WANTED:  PHOTOGRAPHS OF PILEATED WOODPECKER WOODWORKINGS IN CARPENTER
ANT-INFESTED TREES

Paul Sykes of the USGS is continuing his investigations into a comparison
of Pileated and Ivory-billed woodpecker woodworkings.  Last Friday and
Saturday he visited both the White River N.W.R. and the Bayou de View (near
Cache River N.W.R.) areas in Arkansas.  Carl Perry talked with him and said
Paul found few insects and no Water Moccasins!

Paul will be doing a poster session at the upcoming annual meeting of the
American Ornithologists' Union.  He is especially in need of photographs of
what are called furrow excavations by Pileated Woodpeckers in trees
infested with carpenter ants.  Such furrow excavations, as I understand it,
are several inches deep, somewhat wider than they are deep, and can be
several feet long (i.e., their vertical exis).  He is willing to pay for
such photographs.  Anyone who can help with this kindly contact him at:
paul underscore sykes at usgs dot com (if you know what I mean).

The thinking is that in carpenter ant-infested trees such workings by
Pileateds are quite messy whereas those by Ivory-billeds display more
"craftsmanship" and are neater. 

Carl said Paul had heard the so-called double knock this past week.  The
second knock is but a mere shadow of the first apparently.  The first knock
is very strong, loud, and then the bill hits again as a sort of slight
bounce back.  Also, we are being told or have read that Ivory-bills in
flight have very deep wingbeats so that their wings touch each other both
on the upstroke and downstroke.  When in flight the wings also make a sort
of whirring noise.  

Recently Paul examined an Ivory-billed nesting cavity at a musuem in
Alabama that dates from c. 1850 yet had some gouges and markings that were
useful to his studies!

Please bear in mind that all the information above I've gotten second,
sometimes third or fourth hand.  Nothing (that I am aware of) I've said in
this and previous posts is anything that can't be found by searching the
Internet.  There is no secret stash of Ivory-billeds in Arkansas or
elsewhere I am aware of.  But who knows?  As Jerome Jackson said in his
wonderful book on Ivory-billeds: "The truth is out there," an expression
from the 'X-files' that inspired him.  

Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225.  215-248-4120.