Brian Carlisle, Photographer of the Pascagoula

Much of the principal photography on this blog -- and the best photography, specifically -- is the work of my brother Brian, who nine times out of ten is my companion in the field.  He helps navigate the labyrinthine swamps, sloughs, and bottomlands of the Pascagoula River Basin, and is quick to spot interesting woodpecker cavities and suspected scaling.  More than once, he has helped get us out of difficult situations in this remote wilderness by his encouragement, common sense, and general steadfastness.

The past few months have been anxious times for those of us close to the Pascagoula River.  Brian and I have come to view the River as rather sacred.  This may sound overly romantic to some, but there is nothing romantic about a wild, free river -- it is a rare thing to behold these days, and as aggravating as it can be at times (the current flooding of the surrounding bottomland by the River comes to mind), it is also humbling, a reminder to humans of their fragile, transient nature in this world.  This mighty, magnificent river -- the largest undammed river by volume in the lower 48 Unites States, as I have mentioned in other posts -- is, in addition to the ongoing threat of pollution, threatened by proposed dams on one of its lower tributary streams.  Both Brian and I -- and Brian in particular -- have been closely following developments, and while it seems that the River may have been granted a reprieve recently, the threat has not gone away.

American Rivers, "an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring rivers in the United States,"* recently listed the Pascagoula River as "Most Endangered."  My brother Brian's photo was used to help publicize this important development here.  The designation by American Rivers will hopefully go a long way towards helping to keep the Pascagoula River in its current state -- with enough elbow room to periodically shift its bed, and to occasionally breathe life into the surrounding swamps and bottomland forests, as it has done for time out of mind.

When we began searching for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in south Mississippi -- a search now going on two years old -- we did not realize the hold that the Pascagoula River would come to have upon our hearts and minds.  This hold is evident in the care and love Brian puts into his photos, which are continually reaching a wider audience.  I cannot help but think that is a good thing for the River.

Keep up the good work, brother.

*Karen Nelson, Pascagoula, Mississippi Sun-Herald. (LINK)

Gallagher Goes to Cuba

It was announced this week that Tim Gallagher, author of The Grail Bird and Imperial Dreams, may be laying the groundwork for a new book on another member of the Northern Triad of Campephilus species.  He and Martjan Lammertink have begun a search in Cuba for the subspecies Campephilus principalis bairdii, the Cuban Ivorybill.  This blog follows their search.

UPDATE:  Looks like Gallagher and Lammertink's search effort in Cuba had ended:  www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2016/can-ivory-billed-woodpecker-be-found-cuba .

Project Coyote on the Radio

Mark Michaels of Project Coyote was recently interviewed on Heritage Radio Network about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  The informative and enjoyable recording can be listened to here.

Seasonal Issues.2: 4 April 2016

On Monday, 4 April, I attempted yet again to access the Hutson Lake area of the northern Pascagoula WMA.  While the massive flooding I had encountered on my previous visit had subsided considerably, the small creeks and sloughs were still swollen to overflow.  I arrived in the cool, clear hour before dawn, and was able to drive down the previously-submerged WMA road for about a mile, until I reached a dip where a small paved area of road bisects what is normally a dark, still slough.  Instead, there was this:

I dared not chance flooding my truck attempting to cross.  Despite the mosquitoes, which were out in full force, it would have been a beautiful day to explore.  With heavy heart I turned around, and began the hour and a half-long drive back home.

A fence along a nearby natural gas pumping station hinted at the extent of the season's earlier flooding:

Unfortunately, this was to be my last opportunity to search for the Ivorybill for a while, since this past Friday I had surgery to repair a double inguinal hernia.  I will be out of work for a couple of weeks while I recover; and it shall be at least that long before I can return to the wild swamp fastnesses of the Pascagoula River Basin, and resume my search for evidence of Ivorybills there.

Seasonal Issues: 19 March 2016

I traveled down to the Pascagoula WMA last Saturday, hoping to find some dry ground in the Hutson Lake sector.  My plan was to stake out, for several hours, a large red oak that had been struck by lightning, spotted by my brother Brian last year; it was found at our last inspection to be partly dead.  I arrived well before dawn to find the Pascagoula River, swollen with recent Spring rains, had rather spectacularly overflowed its banks.  The surrounding swamp and bottomland forest was completely flooded, all the way to the highway.

Video taken at the beginning of the WMA road to Hutson Lake.

I had not brought my kayak, and at any rate was not too keen on navigating the wild tangle of flooded bottomland alone.  I regret days in the field lost, but sometimes one must simply let Nature make the decisions.

I do not expect to return to the Pascagoula Basin until possibly the week after Easter at earliest, due to the holiday and to some minor surgery I have to have next week.  For now, then, this part of old Ivorybill country will remain free of this particular meddling biped.

Reliquary: Parker's Lake, 4 March 2016

(Note:  For now, at least, I am abandoning my old report format, which has been leaving me feeling rather hemmed in lately.)

I got back down to the southern Pascagoula Basin yesterday in hopes of exploring the Lice Lake area, only to find the whole south end of the WMA flooded.  I did not expect the extent of the flooding, since south Mississippi had been rain-free at least a week prior.  It was already some minutes after dawn when I arrived, and I wasted valuable time driving a couple of dead-end roads that had looked promising on Google Earth.  The forecast called for rain by 10 a.m.

Parker's Lake straddles the Wade-Vancleave Road, and has a WMA headquarters building and a boat launch that is usually fairly busy.  That day, there was only one pickup truck with empty boat trailer.  The mature swamp forest along the road teases bigger woods further in on either side.  After some deliberation, I elected to put the kayak in at the lake and make my way into the swamp and flooded bottomland forest to the north of the road.

It was only slightly cool, with little wind; the heavily overcast sky seemed to threaten rain at any minute.  I sped along at a good clip against a gentle, southward-flowing current, and presently found myself amidst some simply gorgeous swamp forest.

I am by no means an expert on the Pascagoula River Swamp, but as I have gotten to know the place over the last couple of years, I have come to relate to it in some different ways.  Trees and water dominate the landscape, and in my mind's eye I often look at the Swamp relative to them.  Always on the lookout for older growth, I remember most such pockets, as well as larger individuals:  the massive red oak, between the more massive baldcypress The Ancient of Days and the River; the great tupelos and baldcypresses of Titan Swamp; the lone grandfather cypress watching over the north of Big Swamp; too many special trees and groves to relate here, echoes of once-upon-a-time, which I have come to seek out with an eagerness eclipsed only by the desire to see an Ivorybill.

I found the swamp forest and flooded bottomland forest to the north of Parker's Lake to be such a special place, and remarkable in its own way.  Here are grouped many relict (or near-relict) baldcypresses, in greater numbers than anywhere else I have yet found in the Basin.  Drawn from giant to giant, I made my way nearly a mile into the largely silent swamp fastness, the sound of the road gradually fading behind me to a rumor.

Bird life was muted.  I saw no woodpeckers of any species, and only heard Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a single Pileated; but evidence of Picidae was easily found, and there were many cavities, some of considerable size.

 Hammerhead.

My trip was cut short by the threat of heavy rain, along with an overactive bladder.  I hope to return to this place soon.

February 2007 Travel Log — Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Cornell's trip report from the Pascagoula River Basin:  February 2007 Travel Log — Ivory-billed Woodpecker.



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