"...the ornithologists still had serious doubts. Sutton finally put it directly: 'Mr. Spencer, you're sure the bird you're telling us about isn't the big pileated woodpecker?'

"Spencer exploded. 'Man alive! These birds I'm tellin' you all about is kints!' he shouted in their faces. 'Why, the pileated woodpecker's just a little bird about as big as that.' He held his fingers a few inches apart. 'A kint's as big as that!' he said, holding his arms wide... 'Why, man, I've known kints all my life. My pappy showed 'em to me when I was just a kid. I see 'em every fall when I go deer huntin' down aroun' my place on the Tinsaw. They're big birds, I tell you, big and black and white; and they fly through the woods like pintail ducks!'

"After Spencer's outburst, the members of the team were all believers -- not just because of his vehemence, but because his description was so accurate. Ivory-bills do not have the typical bounding flight of the pileated woodpecker. They generally fly away high and straight, with stiff flight feathers, looking very much like a pintail, and their call is a distinctive nasal kent, kent, kent -- very similar to the local name Spencer used, kint. Sutton and the others couldn't wait to get to the bayou and start searching.

"As it turned out, that was not an easy proposition..." --Gallagher, Tim. The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, pp. 10-11: "Of People and Peckerwoods."

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

IBWO-1 Up!

Got the call from the mechanics today... not the starter, but the ignition switch.  I should have my own ride again in a day or two.  YES!!!

Not sure when I'll be able to get back into the field, though...


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4 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 3, 2014 at 6:44 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. UnknownNovember 3, 2014 at 6:45 PM

    Hi!
    I was doing some research on IWBOs and I found a map of Pascagoula WMA, but I couldn't figure out exactly where Black Swamp and Big Swamp are!!! Thanks so much!

    Kai

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  3. Christopher CarlisleNovember 3, 2014 at 6:54 PM

    Hello. If I understand correctly, Black Swamp is at the confluence of Black Creek and the Pascagoula River. Big Swamp is farther to the north, I believe, a large area between Black Creek and the Pascagoula River. I'm not 100% certain, though.

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  4. Christopher CarlisleNovember 3, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    If you click the "FINAL REPORT" link to the right (in the "IBWO Links"), it will take you to Cornell's report on their search. Page 26 discusses Big Swamp, and has it farther south than I indicated. I have not spoken with any of the locals in the area, and am guided solely by online conversations on the IBWO Researcher's Forum, and by Cornell's report.

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