Save A Species Corporation

Louisiana

2011-03-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

We are back exploring Louisiana again! We arrived yesterday, but too late to go out into the swamp. So, today was our first day of exploration.

We decided to explore Pomme De Terre WMA. We had a hard time finding an entrance, but we finally did and hiked in on an ATV trail. As we walked we saw Palmetto in the understory and heard many buzzy sparrow and warbler calls. None of the calls matched a Bachman's of course.

We hiked away from the trail and into the forest for a first time, but did not find anything interesting, so we went back to the trail and kept going. I then noticed a Garter snake slithering away from our path, so I tried to grab it. But I missed it by an inch and it escaped.

The deeper in we went the taller the trees became, and the understory became denser. Palmetto was everywhere. We found a clearing in the understory and hiked into the forest from that point. We soon came to a marsh, and then we noticed a scaled tree. It was scaled all the way to the ground. There were large chuncks of bark on the ground around the tree. I took pictures of it, and then we went back for the trail.

Farther back on the trail the understory, and the Palmetto became even more dense. We found an area to hike into again, but found nothing. On the way back toward the trail I saw another Garter snake. This time I caught it and held it for a minute, just to look it over. But it bit me and drew a small amount of blood. So back on the trail I washed my hand off, and we moved on.

Further up on the trail we ran into another wonderful reptile, a 2 1/2 foot long alligator. I went up to it and attemped to grab the back of its neck, but it whipped around before I had a good hold. We then figured he was just big enough not to mess with, we took some pictures, and moved on.

After hiking for a long time we decided to turn around and head back to the car. But on the way back we ran in to more animals. They were all not very shy. We saw a rabbit and an Armadillo, and got some up close shots.

After getting to the car We wanted to see if we could get in to Pomme De Terre from the north. We found a trail up there, but it turns out it was private property. The Cajun owners and their "hunting club" weren't happy with us.

And tonight we had dinner with Frank Wiley. With him we got a plan for tomorrow set up. I'm waking up at 4:00 am to meet him tomorrow.

2011-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we were back for a second time looking for Mountain lions. We were really curious to see what our motion sensing birdcam caught. So we drove up Wye Mountain and then began the short hike along a game trail. It had snowed a few days before and there were a few patches of snow still on the ground, so we were looking for tracks in it.

When we came up to our birdcam we saw the the chicken we used as bait was gone. We checked the camera and found that there were 7 images on it. We took the camera off the tree and began hiking farther into the woods, we wanted to plant a timelapse camera farther out. We hiked on a slope and over some outcrops of rocks. We finally found an open area good for a timelapse camera near a dead tree with some Pileated Woodpecker holes in it. We positioned the camera on a tree and faced it looking across the slope. Then we began the hike back and left.

The motion sensing birdcam got some really good pictures, but no Mountain lions. The camera got a few shots of deer running along the game trail, and even a yellow labrador looking at the camera in the snow! I posted the pictures below. Maybe we'll have a mountain lion on the timelapse camera.

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Second Seach: Mountian Lions

2011-01-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

We have now begun a new search, one for Mountain Lions. That doesn't mean we have stopped the Ivory-Bill search, it just means we now have two searches. This search began with a camera trap picture of a Moutain Lion near a friends house on Wye Mountain. So my dad and I decided to check it out, because they are said to be extinct in Arkansas.

The Mountain Lion Story in Arkansas goes back a long way in our family. My great grandmother saw a female with 3 cubs near Fayetteville in the early 1970's. She called them "wild Cats." Then in the early 1990's my dad saw a dead Mountain Lion on the side of the road on his way to Fayetteville. He now wishes he stopped to look closer.

All Mountain Lions in Arkansas today are said to be former pets, or decended from former pets of the South American species of Mountian Lion. Of course they're called "pumas" in South America. But the idea of released big cats forming a population seems unlikely, and the camera trap picture that started our search seems to have the weight of a wild cat, not a released pet.

We began our search today with a 30 minute drive through woods and a small town, and then up a mountain. We followed directions from my dad's friend to the exact spot where the camera trap photo was taken. We came to the end of the road on the top of the mountain and hiked in on an ATV trail, looking for tracks as we walked. We then left the path and walked for a while until we found a game trail, then we started to set up our camera trap.

The camera trap we are using is a Birdcam, it didn't really work for the IBWO search because of its motion detection setting, so we repurposed it for this search. We set it about a foot and a half off the ground on a tree, and about 7 feet from the game trail. On the game trail I planted a chicken breast. Then we turned on the camera and headed back out, a quick and painless trip. The chicken will hopefully attract something, if not a Mountain Lion.

And we still have a Camera out in Wattensaw we need to go get...

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Good News And Bad News

2010-11-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about anything else in this blog post, I need to talk about our sighting of what we thought were a pair of IBWOs.

I had taken 19 digital photos during the sighting. I had combed through them carfully and began to send them to David Luneau for his furthur review to see if he could find something. He did. In 2 photos he found something with a red head and white back. An immature Red-headed woodpecker. I had seen the spot in the photos before, but dismissed it as patterns in the leaves. I had even thought it could have been an immature red-head before he saw the pictures. I'm not sure how we managed to mistake red-heads for Ivory-bills, but it seems to have happened. I'm very sorry. But that's how science works, and we're moving on. So i'll continue with our trip last Friday.

We inflated our kayak as always and headed down the bayou to our new spot, where our camera trap was placed on a really good scaled tree. We hiked in through the forest and had no trouble finding the tree again. Near the the largest, thickest patch of bamboo (cane) we have ever seen. I took some digital pictures of the tree and we moved past, we were going to get the camera on the way out.

We then hiked along the massive cane "ridge." After hiking for a while I heard my dad say that he wiped something off of his hat, and on the ground was a huge orange spider. I then nervously took some pictures of the spider on the ground. Then we moved on, soon coming to a logging road.

We crossed the dirt road into the forest. After hiking for several minutes I noticed a huge irregular cavity on a fallen tree. I had my dad put his hand next to it and I took a picture. The hole looks old, but it also looks very promising. I then looked up and noticed another cavity in a standing dead tree. It was huge, so we planted a camera, even though it's probably a Pileated hole. Then we turned around and headed back across the road and through the forest. Then We noticed a line of 3 or 4 more cavities in a single tree! We planted a camera there and kept going. Then, we came to the cane ridge and our scaled tree, so we picked up our camera.

Even though our sighting seems to have been incorrect, it seems like we'll have a real one pretty soon. We'll never mistake red-heads again. We've seen Red-heads twice since our "sighting" and have not mistaken them.

Notice our camera trap pictures below. An Armadillo and many Deer. And in the left, our scaled tree.

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Relocation Attempt

2010-10-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

We were back in the swamp again last Sunday, one week after we saw the pair of what we think were Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. We were going to see if we could find them again.

We inflated our kayak as a Turkey Vulture watched us and then we tossed it into the water and headed down the bayou. We paddled down the bayou, and when we came to the spot where we were to hike into the woods we ate lunch. When we finished eating we hiked into the woods to try to find the game trail to lead us to where we saw the birds. We found it almost at once at it brought us right to the scaled tree we had found, we were going the right way. We then moved farther down the trail to try to find the spot where we had our sighting. The game trail was blocked by two fallen trees, so we moved over them, and it was then that we noticed a large cavity in a tree about 25 to 30 feet up.

We decided to plant a camera trap on this cavity on our way out, and we moved on. Then we saw our bungie cord wrapped around a tree-the marker of where our sighting was. Camera in hand, I looked around. We of course did not see the pair in this spot again. After looking around and picking up our camera trap that we had planted, we hiked even farther back into the forest. The forest in the WMA is wonderful habitat. After hiking for a while, we came to a dirt road. There seemed to be some sort of logging operation going on, I don't know if it is forest management or just commercial logging, but either way I didn't like it.

We walked along this road looking into the forest when a bird flew out into a clearing. My first thought was that it was some sort of genetically strange Pileated, but when it landed we saw that it was a Red-Headed Woodpecker. There was no way we had confused this bird for the pair of birds we saw. Perched, this bird's white breast always showed. The Red-Headed woodpecker's white trailing edge is also very different, and a portion of its back is white in flight too. We watched the Red-Head for a minute and then decided to turn around and head back to the boat.

On the way back down the road we got lost! We were not sure where we left the forest to go onto the road, so we entered the forest again in a random place. We were not sure where we were, but we knew which direction we needed to go. So looking at the trees and seeing where their shadows fell, I pointed us in the right direction and we found the bayou again. Then we paddled our way out of the swamp.

We didn't find the pair again this time out, but we will again eventually. We have become even more sure of our sighting over the last couple of weeks. Seeing the Red-Headed Woodpecker this last time out helped to strengthen what we think we saw. We have had just a few skeptics of our report so far, but maybe we can turn them into believers with a video or picture soon!

It's Not Extinct!!!

2010-09-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

We could tell that this day, Sunday, was different. On our weekly drive to the woods we followed a convoy of football fans coming back from the Arkansas/Alabama game. They didn't slow down traffic that much, they just filled they highway with flags and stickers.

When we arrived at the swamp we inflated our kayak as usual and headed down the bayou. It was strange, most of the birds seemed silent. On this trip we planned to set out 2 camera traps, one on a scaled tree, and the other camera on another, then unkown target. Before we were to set up the camera, I decided we should hike the forest on the opposite side of the bayou. We ate lunch in the boat and then we pulled up to the shore and got out. We then started a long hike. After a short amount of time we spotted another scaled tree, the bark was tight and chips and sheets were on the ground, it looked very good. If we didn't find anything better, we would plant one of the cameras on this tree. We would find something much better.

We marked the area the scaled tree was in with a log standing against It and then headed off. We soon found a game trail that we hiked along, and then 3 or 4 deer ran in the distance. We hiked even farther along and the game trail faded away somewhat. Then my dad thought he saw something.

Over to his right he thought he saw scaling-not a bird-which was very lucky. We headed over and a bird flew from the treetops with a white trailing edge! Then we heard what sounded like kent calls not long after this. Then the bird landed and we saw the white saddle on the lower back. The bird was 100-200 feet away, and it was hidden partially by foliage so we did not see dorsal stripes, but I did make out a black head. My dad thinks he saw a crest, but I did not.

At some point we noticed another bird, this time with a red head (crest). I got a good look at him at one point as he hopped up a tree trunk several times, white saddle and red showing. However, he was partially covered by foliage as well. We were shocked, these two birds were flying between trees and landing for a few seconds at a time for 3 to 5 minutes. They were large birds, there was no way they were Red Headed Woodpeckers, which have a white saddle and trailing edge.

After observing them we did 3 double-knocks. However, this seems to have scared them off. Oddly, that might help to show that they were IBWOs. I saw the female fly Northeast, and got a view of her rapid, direct flight. After they left we went over to the tree the male had been in and looked at it. We estimated from the tree's size that the birds were the size of Ivorybills.

After we did all of that we set a camera trap facing the trees the birds had been in and headed back to the boat. I was completely lost, not because I didn't know where I was, but because I could not stop thinking about what we just saw! We then got in the boat and went to the other side of the bayou to pick up our camera trap. My dad navigated through the woods, and we got lost because I was on autopilot at that point! I had to shake it off for a second and course correct to find the scaled tree and camera. We then picked it up, planted a new one, and headed out. When we got back to the car we each wrote down what we had seen, not looking at each other's notes. We also drew rough sketches (my dad's are very rough).

I'm not going to write about some of the details of the sighting. I expect to catch a lot of skepticism from this report. But I don't care, I saw two Ivorybills!

Scaling

2010-09-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

This blog post is for two trips to the swamp. I've been busy and haven't had much time to write my blog recently.

The first trip i'm going to talk about was just like any other. We were going to pick up one of our camera traps and deploy two more. We put our boat in the water and started paddling down the bayou, saying hello to a fisherman. Once we came to a bend in the bayou we stopped to plant one of our cameras. We hiked in a little and set it facing a lot of trees on a tripod. We had already tried to set up the camera in that area once, but we focused it wrong and all the pictures were blurry. We made sure the focus was correct and then headed down the bayou again.

We then came to where our camera was set up farther down the bayou, facing a Cypress from the opposite side of the bayou. We had had a camera there for several weeks. Before we picked it up I suggested we hike farther into the forest. We hiked past a few big Live Oaks and then through a patch a cane. Then the forest became drier and the foliage thicker. We had hiked back pretty far when I looked over to my left and saw an awesome scaled tree!

The tree had patches of bark cleanly stripped away on one side. It was very recently dead, the bark very tight. I was amazed. I wanted to get some pictures and also plant our second camera facing the scaled tree, but our bag of gear was back with the boat. I didn't want to lose the tree, so I stayed with it while my dad went and got the bag. He came back through the trees several minutes later, looking confused, and apparently didn't see me. I waved and called at him, but it took him a minute to finally see me, (he can't hear well). I got the digital camera and went to take a picture, but "internal memory full!" flashed on the screen! I looked and no memory card was in the slot. But, we planted our camera trap, and then headed back out.

On our way out we heard gunshots, and as we moved nearer to the parking area they got louder. We didn't think it was hunting season yet. The shots got very loud, and we started to get nervous as we apporched the bank. As we came up the bank with our boat we saw a target shooter-in the parking area, shooting at a pile of gravel. He had been shooting almost in our direction. As we drove out, the idiot didn't even look our way. Funny, there's a shooting range to the north of the park...

-The Next Week-

This time in the bayou we were just wanting to pick up our two cameras and plant one on the scaled tree again. We're going to keep it under our watch until we find out what's doing it. We headed down the bayou and ran into the same fisherman we saw last time, cutting a fish into filets. We said hello to him again and then we picked up our first camera on the tripod. We then headed off to the scaled tree.

We then arrived back at the cypress tree that marked where we hiked in from the bayou to find the scaled tree. So we hiked in, passing the Live Oaks and cane. Then we fanned out in the forest to look for the tree again. A short while later we spotted it. This time I had a camera with a memory card, so I took some really good pictures of the scaled bark. We picked up our camera from last week and started to plant a new one. We used our picked-up tripod to mount a new camera trap facing the tree and then turned it on. Then we headed out of the bayou.

Our pictures from the camera traps did not reveal the culprit of the scaled bark from the first deployment, but I posted two below. I also posted a picture I took of the scaling with my digital camera. It's interesting to note one area of the scaling is darker than the other, indicating whatever did it did it two different times. Maybe next week we'll have a picture of an IBWO sitting on the tree peeling off more bark.

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Stake Out

2010-09-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

We were out at Wattensaw Bayou again last Sunday. This time we decided to float down to where we last heard the Blue Jay do kent call imitations and stake out the area.

We passed two of our camera traps as we went, we were going to get them on our way out. When we arrived at the bend in the bayou where we heard the kent call imitations a Pileated Woodpecker flew across the water. We then came to an opening on the bank and pulled the kayak in. We brought our cameras and equipment and hiked far into the woods. We passed a small grove of Bamboo as we ascended the hill from the bank of the bayou. Then we were in the thick of the forest. It's a forest of Sweet Gum and Oak, perfect Ivory-bill habitat. We hiked what seemed like far into the woods, then made a u-turn and headed back. When we got back to the bayou we realized we had hiked just a tiny, tiny bit.

Once we got back to the bayou from the forest we sat on a "cliff" overlooking the water. The water has gone down so much that the bank is very elevated. We sat there for a while, just waiting to see what would happen. After sitting for a while, we heard a group of blue jays. We always have our sound recorder on so we recorded them. They called like normal for several minutes, then something changed in their calls. "kent, kent..kent,kent,kent" They were doing it again! It sounded like the 1935 recordings of two Ivory-bills at the nest. They were calling "kents" back and forth at each other, exactly like an Ivory-bill. Not only did they copy the note, but a behavior! It's as if these Blue Jays learned this *first hand* from watching Ivory-bills.

The Blue Jays eventually stopped calling, and they all flew off together over the bayou, one by one. We counted six. It was a pretty cool trip, and we have it on tape!

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On The Trail

2010-09-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

We were out in Wattensaw once again last sunday. The water level has dropped a fair amount since the first time we were out here, but we can still easily move through the bayou in our kayak.

On this trip we decided to move farther down the bayou than we had before, and we did, but not without distractions along the way. Our distraction for the trip down the bayou came about when we turned a corner in our kayak near a very recently dead Nuttall Oak. My dad started yelling and pointing to the tree tops. He had seen a bird, but I didn't. I told him to throw me the camera and we pulled to the side of the bayou and gave chase, but of course we didn't see it. (How did John Dennis find it?) We stopped in a clearing and I questioned my dad on what he saw. He said it was black, he was not sure about white. He was sure it was bigger than a Pileated, and that it had fairly rapid wingbeats. Not the best sighting on earth, but we planted a camera trap on a tripod in the area anyway.

We then headed farther down the bayou, arriving at the spot where we heard the best double-knock we had ever heard. We had a camera trap aimed a one Cypress tree in particular, but we decided to pick it up on our way out.

We then passed the farthest point we had been, and not long after we heard something. KENT! "What was that?" "I don't know, but I recorded it." Kent, kent kent. Then, I realized it was just a Blue Jay doing its version of the call. That was confirmed by a normal jay call seconds later. We then turned around, we had a camera to get.

We arrived back at the spot where we heard the double-knock, where we replaced the camera trap with a fresh one. We are going to keep a camera in that one spot for a while, eventually something will surely land on it! We have some pretty good pictures, which I posted below. I have a good feeling about next week.

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Wattensaw

2010-08-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

We were out again in Wattensaw last sunday, but before I talk about that I want to talk about last week. Our recording is anything but conclusive and we're just going to move on and get another one. What I saw could not really show what the bird was, it was just a black and white blur. Our camera trap did not show anything from this week either.

This time in Wattensaw we decided to hike in to the forest from the water. We didn't see any scaling, but we saw a large patch of bamboo (cane). Then we got back in the boat and headed farther down the bayou. We then got out again and placed a camera trap facing an opening in the bayou. Then we left the swamp.

Second Sighting

2010-08-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

We were in Wattensaw again today. We were not planning much for the day, but it became very eventful. We were going to just get our camera and plant a new one in its place and head out, but that's not exactly how it happened.

We inflated the boat and put it in the water, and once we were settled in the boat we heard what sounded like Kent calls. It was a long series of calls! Our R-09HR recorder was mounted in the front of the boat, and I started recording just in time to get the last few kent notes. My dad recommended that I stop the recorder and save that bit, so I did, and I started recording on a new section.

Once the Kent calls stopped we headed in the direction they came from. I then saw a big black and white bird burst from a tree and fly into the woods! I didn't see where the white was on the wing, but the wingbeats were rapid and IBWO-like. My dad didn't see it.

We quickly rowed to shore and, camera in hand, I chased after it. I walked deep into the woods but didn't see it, my dad remained in the boat- expecting the bird to flush out. I waved for my dad to get out of the boat, and then we both staked out the area for a while. But, we had to get our camera trap, so I decided to let my dad get the camera and I would remain there.

I sat there for what seemed like a long time. If you remain still long enough in the woods, the animals begin to move normally again. A Prothonotary Warbler landed right next to me and a tiny gray and white bird flitted its wings in the underbrush. The squirrels and birds in the area seemed to be at war with each other. I didn't see the IBWO again.

When my dad got back, we hiked back further to look for good scaling in the area to plant a camera trap on, and if we couldn't find scaling, we'd plant it facing the trees in the area where I had seen the probable IBWO.

We did not find any scaling, so we planted the camera in the area where I saw the bird and set it to take a picture evry minute. Then we decided to head out of the swamp.

Once we got home, we listened to our recording. We have Kent calls! At least 5 of them! They are very faint, but clear, at the very beginning. Kent...kent...kent,kent,kent. We will have them analyzed and probably post them on the blog at some point. Kent calls and a black and white bird together....that has to be an IBWO!

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Another Day In The Swamp

2010-08-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last sunday we were in wattensaw again. We were going to pick up two cameras and deploy another. But we ran into some trouble.

When we arrived at the spot where we left our first camera on a tripod, we couldn't find it. It was facing above the bayou, and apparently someone had seen it and stolen it for whatever reason. This was the camera I really wanted to review, the pictures would have been great.

So, we headed to our second camera, grabed it, and headed to a heavily scaled Honey Locust. We positioned the camera facing the scaled tree strapped to another tree- because some jerk stole our tripod- and set it to take a picture every minute, then we headed out of the swamp.

On the camera that wasn't stolen we got some great deer shots, which are posted below. Next week we may have an IBWO picture.

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103 Degrees

2010-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We were back in Wattensaw today. The water level was way down, but we could still easily move around in our kayak. It was a really really hot day. In hopes that we would hear something again, we left our R-09HR recorder running at all times.

We headed to pick up our camera that we aimed on a tree with scaled bark. It had 800 pictures on it, less than expected. We took some good pictures of the tree and took the camera, then headed down stream to position our other two cameras.

When we arrived at the spot where we heard the great double knock we planted a camera. We placed it on a tripod and aimed it above the bayou's channal so that we might take a picture of an Ivory-bill flying over the bayou. Then we placed the second camera doing the same thing.

We were heading out of the bayou when we spotted a partially bare tree. I didn't think it was a scaled tree at first, just a tree peeling bark. My dad wanted me to get out and look at it, so I did.
When I saw the tree up close, I realized it might be a scaled tree. I called my dad over to bring the digital camera, and I took some pictures of it. There was what appeared to be bill marks on the wood, and the scaling was very extensive. It was too bad we already positioned all the camera traps! We'll plant a camera on it next week.

We didn't get any birds on our camera trap we picked up today, just a deer, which is posted below. The other picture is the tree we planted the camera on.

We didn't see or hear anything today, and we didn't get any IBWOs on our camera, but it was a pretty good day.

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Wattensaw

2010-07-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to go to Wattensaw WMA, instead of Bayou DeView. The WMA is directly west of Bayou DeView and there have been some sightings there. We drove into the middle of the WMA and stopped in a parking area next to a bayou. We ate lunch and then headed into the swamp.

As we floated down the bayou we looked for scaled trees. We didn't see any for a while, but then we spotted one. It was about 30 feet from the bayou on dry land, we got out of the kayak and checked it out. The scaling was very fresh. There were chips of bark on the ground below the tree, some of which were the size of your hand. We wanted to place a camera trap facing it, but first we decided to look for other scaling.

After that we didn't see any scaling, so we were turning around to go back to the scaled tree when we heard a loud double-knock. BAM-bam! It was the clearest, loudest double-knock we have ever heard. My dad handed me our new Edirol R-o9HR recorder and I started recording. We pulled the boat near the bank of the bayou and waited. The double-knock did not repeat.

After sitting there for a minute we decided to go toward the sound and get out of the boat. So, we got onto dry land and we hiked into the forest to look for what made the double-knock. We walked far in one direction, and didn't see or hear anything, so we headed back in the kayak's direction. We then hiked in a different direction from the kayak, but again didn't see anything. So we headed back for the scaled tree.

We got to the scaled tree and then placed a camera trap on a tripod facing it. After that we headed out of the swamp.

We heard a double-knock today, i'm 99% sure it was from an IBWO. If we had the recorder on we would have had a great recording! So, from now on, we will have it recording at all times. We're ordering a special tripod for it so we can have it up in the front of the kayak. And, maybe we will get a picture from our camera trap of an IBWO next week!

Summary Of Our Trip

2010-07-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had a very good trip to Louisiana. We got a good look at the habitat and even heard an IBWO! As i've said, the habitat is wonderful for IBWOs. Trees there include Oaks, Honey Locust, Sycamore, Willow, Pecan, Green Ash, and Cypress. Spanish moss hangs from Cypress trees and the understory is made of Cane, Palmetto, etc. That means the habitat would also be good for the Bachman's Warbler, if they still exist.

We heard two Kent calls on Grassy Lake that sound just like the "Project Coyote" recordings, which can be heard here: http://www.south-run.com/coyote/sounds.htm

We also had dinner with The Project leader, Frank Wiley. He told us about some of his sightings and some interesting information on the bird. I'm not going to write about his sightings because I have a feeling he may do that himself one day. A book about his encounters would be a best-seller!

It seems from Frank's sightings and what we heard that there is a good population of Ivory-bills there. And from now on, when someone asks us what we are doing in the woods, instead of hiding what we are doing we'll say "We're looking for the elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Have you seen one?"

2010-07-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Louisiana: Day Three

2010-07-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Today was our last full day in Louisiana for this trip. We spent it on the lake in Grassy Lake WMA, looking for more signs of the IBWO. I'm afraid we didn't see or hear the bird today. But we did see a lot of Alligators! One of them was 6-8 feet long, we couldn't tell for sure because it was far away. It just moved slowly across the lake and then slowly sank under the water. We also saw a few smaller ones.

And tonight we had dinner with the Project Coyote leader, Frank Wiley. We had some very interesting conversation that took up almost 2 hours. We picked him up at his house and we went to a BBQ place. It was really fun.

We couldn't find the IBWO again today, but we heard it yesterday. This was a really great trip! Tomorrow we're heading home, but first we are going to pick up our camera trap in the WMA. I doubt an IBWO will be on it, but maybe.

Louisiana: Day Two

2010-07-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

We were in Grassy Lake WMA again today. We searched the area with huge trees and a lake. We were not able to locate bark scaling, but did find some holes in the big trees. We placed a camera on the holes, but I don't think they could really be IBWO holes. We searched the forest until about noon and then decided to head to the lake.

We inflated our kayak and then headed into the water. The lake is almost totally covered in Lilly Pads, but there was a trail through them made by other boats. We were burning up, and almost headed back, but we didn't. Then as I was in the middle of a paddle stroke I heard something that sounded like what the Project Coyote team has recorded. I was not sure if it was a call, but we headed in it's direction and stopped at the bank of the lake. Then we both heard the sound again. It sounded exactly like what Project Coyote has recorded. It was an IBWO. We tried to move nearer to where the sound was coming from, but we never saw a bird. I was starting to think we wouldn't see or hear anything on this trip!

We also saw a few Alligators today.

We are going back to the lake tomorrow, maybe we'll see the IBWO.

Louisiana: Day One

2010-07-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this blog entry from the hotel where we are staying. Today we left for LA at around 8 a.m. and arrived around 3. When we got here we went to the Grassy Lake WMA, but it took us a fair amount of time to locate the WMA because the directions were vague and it was not marked with a sign! When we did get in to the park we turned left on the road, which was a mistake. That area was patchy scrub forest no good for the IBWO. But we turned around and went the other way a found a great forest. The trees seemed to get bigger the farther in we went, one area had massive trees, which we will explore more tomorrow. We also found a good lake (no suprise.)

The forest is great habitat. Trees include various Oaks, Honey Locust, Sycamore, etc. The WMA is connected to the forest of the "Project Coyote" search, the overall forest is huge. Plenty of room for at least a few pairs of Ivory-Bills.

We saw a few interesting birds too. Like Painted Buntings and Ibis.

A Dead Giant

2010-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

We were out in the swamp again last Wednesday. We managed to patch up our popped inflatable kayak, and it held up well. As we entered the Bayou we passed what we thought was a log in the water. My dad said that something was on top of the "log." Then I realized it wasn't a log at all, it was a dead animal. Two massive bloated legs were sticking out of the water, it looked like a dead baby Hippo! As we got nearer to it we saw that it was a huge turtle, a big Spiny Softshell Turtle. It was so huge it might have been older than 80. Some careless fisherman had put out a trot line, and the turtle took the bait, got stuck, and drowned.

Then we headed on to pick up our three camer traps. Two cameras had 1800 pictures, and the other one had 1400. We had aimed one at a large roost hole. Once I got home I looked at all the pictures. The camera facing the roost tree didn't have a Pileated or IBWO picture on it, so we'll place a camera facing the tree again soon. The other two cameras had some great pictures of wildlife, like a big hawk sitting on a scaled tree we faced the camera on. I posted the pictures below.

In a few days my dad and I are heading to Louisiana to search for the bird there. Where we're going is very near the "Project Coyote" search area-which has some very promising evidence that IBWOs are there. Maybe we'll find some evidence ourselves.

Also, be thinking of Frank Wiley, the Project Coyote leader, who has had his foot badly injured. Hope he gets well soon!

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We're Gonna Need A Better Boat

2010-06-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

When we went out to the swamp today the water level was extremely low. You could have walked the length of the whole bayou there was so much dry land exposed. We could hardly move through some areas in out inflatable kayak, but we pushed on because we needed to deploy 3 cameras.

There were dozens of Spotted Gar and maybe an Alligator Gar or two swimming around just below the surface of the water, and a Barred Owl was sitting on a branch. As we were heading for a scaled tree, we heard what sounded like an animal hitching around in the treetops, but we didn't see anything and went to put a camera facing the scaled tree. Then, once we set up the camera, I looked up again at the huge Cypress tree the sound had come from and saw a large oval roost hole! The hole was 40 to 50 feet up the tree and near a few dead stubs on the trunk. It was the right size and had an oval shape, and it appeared to be fresh. Whatever was moving around must have gone into the hole. It was either a Pileated Woodpecker or an IBWO. We set up the second camera facing the tree. The other camera was set up facing a large number of trees, like in the pictures below.

As we headed out of the bayou and toward our car we rammed into a sharp stump and we heard a loud "PSHHHHHH!" Bubbles were erupting from under our inflatable kayak and then stopped. The bottom portion of our kayak had been ruptured. We didn't take on any water though, the stump only popped one membrane. We're going to have to get a new kayak!

We will see in a week or two if the roost hole is an IBWO's or a PIWO's hole. It's interesting to note that the hole was in the area where we heard possible "Kent" calls and not far from where we heard possible double knocks. And there are a few scaled trees right near the roost hole, one of which we put a camera on. Imagine if it is an active IBWO hole!

Camera traps

2010-06-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

We went out to the swamp last sunday and picked up our 2 cameras near where we heard the possible IBWO. I don't have much to say about this trip other than we found a patch of bamboo (cane). Cane is the main nesting material of the Bachman's Warbler-which is thought to be extinct.

We do have some great animal pictures, including a Pileated Woodpecker. we had 1700 pictures on each camera, which took over an hour each to go over. I posted the most interesting pictures below.

We learned a few things about our camera traps. 1-We can deploy them for a long period. 2-"Landscape" shots are a good option for searching for the IBWO, as indicated by the Pileated picture. And 3- If swamp monsters exist, they're avoiding our camera traps! :)

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"Kent" Calls

2010-05-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

We went out again to the swamp today in search of the IBWO. On the ride in it was raining, but the rain never really went over the bayou where we were going. As we floated down the swamp a Broad-Banded Water Snake nearly fell into the boat, which scared my dad-but not me. Then we heard an amazing sound, something that sounded like the IBWO's Kent call. "kent, kent, kent." I faced my recorder to the sound in disbelief and after about 20 "kent" calls I realized that it was just a White-Breasted Nuthatch. We hear the White-Breasted Nuthatch version of the "kent" call nearly every time we go to Bayou DeView, but this song sounded almost exactly like the IBWO's call. What made me realize it was just a Nuthatch was it's normal laughing call it threw in after some "kent" calls. It let out that call as if it were laughing at me for thinking it was the IBWO! After that my morale was very low, but as we headed farther down the bayou I heard another sound.

The White-Breasted Nuthatches were still making their "kent" noises when a higher nasaly note echoed from the background. "kent....kent..........kent." This was different from the other calls, it sounded just like the IBWO recordings from 1935! As if in reply to the Nuthatches, the IBWO seemed to be calling back. This went on for about 10 to 15 "kent" notes when it stopped. We planted 2 camera traps right where we heard the real IBWO. I really think that we heard the bird today, hopefully we'll have pictures of it next week on our camera traps!

Even though the Nuthatch "kent" notes threw me off and discouraged me for a time, hearing how perfect their calls were may indicate that they have recently heard the IBWO, for the Nuthatch has been known to mimic. That, together with hearing what I think were actual "kent" calls made this a great day!

Birds Everywhere at Bayou DeView

2010-05-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

We were out in the swamp today and saw some really cool things. As we entered the swamp we heard ghostly echos of Barred Owl calls and the rolling machine gun sound of pileated woodpeckers. We saw a huge Cottonmouth resting on a log and took some great pictures. We saw several Prothonotary Warblers as we headed for our two camera traps. We got the first camera trap and then went for the second. We got to the last camera trap and a huge Barred Owl flew into a tree above us and just looked down on us. I took some pictures of it too and then a huge Pileated woodpecker flew off of a tree right next to us.

We've seen so many Pileated woodpeckers now that I can instantly tell that it isnt a IBWO in flight. We had 1,300 pictures on each of the cameras, and it took the better part of an hour to look over them all. I found some great pictures of Prothonotary Warblers on the camera traps and posted them below. No IBWOs in the camera trap pictures this time though.

2010-05-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

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Day in the swamp

2010-05-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

We went out to the swamp today looking for the IBWO. We didn't see or hear it today, but we did plant 2 timelapse cameras in the area where we heard a possible double knock a few weeks ago. I took a few pictures of some snakes, a Prothonotary Warbler (wish it was a Bachman's), and a strange skink. We also saw a pileated woodpecker. A week from now we'll pick up the cameras and i'll write about what we have on them.

2010-05-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Introduction

2010-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker,previously thought to be extinct, was rediscovered in Arkansas in 2004. My dad and I first became involved in the search in the summer of 2009. Since then, we have seen one IBWO and we took a picture of the bird, but it was inconclusive. We have also heard it several times, including a potential double knock a couple of weeks ago. We will keep giving updates of our search every now and then.

Our first project as a corporation will be the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, but eventually I would like the corporation to turn into a full-blown conservation entity, like WWF or Conservation International.