Search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker    larges-@aol.com    Jan 09, 2003 09:34 PST  Dear Bob and Fellow ENTS Members, Just returning from an expedition to the White River National Wildlife Refuge in Southeastern Arkansas with a group search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. The team was led by David Luneau, a professor at Univ. Ark Little Rock, a man dedicated to finding this so-called extinct species. This legend called the "Flying dinosaur" was the largest woodpecker in N. America. It stood 20 inches tall and had the wingspan of a man's arm. It's last stronghold was in the Singer Tract, an 81,000-acre virgin forest, 100 miles south of White River. From 1936-41, Dr. James T. Tanner of Cornell studied this bird over a large area of the bottomland hardwood forest of the Southeast. He pleaded with government and lumber officials to not log this forest, but to no avail. There were records of the last nest tree being felled by a lumberjack. Although scientists claim this bird, extinct in 1942, there were verified sightings in the 1950s and in 1972 a very good photo of one in a LA swamp. In 1999, a turkey hunter in full camo and in a duck blind witnessed a pair for over ten minutes. He didn't want to reach for his camera in his pack because of fear he would scare the birds off. This sighting sent the birding world into a frenzy and a search team was assembled to study the Pearl River Management Area in hopes of finding the bird they called "Lord God." Although the 30-day search produced no ivory-billeds, they found some interesting woodpecker scaling in partially dead trees, that matched the photos in Dr. Tanner's book, The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, an incredible study including awesome photos and the only record of this bird. My arrival to the White River site was on Jan 2, 2003. I was picked up by David Luneau at Little Rock airport and we headed SE to the rice fields of SE Arkansas. We ended up going to DeWitt to meet refuge biologist Richard E. Hines. We then followed his 4x4 in our supply-loaded van, including a canoe and enough for our group, into St. Charles over the White River through some very rural roads to a large levy with a road on top. We then headed south for over 25 miles with the White River Forest to the east. This area is a major wintering area for all kinds of birds. I witnessed hundreds of hawks, eagles and pileated woodpeckers at mind-boggling populations. To the west, was a 65,000 acre agricultural farm that was once connected to the White River bottomland forest. It was full of snow geese and thousands of ducks. We finally came to a sub-station - our home for the next 5 days. We eneded up getting a pretty good setup with a trailer, where we could all sleep, take showers and eat. Included was a phone line that David hooked into the Net to keep in touch with the rest of the world. Other members of the team arrived, including Dr. Matthew Moran, ecology prof from Hendricks College of AR, his student David Hayes and AR native Woody Byrum, avid birder and opera singer graduate of Julliard School of Music in NYC. We headed out farther south on the levy, toward the southern end of the refuge - an off-limits area. I was the gatekeeper and had to open several gates with cattle guards underneath. To our surprise there was a large cottonwood tree down across the road. All my chainsaws were 1200 miles to the north in Little Rhody. We ended up snapping off some limbs from the top of the tree to get our vehicle by. From there we started our search. Amazingly, we found woodpecker signs on a hackberry tree similar to those found on trees in Pearl River. David was in awe. We headed back to base as it was getting late. On Friday, we awoke at 5:30 and headed out by 6 back to the cottonwood in the middle of the beautiful bottomland hardwood forest. Before breaking into teams, we did small searches. Woody had a possible sighting of a female ivory-billed, but was brief and not talked about much. I teamed with David and headed off into the wet-floored forests. Within minutes a pair of pileateds, with the their loud chatter, landed near us. The bird life at dawn is hard to explain unless you could experience it. It is deafening. I ended up on a bear trail soon after through this native bamboo the locals call cane thicket and came across a recent bear den. I thought of Dr. Rogers and Alcott Smith. This forest supposedly contains one bear per 300 acres and these bears are a possible sub-species of the LA black bear and are being study in this area. I soon came across an ancient American Sycamore. It had a huge 13-foot circumference and I was in awe. LIttle did I know that by the end of this day I would have measured the same species at 28 feet in circumference. Also large red oad oaks at 16 feet and pin oaks at 17 feet. All these giants were scattered and I was just on the edge of the 1000-acre sugarberry old-growth site, one of the only confirmed in AR. We ended up going there this day by canoe, across a bayou. It was a spiritual experience. The sugarberry is as close to primeval as you could come. Massive cottonwoods, ancient sycamores and giant oak species, including red, pin and overcup also were hundreds of 14-foot around pecan trees and large (up to) 12 foot elms. I recorded trees each day and will post this list soon. Saturday, I teamed up with David and we headed toward the White River on another part of the refuge. David is a very technical computer and electronics expert and he had a great video camera. As he was filming beaver sign on a green ash, I was blocking the sun for him and noticed two river otters within 5 yards of us. I whispered to Dave and he got some great shots of these awesome creatures. We continued on and spotted some great sycamores with huge cavities you could crawl into, look up into the bole of the tree and see the sky. This tree measured 19.6' circumference. A little farther on, I turned and spotted a bard owl in a cavity of a sycamore. David and I got some great photos. We continued on deep into the forest and made it to the edge of the White River. This drainage is the end of the White River and feeds into the Mississippi and the Arkansas Rivers. This is the largest continuance bottomland hardwood forest in the lower Miss Delta and would take years to explore. Heading back, I got photos of a dead bald cypress, more than 20 feet around. They have an primeval look similar to the Western Red Cedars of the Olympic Peninsula. On the way back we say many white-tailed deer and more bear sign and many pileated woodpeckers, but no flying dinosaurs. Sunday the team shrunk to David, Woody and myself. I decided to go it alone and ended up seeing more birds and game that day and thought a lot of Paul Rezendes and his lessons of silence. I got within 10 yards of a bear who dashed off once he got my scent. I went further back into the sugarberry old-growth site and found a lot of dead standing and downed ancient trees - great habitat for giant woodpeckers. Monday it was down to David Luneau and myself to find the lost legend. We decided to split up, sit and wait. On the way in, a bear flashed in front of our van. Excitement flowed through my veins. The previous day I had spotted some great woodpecker holes high in sweet gum trees: the host plant to the ivory-billed To my amazement a woodpecker bill poked out of one of the holes. I had a GPS unit with radio included and tried to reach David right away. The bird didn't move. I raised my camera and starting shooting. A pair came out and were pileated woodpeckers. For a moment I thought Lord God was back, the icon of the old-growth forests of the SE. David and I teamed up and went back by canoe for my last visit to the sugarberry site. He has some great video of these giant trees. This area is extremely hard to hike in in the summer because of huge populations of cottonmouths, and both pygmie and timber rattlesnakes, our kind of place. Leaving was emotionally hard. Loading the canoe on the van and immature bald eagle circled over us with his blessing. We headed to the levy and on toward civilization. On the way, we stoppd at St. Charles and walked a 30-acre old-growth remnant called the Strickland Tract. It reminded me so much of the MacArthur Tract in NJ it was uncanny. Giant oak trees, although I will leave the heights to BOb and Will, but I predict they will be record-breaking for hardwoods.    I hope all of us can study this forest again. And it was a great way to start my New Year. Love to you all, Matthew "Twig" Largess Home