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White River IBWO Search



I spent my Spring Break (plus a week) as a volunteer on Cornell's Ivory-billed Woodpecker search team.
I was assigned to White River NWR; another volunteer group was stationed up at Cache River NWR.
This site is mostly just pictures. For more information check out the Cornell website.

***Updated comments*** Well, it's been over a year and a half since I went to look for Ivory-bills and clearly things have not turned out well as far as anyone producing good evidence. My trip was a blast, I met some great people, and got to bird an interesting location that I hadn't been to before. I'm thankful to Cornell for that opportunity and I'm glad they are still looking in Arkansas and elsewhere. I think low cost, targeted searches of plausible areas of the former range are worthwhile and clearly should have been done decades ago. Do I think they will find anything? Not really, but I sure hope I'm wrong...


This is where we lived. My room was in the white trailer that is mostly hidden behind the main building.


This big levee separates the NWR from private land...


...forest on one side, miles of ag land on the other.


The Group: Dan Reinking (OK), Ron Goddard (AR), Steve Kinder (MO), me (IA), Rosann Kovalcik (MI),
Jim White (DE), Holly Michael (OR), Dave Pereksta (CA), and the boss, Tom Snetsinger (OR).
Unfortunately Steve had to leave after the first day, so it was the seven us and Tom for the two weeks.


The first day out: training with the GPS and learning about scaling and cavities. The GPS was indispensable,
as we often had to navigate back to a predetermined pickup point in the dark, and it's a really big forest.


An Autonomous Recording Unit (ARU). Battery in the box to the right, computer in the PVC pipe, microphones
inside the furry thing (the "puppy"). It is supposed to be as sensitive as a human ear.


Every night, Tom would post the next day's area assignments.


Tom, entering data and transfering our GPS tracks.


Left: An IBWO trail sign. Right: An observation stand with camcorder on a tripod.


The road as it drops off the levee and enters the forest.


Scrubgrass Bayou when the water was low. The forest contains many bayous
which are basically big oxbows that reconnect to the White when it floods.




View of a powerline cut from the levee. A good place to see Beaver, Nutria, and PIWOs.


Me standing in a cane patch. Unfortunately it was too early for Swainson's Warbler.


A Green Briar patch. Not fun to stumble into these in the dark.


Left: Green Briar close up. Right: Little Cypress Lake.


Little Cypress Lake


We spent most of our time on foot, however I spent a day each canoeing bayous with Dan and Dave.


We used canoes to shuttle people across bayous to less accessible parts of the forest. A shot of Ron in action.


The forest after two days of rain.


Another flood shot.

A series of shots of the forest:







Taking a break under a big cypress.


The White River, bank full after two days of nearly non-stop rain.


This Alligator Gar is on display at the refuge VC. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it is nearly 7ft long and
must have weighed 200-300 pounds. The bayous are full of gar, but I didn't see anything remotely this large.


Dan and Dave at the end of long day.


Ron serving cornbread.


On Sunday night, we had a great dinner of catfish, cornbread, hushpuppies, and black beans.


Field Supervisor Elliot Swarthout and Project Coordinator Sara Barker


Elliot and Sara's dog "Cache"

Some shots from Brinkley, Arkansas:

The Ivory-bill Nest -- Ivory-bill memorabilia and rumor central.




Left: The front door. Right: Floor art.


Lisa Boyd: Not only the owner of the Ivory-bill Nest, but also Martjan Lammertink's landlord.






The famous Gene's Bar-B-Que, home of the Ivory-billed burger.


Sign out front of Gene's with the Nest in the background.


First thing you see coming off the Interstate exit.


Everything listed below is from White River NWR except for the geese and shorebirds
which were in nearby ag fields, and Short-eared Owl, Sedge Wren, LeConte's
Sparrow, and Sprague's Pipit which were seen at the Stuttgart Airport.

Bird List:
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
American Wigeon
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Hooded Merganser
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestral
Wild Turkey
American Coot
Wilson's Snipe
Greater Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper
American Golden-Plover
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Barred Owl
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Pheobe
Blue Jay
American Crow
White-eyed Vireo
Loggerhead Shrike
Cedar Waxwing
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Sedge Wren
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Horned Lark
Sprague's Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Savannah Sparrow
LeConte's Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Rusty Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

Mammal list:
White-tailed Deer
Beaver
Nutria
Muskrat
River Otter
Coyote
Black Bear
Raccoon
Striped Skunk
Virginia Oppossum
Nine-banded Armadillo
Gray Squirrel
Fox Squirrel
Eastern Cottontail
small bat sp.

Butterfly list:
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Eastern Black Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Monarch
Mourning Cloak
Question Mark
Falcate Orangetip
Southern Dogface
Clouded Sulphur
duskywing sp.

Ode list:
Common Baskettail
meadowhawk sp.
dancer sp.
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