Saturday, September 10, 2005

Fleeing Pileated picture--compare to the Luneau video

An alert reader emailed me this:
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I came across a picture of a Pileated in flight that I wonder if you're aware of. It's on this webpage, down at the bottom.

The image shows the underside of the left wing of a woodpecker that is flying away from and to the left of the camera. The leading edge of the wing is down, the trailing edge up. Doesn't it look like the flying bird in the Luneau video?
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I agree. When "believers" see the extensive flashing white in the Luneau video, they think that they are looking at the topside of an Ivory-bill's wings. I think it's likely that they are really looking at the underside of a normal Pileated's wings.