Cold Day in Arkansas

Brinkley, AR

It has been so long ago, I am no longer sure who took this picture. I know it was taken on February 16, 2007.

Leaving the motel, when David Luneau calls he is going up the Bayou and wants to know If I will join him. I slow down and agree to meet him at the famous Hwy 17 bridge. My Truck is a familiar sight there. Montana plates drew many comments while we were still in the secretive phase (2004) of the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

While waiting for his arrival, I visit a nearby area where multiple trees have been killed forming an ideal spot for IBWO feeding. But as is now normal, there is now clear sign. Flushed 2 American Woodcocks in transit. We freeze in the wind and cold temperatures. New feeding trough in a tree along Stab lake. Could be IBWO sign. After hours in the bayou, with no real sign, we return to the landing.

Later, I head to Chamber of Commerce to suggest a viewing tower on each side of the bayou. When I was stationed in the 85 foot crane for a month. The goal was to be up high enough to spot the bird flying to and from foraging areas. I would get to the crane a bit after first light, bringing coffee food and camera batteries and tape.

The crane platform rises on a hydraulic arm up into the air about 85 feet. While one is above most of the tree tops, the tallest cypress and tupelo rise to about 115 feet. We needed a taller crane or a tower that would put us at the tops of all the trees. To perfectly cover the bayou so nothing gets by us, ideally two towers would be constructed on either side of the mile wide bayou. If observers can see across to each other then, no Ivory bill would fly between them.

Finally, I return to Wattensaw Refuge to spend the evening sitting quietly by the best roost hole I have seen so far. The hole is at least a full year and possibly up to three years old. It is perfectly shaped and is VERY likely one created by an Ivory-bill. But what does it mean? There had been a sighting by a reliable biologist not far from this location about a month earlier.

In Argentina, studying the closely related Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus) I filmed the nesting cavities and learned a lot by spending time following the birds on some day while sitting quietly near the nest on others. Campephilus woodpeckers use nest cavities which are oval in shaping. This turns out to be a significant factor. You can eliminate the vast majority of nest cavities of most woodpeckers.

I position myself in my camo layers about 150 feet away in cover and by the base of a tree. I find a way to get the camo on the camera and then hunker down waiting. The sky has layers of thin clouds reducing visibility but also a deep orange and then magenta sunset. A Pileated Woodpecker cacks deep in the forest behind, a loud crash of a tree collapsing and then silence.

Unfortunately, no bird comes to this wonderful looking cavity. The Bayou slowly grows darker and I pack up for the hike to the car in the gathering dusk.