Who remembers?

Started by Paul Hoskins, January 24, 2018, 07:36:35 AM

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Paul Hoskins

The ivory billed woodpecker is supposedly extinct. A few years ago there was some excitement in one of the Carolina states saying it had been spotted in that area recently. It might have been but I have my doubts. It is possible because " authorities & experts" are known to be  wrong on many occasions. When I was a kid down in SE Kentucky the ivory billed woodpecker was a rarity. Even before the Baumgardner Timber Company raped all the old  virgin forest in the area one seldom saw an ivory bill. Sitting on the porch in the evening I could hear them hammering  on the old dead American chestnut trees on the ridge in front of the house. I have heard their chatter many times. Reflecting back I can't help wondering if some of it was cries of frustration & despair. How many of you can honestly say you have seen an ivory bill woodpecker?   ......Paul H

JaDub

We lived  near a  virgin  swampy area in Pinellas County , Florida ( Clearwater ) in the late `50s and I did see  an Ivory Billed .  The size was what first caught my attention. It was definitely not a Pilliated.  Never saw it again after that  sighting ( 1958 or so ).

gitano

I envy you that have. I have not.

I was keenly interested in that "recent" (I think it was longer ago than you are remembering, Paul), sighting. The whole "bird community" got VERY excited about it. In the end, most people have opined that it was either a mistake OR, that was "the last one". No one has ever been able to find it again, and there was AN ARMY of people that went looking.

Extinct birds break my heart. There is no greater tragedy (in my perspective), than the COMMERCIAL eradication of the passenger pigeon. A beautiful bird, and NOTHING more that COMMERCIAL GREED drove it to extinction in almost the blink of an eye. Written records of the COMMERCIAL hunting are mind-boggling. Not just in the incredibly abject greed, but also the incredible numbers! 100s of MILLIONS of birds SHIPPED! Not population estimates, RECORDS OF MILLIONS OF BIRDS PER YEAR SHIPPED to New York, Paris, and London. Heart-breaking. Gone. FOREVER. Unforgivable in my opinion. But then, no one ever asks my opinion on these things before they do them.

I get pretty jazzed when I see a pileated!

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)

Occasionally see the green peckwooder in the back yard having a feed on ants and the lesser spotted munching on the feeder. Do hear 'em headbanging on some nearby trees. Nice birds.
Turvey Stalking
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Paul Hoskins

The last  ivory I remember seeing was in 1947 or 1948. It was something I'll never forget. What makes it even more memorable is " experts" claimed it was completely extinct years before then. In my opinion there is no such thing as an "expert" when it comes to such things as wildlife. The Kentucky wildlife department claims the wild turkey was extinct in the Commonwealth in the early 1940's. Pure hogwash. My dad was an avid turkey hunter & I know the last one he killed was in 1949. He killed it with my Model 37 Ithaca shotgun. I saw them in Brush Mountain up until 1953. ........Paul H

sakorick

We had a Piliated in our backyard in Tennessee. It was simply the most beautiful bird I had ever seen. We played the I'm gonna take your picture game....I never got a picture. Here's one a lucky photographer took.....probably cheated with a 10,000 dollar lens!
Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice.

Paul Hoskins

Rick, pileated woodpeckers are fairly common around here. I really like them. I have several species of woodpeckers here on a daily basis. Lots of downy's, hairy, yellow shafted flickers, redbelly's, & in summer we have red headed woodpeckers. The "picture" I posted of the ivory bill is a fake picture. Looks more like a painting but a fairly realistic one. Better than most images I saw on Google. A couple years ago the pair of pileated  woodpeckers found a dead spot in a big black locust tree at the back of my lot. They chewed away at it for a couple weeks till they had the tree half cut through. Wind finished the job. The tree was green & about 12 inches in diameter at the defective spot. Now I have a snag about 35 feet tall. ......Paul H

sakorick

Is it true the Indians considered their bills as trophies?
Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice.

gitano

You have a great variety of birds in your backyard, Paul! I envy you that.

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

Jorge in Oz

How sad that this bird is no more.
"The Germans brought the best hunting rifle to the war. The Americans brought the best target rifle. The British brought the best battle rifle!"
 
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gitano

Yeah, and this is one that can't be blamed on "hunting". Its demise is due 100% to habitat loss. MOSTLY in Cuba, but here too. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

sakorick

Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice.

gitano

Be nicer than necessary.

Paul Hoskins

A couple more of the woodpeckers that visit on a daily basis. The common Downy & hairy woodpeckers. The hairy woodpecker closely resembles the downy but considerably larger. Not timid like the little downy' either. They'll even fight the much larger yellow shafted flickers. The downy is great for getting rid of corn worms. They'll sit on a ear of corn & listen for a worm & peck thru the husk & get the worm. They don't mess up the ear of corn doing it. .......Paul H

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