"...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."

Thursday, December 25, 2014

An IBWO in a Gum Tree

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and in particular my new wife Susanne, who was so instrumental in getting the Quest going this year, and who picks up the pieces after long days in the Wild; my fellows in the field, IBWOH's Brian Carlisle and Richard Ezell, both currently working out in the Gulf of Mexico, who have made it such a remarkable year; my friends Mark and Frank of the Project Coyote team, from whom I have learned and continue to learn so much; Dr. Jerome Jackson, who has been kind enough to take time out of his schedule for the occasional correspondence with me; and to all my fellow ivorybill enthusiasts, and those around the world who have visited the site.  Thank you for being a part of our adventures so far!

Speaking of Project Coyote, please join me in wishing them good stalking as they return to the field yet again in the coming days.  If you haven't already, be sure to check out their site www.projectcoyoteibwo.com.  There is much to be learned there for any serious student of the remarkable Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which continues to captivate us from the shadows.

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