In the Ivory-Bills LIVE blog, Patrick Coin makes some interesting points about baffling inconsistencies in some of the reports.-----
For example, in a Natural History article, written by Harrison, Sparling's Ivory-bill is described as having "a big white bill." In the Science paper, the "big white bill" isn't listed as one of the field marks Sparling saw. Why?
In the same Natural History article, Harrison says: on June 9, 2004, the misery paid off. On that date I saw an ivory-bill swoop from one tree to another, a distance of sixty-eight feet. Its wings were extended, and never flapping.
In the Science paper, the encounter was described like this: 9 June 2004 Harrison saw a large woodpecker flush from near the base of a bald-cypress, Taxodium distichum, about 15 m in front of him, and with naked eye he noted broad white trailing edges to wings, especially visible as the bird swooped upward to land;
I find this one especially troubling. A bird swooping 65 feet from one tree to another VS a bird flushing from near the base of a tree??? In the first description we have a bird that never flapped at all. A bird flushing from near the base of a tree would have to be flapping like mad.
Of the same encounter Harrison said this: I could easily see the bird's black tail, back, neck, nape, and crown. The nape came to a point and seemed to have a tonal value darker than the neck and crown.
So here we have a very good look at the back of an "Ivory-Bill." As Mr. Coin goes on to quote the Science Paper: Ivory-billed woodpeckers have a pair of longitudinal dorsal stripes that approach one another on the middle and lower back (Fig. 2), producing a white area visible on a dorsal view of a fleeing bird. Pileated woodpeckers have lateral white marks on the sides of the head and neck, but lack any trace of white on the dorsum.
Mr Harrison claims he "easily" saw the back of his bird, giving a detailed description. The dorsal stripes on the back of every Ivory-bill weren't there.
In "The Grail Bird" (page 230), there's yet another version of the June 9 '04 sighting (the bold font is mine):
Wednesday, June 9, 2004: As Bobby paddled up the bayou south of Camp Ephilus II, a large woodpecker dropped from the trunk of a cypress tree about fifty feet up and flew toward another cypress. "I immediately did a mental checklist of field marks: large woodpecker, white trailing edges on wings, white secondaries, black back," he wrote in his field notes. "It was the ivory-bill."
Of course, this sighting didn't sit well with some of the other searchers. Bobby had had a lot of sightings, and people were starting to doubt him. I had more faith in him, though...
Posts
