss Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Ends

Search Team Presents Photos of Large Tree Cavities, Bark Scaling and a 
Recording of a Series of Loud Signal Taps, But No Conclusive Proof of the 
Ivorybill's Existence

Slidell, La., February 20, 2002 -- Zeiss Sports Optics, a leading
manufacturer of high-quality sports optics, today announced that the 30-day 
search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in southeastern Louisiana ended on 
February 18, 2002 without a sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  Four of 
the six members of this international search team did hear a series of loud 
signal taps at 3:30 p.m. on January 27, the eleventh day of the search. They 
heard four double raps, separated by 20-30 seconds, followed by a single 
rap, which was followed by four consecutive raps.  The fourth double rap and 
the subsequent raps were recorded onto digital audiotape using a parabolic 
microphone.  This recording can be heard on the Zeiss Web site at
http://www.zeiss.com.

The searchers marked their location with global positioning system units(GPS 
units) when they heard the sound but were unable to move closer becauseof 
high water in the area.   They chose not to share news of this recordingat 
the time, convinced that they could eventually find the bird making 
thesesounds.   After days of scouring this area, they were never able to 
locate the source of the sound.

"The goal of this search was to find the Ivory-billed Woodpecker 
andphotograph it.  We did not see an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, but we found 
potential evidence of its presence in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife 
and Fisheries Pearl River Wildlife Management Area," said the Zeiss Search 
Team in a joint statement.

Remarkably, the search team later learned that at 10:30 on the same morning 
they obtained their recording, a team from Cornell University also heard one 
double rap 1.3 km from the recording site. While searching for the source of 
the sound, the Cornell team saw one Pileated Woodpecker and one unidentified 
large woodpecker involved in a chase high in the trees, then flying off.

"Having heard one clear example of this unusual double-rap ourselves, 
earlier that same day and in an area not too distant from where the Zeiss 
team was searching, we remain quite intrigued to discover its source," said 
Dr. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  "Neither 
we nor the Zeiss team ever heard Pileated Woodpeckers giving this display 
during many days in the field, yet Pileateds were the only large woodpeckers 
we could locate near where we'd heard these double-raps.  We cannot rule out 
that these could have been displays by Pileateds, but if they were, it would 
be strange that we heard the sounds only on that particular day, in that 
particular place."

After hearing the search team's recording, Dr. Van Remsen, an ornithologist 
at Louisiana State University and curator of ornithology at its Museum of 
Natural Science, said, "Having listened to Pileated drumming many times, 
Martjan's recording sent a chill down my spine, literally.  For the last 12 
years, I have been around Pileated Woodpeckers nearly daily where I live, 
but I have never heard them make a sound that came close to this in terms of 
both power and rhythm.  I would have given almost anything to have seen what 
was making that sound.  I agree with the Search Team, however, in regarding
it as insufficient proof of the bird's existence."

Throughout the search, the Zeiss team discovered concentrations of tree bark 
scaling, the primary method used by Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in foraging for 
food (but also used to a lesser extent by Pileateds).   On January 29, two 
days after the team made the recording, one team member heard a double rap, 
and then two team members heard several loud raps, similar to the sounds 
previously recorded.  Team members found concentrations of extensive bark 
scaling, plus several large, fresh cavity starts and large, older cavities 
in the area where the sounds were recorded.  (Photos of these trees can be 
seen on the Zeiss Web site.)

The search team covered thousands of acres in both the Pearl River Wildlife 
Management Area and the adjacent Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge to 
the north.  They covered the territory on foot and by boat, equipped with 
Zeiss binoculars, digital video cameras, GPS units and waterproof field 
books to record bird and habitat data for the Louisiana Department of 
Wildlife and Fisheries.

Although the six Zeiss searchers have ended their expedition, the Cornell 
Lab of Ornithology's Acoustic Recording Units (ARUs) will remain in the 
field until mid-March when Dr.John Fitzpatrick and his team take them back 
to Cornell for analysis. Dr. Fitzpatrick anticipates releasing Cornell's 
findings sometime in April.

"We are most appreciative of the searchers' dedication to this project. They 
have done a great job covering what turned out to be very 
challengingterrain," said Anthony R. Cataldo, vice president and general 
manager, ZeissSports Optics North America. "We now look forward to hearing 
of Cornell's findings once Dr. Fitzpatrick and his team listen to their 
recordings, and we will determine what our next steps are at that time."

About the Search: This project was possible only through the extensive 
cooperation between Zeiss Sports Optics, the Louisiana Department of 
Wildlife and Fisheries, the Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Louisiana State University, and Cornell University.

The six members of the Zeiss Search Team include: Rick Knight, Martjan 
Lammertink, David Luneau , Peter McBride, Alison Styring and Alan 
Wormington. For additional information on the searchers or to access the 
Search Team's extensive report, see photos of bark scaling, hear the sound 
recording and read each searcher's individual opinion of the expedition and 
possible existence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, visit the Zeiss Web site 
at http://www.zeiss.com.

                  			----------------




_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx