My wife and mom took these pictures over Easter weekend, thought some on the OB might appreciate them

Cool pics.

Where is that?

Henderson county

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Henderson county

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Home.

Loved watching those birds while deer hunting in Sam Houston NF. Always sounded like their was a Predator in the woods whenever they peck.

Are they big? Like almost the size of a chicken?

I got a couple of pics of one at Bastrop State Park last weekend.

Ya they are crow size. Really shy birds, most people have no idea woodpeckers that big exist

Very cool birds. We had a big, half dead red oak on our place in Beaumont when I was a kid. The ants would swarm in that tree and the pileated woodpeckers would go crazy eating carpenter ants on that tree when they were swarming.

Just imagine how big an ivory bill is.

We've got three in our back yard. They're cool to listen to and watch. We've also got a few pics but nothing as clear as those. Nice shots!!! I love hearing them "jungle scream" down through the trees!!!

Log, you mean WAS? Aren't they extinct?

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Log, you mean WAS? Aren't they extinct?

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Most think they're extinct. Still get "sightings" from time to time though. Although most think the sightings are Pileateds being mistaken for Ivorys.

Enough evidence left out there to put them in the 'Squatch category.

is that a telephone pole they're on/in?

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is that a telephone pole they're on/in?

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yes it is


No joke about their jungle screams... between the hammer like noise of them drumming on trees and their loud call, you could mistake them for a 'squatch

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Are they big? Like almost the size of a chicken?

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Adults are between 12 and 18 inches tall. Pretty wild looking seeing a bird that big works it's way up and down a tree. The other cool part is the way the strike the tree. Where the smaller woodpeckers use a "machine gun" type series of strikes, these sound like someone using a hammer. Big, loud, slower rhythmic strikes. Thus the ability to hollow out a telephone pole!

I've never been a bird watcher per say, but when those guys are hanging out in my backyard, I tend to stop whatever I'm doing (our whole family does actually) and just watch and listen. It's fascinating!

I believe confirmed sightings of IB woodpeckers have occurred in the recent past.

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I believe confirmed sightings of IB woodpeckers have occurred in the recent past

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Confirmed?

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/

There are still ivory bills in Cuba.

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The DNA study also revealed that ivory-bills in North America and Cuba diverged from one another genetically about a million years ago. Because of their genetic differences, the authors suggest, the ivory-bills should be considered two species instead of one.

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The Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Carpintero real (Campephilus principalis bairdii) is, or was, a Cuban subspecies of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Once classified as a separate species, recent research has indicated that C. p. bairdii may in fact be sufficiently distinct from the nominate to once again be regarded as a species in its own right.
No specimens have been seen since 1987, and it is now considered to be extinct.

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[This message has been edited by Oruç Reis (edited 4/5/2013 9:38a).]

It only takes ~100,000-300,000 years for a larger animal species to diversify into what would be considered two completely separate species. It depends a lot on lifespan and reproductive rate and isolation, of course.

Like Polar Bears and Grizzlies were once the same species about 300,000 years ago or so.