Ghost Bird

Small Change Productions

Microcinema

R1 DVD

The Yeti, the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, UFOs, and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker all have one thing in common – there is no conclusive proof that they exist. The only evidence in many cases is coarse, grainy photos that have been touted around for so long that have become regarded as proof. Yet much of the belief in them is based more on wishful thinking or profit. This is the situation with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Producer Scott Crocker draws no conclusions, but he does present a lot of information and informed opinion from which we can make up our own minds.

This large woodpecker has been regarded as extinct since the 1930s – 1940s. When a sighting was confirmed in 2004 near the town of Brinkley in Arkansas it set off a frenzy of other sightings, commercial exploitation and wishful thinking. The confirmation was based on the description of the bird – there was no irrefutable photographic evidence, a common failing with this sort of sighting. Even the famous picture of the Loch Ness monster has been interpreted as a tree branch washed into the Loch. The problem with the woodpecker was its close similarity the more common Pileated Woodpecker. They can be distinguished by the location of a large white patch on the wings (or under the wings in the case of the Ivory-bill) and other fine body markings that could only be resolved with a high-resolution photo.

The U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife does not control the area where the bird was seen so they were unable to stop the rush of birders and spectators who entered the area. Although there were further sightings none of these were supported by photographic evidence. When the scientists moved in, even their best equipment was only able to obtain a brief (a few seconds) video clip of a bird in flight. They identified the bird as an Ivory-bill and there was great rejoicing, but not all ornithologists agreed. Some believed the researchers had seen what they wanted to see and they prepared a paper countering the identification.

Surprisingly Nancy Tanner, a lady whose husband was an ornithologist and worked on the Ivory-bill in the 1930s (it was rare even then) was not consulted by the experts. She is the only person alive who has seen an Ivory-bill flying, nesting and feeding. Her husband’s black and white photos are a beautifully clear, sharp record of the bird in its normal life. They even took movie footage. When shown the modern film clip she was able say conclusively from her experience that the filmed bird was NOT an Ivory-bill. The area where she saw the birds (five of them) was clear-felled for a soybean field.

Meanwhile the town of Brinkley was making the most of the boom in woodpecker tourists. Some people went overboard with things like the Woodpecker haircut. One of the more rational citizens is a local tour guide and hunter and he makes the sensible observation that hunters are more likely to see the bird than hordes of tourists. Hunters have for decades been canoeing quietly through the swamp searching for feral deer. They have no interest in shooting woodpeckers, unlike some of the “tourist” hunters who would regard the world’s last Ivory-bill as a trophy.

So where does that leave the Ivory-billed Woodpecker? Fisheries and Wildlife has allocated 27 million dollars to save it, but this money has been taken from other conservation programs for wildlife known to exist. Is this just a waste of money? If the existence of the Ivory-bill can be confirmed conclusively, Brinkley will regain its fame. Meanwhile the Woodpecker remains elusive and Brinkley is quietly slipping back to sleep.

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