A search for mythical birds

by JOHN KARRIGAN

The “mythical” Ivory-billed Woodpecker

I know I should start slow and work up to a big climax, but I don’t have a lot of work with from the cold, gray, damp, snowy foreboding month of March. In fact these two sightings did not even happen in March.

Today (April 2) at the park, I saw a Great Blue Heron standing on the ice (and walking and making a few short flight). This is the first time I have seen one on ice. Along with the Heron were moderate sized groups of Canada Geese, Mallards, Ring-billed Gulls and a few Wood Ducks. There were 4 very small (all less then five feet square) areas of open water on the lake. I know some Great Blue Herons stay very late and come very early to areas with open water in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, but I have never seen one on a frozen lake. I saw one other small, unidentified bird at the park today—it could have been a new arrival—and heard Robins and English Sparrows on the way home.
The other big park sighting (not by me, but by park neighbors) was a mature Bald Eagle sitting on the park building roof in late December or early January, about the time I saw an Eagle fly over 15th Avenue.

The other water birds mentioned (Geese, Mallards and Gulls) have been on and around the ice, off and on, for a couple of weeks. The Wood Ducks showed up on March 29 or 30. Hairy Woodpeckers and Crows have been in the park, fairly often, all month. I saw one Robin on March 28, but have seen no Flickers (a member of the Woodpecker family), migrating sparrows or other small birds all month.

Last year I saw a Painted Turtle sunning on the island on the 81-degree day (March 26). This year I don’t have a guess when the ice will go out or when the turtles will come out, but it will probably happen before the Earth Day Park Cleanup on April 19. As usual, I encourage neighbors to participate in that Saturday morning event.

Some park neighbors and walkers have noticed the moderate fish winterkill this year, mostly on the northeast part of the lake. There were lots of very small pan fish and catfish and at least three large catfish, up to about two and one half feet long. Gulls and other scavengers seem to be taking care of the frozen fish so volunteers won’t have to do it on Earth Day.

One other park winter item: the February Powderhorn Art Sled event (held on a reasonably nice day) was featured in a short piece on Channel 11 on the evening of March 9. The event was a great idea, well run, with lots of Art Sleds from the creative, artistic and imaginative minds of this neighborhood. I hope it happens again next year.

There was still some sledding today, and before that, there was some soccer and ultimate Frisbee practice before the end of March snow.

Ivory-billed Search

On April Fool’s Day, I went to the usual monthly meeting of the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis. I expected the usual nice folks, a bird-of-the-month feature and an interesting speaker. I got way more than I expected. The featured speaker was Bob Russell, a wetland bird biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Migratory Bird Program at the regional office at Fort Snelling. He works on all kinds of interesting issues such as wind turbine tower siting, but his passion is searching for, as he calls it, near-mythical birds. These include the Eskimo Curlew, Bachman’s Warbler and Whooping Crane. He had very interesting information and insight about all those birds but the high point was the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. He had just returned from an Ivory-billed search in the panhandle of Florida.

I, and many others, want to believe the bird still exists, in spite of naysayers and editorial writers in major newspapers and publications.

Now I am sure we will be proved correct in our optimism. There are several quite secretive, very intense searches for the bird going on right now. They are not on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, like the first one, but are being conducted by major universities and foundations with smart qualified people and high-tech equipment. And they are occurring in multiple locations in the southeastern United States and are finding good evidence in most of these locations.

Mr. Russell had pictures, but not good ones, of what are probably Ivory-billed Wood peckers in two locations, and has probably seen one himself, but so far no one has a clear picture or definitive proof. There are groups, such as the National Geographic Society, that are offering lots of money for the first pictures. Of course, it is not as much money as people get for Britney Spears photos but we have to have our priorities.

This now makes three people with Minnesota ties, that I know of, that are involved in Ivory-billed searches.

The program took place on April Fool’s Day, but everything was very thoroughly documented and interesting beyond my wildest expectations, and that’s no April’s Fools joke.

Events
Some birding events coming up soon include:
•The Salt Lake (Minnesota) Bird Weekend, April 26-27; contact Ken Larson, 952-595-9265
•Ramsey County Bird Festival, May 1-4, contact John Moriarty, 651-798-2500
•Horicon Marsh Bird Festival, May 9-12; www.horiconmarshbirdfestival.com
•Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds, May 15-18; 800-542-3992

Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of Southside Pride. Thank you.