Cold Morning

[JakeJL]

Well I know it's not as cold here as most places in the country, but 28 in south Louisiana is chilly. I got a chance to go walk around in some of my local woods and had a very relaxing time watching both ruby and gold crowned kinglets within feet of the tree I was leaning against. They are hard little birds to get a picture of.
Beside the kinglets I saw downy and red-bellied wood peckers, eastern phoebes, lots of american robins, tufted titmice, great egret, blue heron, wood ducks, and a few other unknowns. Overall I thought it was pretty good considering I was just walking around looking for deer sign.

Jake

[Chris]

Well I know it's not as cold here as most places in the country, but 28 in south Louisiana is chilly. I got a chance to go walk around in some of my local woods and had a very relaxing time watching both ruby and gold crowned kinglets within feet of the tree I was leaning against. They are hard little birds to get a picture of.
Beside the kinglets I saw downy and red-bellied wood peckers, eastern phoebes, lots of american robins, tufted titmice, great egret, blue heron, wood ducks, and a few other unknowns. Overall I thought it was pretty good considering I was just walking around looking for deer sign.

Jake

Hi Jake,

Have you ever searched for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the deep swamp?

Chris

[JakeJL]

Chris,

No I haven't yet done any serious searching, but I am planning to start soon. Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy until after the 1st of the year, but I do have some areas around here that I'm very interested in searching.
One sad thing that I have to admit is that most of the people around here would not tell anyone if they did see an ivory-bill. They are afraid of what will happen to their favorite hunting of fishing area. Something really needs to be done to address this issue.
They had the same problem with the Red-cocated woodpecker. People would spot them on their property and kill the birds and hide the evidence. Then they would manage the timber so that it would not reach prime age for the birds. This results in less habitat for the birds and the birds get a very negative reputation. I think they have since changed the ways of managing the land after finding the birds there which still allows the landowners to harvest the trees.

WOW sorry about the long reply. Guess I kinda got carried away there.

Jake

[Chris]

Chris,

No I haven't yet done any serious searching, but I am planning to start soon. Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy until after the 1st of the year, but I do have some areas around here that I'm very interested in searching.
One sad thing that I have to admit is that most of the people around here would not tell anyone if they did see an ivory-bill. They are afraid of what will happen to their favorite hunting of fishing area. Something really needs to be done to address this issue.
They had the same problem with the Red-cocated woodpecker. People would spot them on their property and kill the birds and hide the evidence. Then they would manage the timber so that it would not reach prime age for the birds. This results in less habitat for the birds and the birds get a very negative reputation. I think they have since changed the ways of managing the land after finding the birds there which still allows the landowners to harvest the trees.

WOW sorry about the long reply. Guess I kinda got carried away there.

Jake

That's a definite problem that I think a lot of the officials are aware of. Other than one case in bayou deview in AR, I think the conservation officials have done a great job of working with the hunters to ensure they are not inconvenienced in any way. The officials know full well that to bring back the Ivorybill from the brink of extinction cannot be done without help from hunters and recreationists alike.

Good luck in your searches...