Last night I went to the Carpenter Nature Center annual members and volunteers banquet. The invited speaker, John Fitzpatrick, spoke about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and his brother, Jim, who was one of the search team members who saw one of the reported birds, described his own sighting. John showed the "Luneau" video--the whole part where they were approaching the bird, and then slowed it down (this footage, by the way, is out on DVD now) and also played a few of the recordings they are in the process of analyzing. Some really are tantalizing--I can't think of anything else that could have made the "kent" calls except possibly a Blue Jay with an Arkansas accent--but to be honest, I really can't imagine one doing such a perfect imitation without having heard the real thing a LOT. Blue Jay imitations seem, in my experience with them in the midwest, to be based on sounds that are heard frequently or involve some sort of extraordinary, maybe stress-producing, event. I would love to hear anyone's recording of a non-captive Blue Jay (or even a captive Blue Jay?) making these "kent" calls.
John also played a few of the "double knocks." One of those recordings included two sets of double knocks, one much louder than the other. I'm not at all convinced that was two birds--I've heard Downy and Pileated drums that were louder, and then softer, as the bird changed orientation in the same tree, and since these recordings were from remotes, with no one seeing the birds producing the sounds, I can't be certain about this. I can't wait till the AOU meeting in Santa Barbara at the end of the month, which I will be attending. The search team is presenting four papers, with detailed analyses of the recordings, videos, and sight records. It promises to be most enlightening. Anyway, I've posted this on my blog today, along with some interesting links, one by a skeptic, and also how to get the DVD of the Luneau video. http://www.birderblog.com/ Laura Erickson Duluth, MN www.birderblog.com There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson
