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Re: FW: [OrangeCountyBirding] Possible Imperial WP sighting!
This very exciting indeed. Interestingly, there have been recent
reports from local villagers of a very large woodpecker with a curled
crest in a very remote part of Cerro de San Juan, the large volcano
that rises just to the east of San Blas. The Mexican federal wildlife
people for the state of Nayarit are coordinating with the Cornell
Laboratory of Ornithology, who are sending down a search team the last
week of this month to begin a search for Imperial Woodpeckers here. I
hope to be able to assist in this effort. It's apparently in a canyon
with virgin pine-oak forest that's quite a hike, including some
rappelling, to enter. It would be great to find this bird still alive
in the remote reaches of the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Mark Stackhouse
www.westwings.com
mark@westwings.com
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)
On Nov 11, 2005, at 10:46 AM, bcurrie100@comcast.net wrote:
Hello all,
I apologize in advance for a long e-mail. I know a couple of people
subscribe to this Orange County board, but for those who do not I
wanted to pass on this very interesting information. The Imperial
Woodpecker does not have all the PR that the Ivory-billed has, but if
it has truly been seen (unfortunately no way to confirm this presently
but the people who saw it have some good credentials) it truly would
be great to have confirmed sightings of the Ivory-billed AND the
Imperial WPs within the same year (or two really). If the Imperial is
still alive, then it is the largest woodpecker in the world coming in
at a whopping 22 - 24 inches. I am trying to not make this e-mail too
long, but for those who are interested here is an interesting note
from John James Audubon about the imperial:
http://www.abirdshome.com/Audubon/VolIV/00425.html and this from the
Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
"The male has a red crest, but is otherwise black, apart from the
inner primaries, which are white-tipped, and white secondaries. The
female is similar but the crest is black, not red. It was once
widespread throughout the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico.
This 60-centimeter-long bird is officially listed as "Critically
Endangered", although the last positive sighting was in Durango,
Mexico in 1958 and it is probably now extinct. The reason for its
decline is probably loss of habitat, although it was probably set in
motion by over-hunting."
And as you can see from this artist's rendition, it is actually a
cousin to the Ivory-billed:
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?
action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=718&m=0 Its habitat seems quite
different from the Ivory-billed.
-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: "Lori Conrad" <lconrad@adelphia.net>
<BIRDWG05@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>, "SDbirds" Subject:
[OrangeCountyBirding] Possible Imperial WP sighting!
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 04:49:09 +0000
Hi all
I just saw this post on Mexico-birding, & thought it interesting
enough to pass on, for those who don't read that list.
Sorry for all of the cross-postings!
Lori Conrad
Hermosa Beach, CA
See below:
From: "John Spencer" <bajabirdwatcher@...>
Date: Mon Nov 7, 2005 8:57 am
Subject: Possible Imperial Woodpecker sighting! bajabirdwatcher
Ron and Sarojam Makau are bird-watching friends of mine. They
are avid bird watchers, who live (part-time) near Cabo Pulmo, BCS.
They are both professors at UC Riverside in the Biology Dept.
They just got back from the Copper Canyon trip. They had some
fantastic news ... they are sure, absolutly sure, that the saw an
Imperial Woodpecker (!) near Divisadero on the north rim of Copper
Canyon.
I questioned them closely, but they were sure, based on the
description in Peterson.
Howell says that the bird is extinct and last sighting in 1956.
Peterson says very rare but not extinct.
They swear that they saw the female that has a very unusal
reverse crest. They both are experienced birders and are biology
professors at UC Riverside. They have birded all over the world and
are really good
birders. I belive their sighting.
They saw the bird about 30 ft up a pine tree, clinging to the
trunk.
They were about 50 to 60 feet away, with good light. They
observed the bird for about 2 minutes, during that time the bird
turned her head and the crest was seen at several angles, definitaly
matched the
drawing in Peterson for the female. The bird flew off with slow heavy
wingbeats (descriped as Raven-like flight). No sounds were heard. The
sighting was about 0700 on the trail near the big hotel on the canyon
rim.
If they aren't mistaken (and I don't think they are) I'm going
to spend several days birding that area. Wow, to get a photo of a bird
that is listed as extinct.
I haven't been following reports, but have there been any other
sightings of this bird?
After Thanksgiving I'm crossing to the mainland and spending a
week or so in that area trying to get a photo verification.
I know that this is an unconfirmed and second-hand report, but I
personaly know the reporters and belive their sighting.
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