As part of a search for a resident Ivorybill population, I recently traveled to the White River National Wildlife Refuge (WRNWR) and the Dagmar Wildlife Management Area (DWMA) in Arkansas over the May holiday weekend. The Cache River NWR where the Ivorybill has been detected was not searched. The text below describes conditions, habitat, species and other factors related to the search. I would like to thank Mary Scott for always providing hope for the Ivorybill and the tireless work involved in maintaining her website. In the end, it was her who found the Ivorybill in 2003 and she deserves a lot of credit. Click here for the photos of the trip
May 27: The weather was sunny and warm at 87 F with a light wind. The bugs were out as expected. The foliage at this time of year is heavy which made visibility an issue. I was carrying a camera, binoculars, GPS and backpack with supplies. Wearing hip waders and camouflage made walking through the grasses, underbrush and waters easier and prevented bug bites – but made it hotter.
The habitat in the southern part of the refuge is close to ideal for Ivorybills, much better than what we found during the Pearl search of 2001. There were 2, 3 and 4-foot diameter trees throughout the area and many standing and fallen dead trees. Scaling was prevalent on many of the trees leading me to believe that I might find an Ivorybill at any particular moment. There were also several holes large enough to support Ivorybills.
Woodpecker species seen or heard in the area included Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Flicker. Blue Jays and Nuthatches were also frequently calling - calls that can be mistaken for the Ivorybill.
Approximately 6 miles was walked the first day. At least 6 Pileated Woodpeckers were heard/seen. I tried to keep my head up, focusing higher in the canopy so as to view birds flying over top of the trees. It has been reported that Ivorybills often fly above the treetops when traveling any distance. I did not encounter any snakes that day, nor did I see or hear an Ivorybill. Photos
May 28: I took a trip to the center of the Dagmar WMA. There certainly was a lot more human activity but considering it was a holiday weekend this was expected. At the north end of the loop road I broke trail into the forest heading northeast, then west and finally south back to the car. The habitat in the DWMA is not bad and could sustain Ivorybills based on tree size and counts of dead trees. However, it is not as good as in the WRNWR nor is it as extensive. There is also a fair amount of heavy underbrush which made for more difficult walking and viewing and also would not be as favorable to Ivorybills that need a certain amount of space to fly. Nevertheless, there were pockets of very good habitat.
At 10:12am while listening to Blue Jays and Nuthatches, I began hearing a loud trumpet-like tooting, something I had not heard before and could not identify. I thought of the descriptions of the Ivorybill call and it was similar. This lasted for 3 minutes. Unfortunately due to the foliage, I could not see the bird as it was too high up in the canopy. I could not locate the bird later on and never heard it again. Pileateds were present, as was extensive bark scaling on many trees.
Towards the end of the day I could not reach the car as I had come from a different direction and ran into a tangled swamp that was impassable. At the same time I found myself in an imbroglio - surrounded suddenly by 3 cottonmouths all with their boxy-like heads facing me and mouths wide open. It was quite the sight but not a time to take pictures. I carefully backtracked around them and had to reverse direction for some time before being able to get out of the swamp. I was (unfortunately) more focused on the ground than the trees as this particular area seemed to have a plethora of snakes. In the late afternoon I spent time on the road watching the river as I had used lots of energy getting through brambles and could not walk anywhere else. Photos
May 29: I returned to the WRNWR for a second day of searching, this time further north than on May 27th. While driving at 6:00am it began to rain moderately. I thought about canceling the day’s search because the forecast was for thunder and rain all day but I decided to continue anyways.
The area searched this day was even better in terms of tree size and relative openness of the forest floor which may make it easier for the Ivorybill to fly. Trees 4 feet in diameter were fairly common and one tree I measured at 194 inches in circumference (5ft) at chest level – big enough to hold several Ivorybills. There was scaling throughout the area, so much so that I considered the possibility of Pileateds doing the scaling, even though it was not typical deep Pileated gauging. Either the Pileateds were simply removing bark or there were a lot of Ivorybills in the area. At least 30 trees were significantly scaled of bark either partially or fully.
Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – the weather grew worse as the morning went on. Thunderstorms were in the area and rain was moderate to heavy with no let-up. This made walking quieter and being dressed in camouflage I was able to get right under the trees the Pileateds were working in, sometimes without them knowing. The rain hitting the leaves of the trees had eliminated their ability to detect me breaking twigs as I walked towards them. This was my first time searching in the rain and it proved to be a blessing because it also kept the temperature down. Other birds were still signing and were active. On one occasion I observed 2 Pileateds working side-by-side about 20 feet above me on a dead tree. One bird, perhaps because it was wet, had an upturned crest and against the grey sky the black silhouette of the bird startled me because at first I thought it was an Ivorybill. Fortunately I was able to see the pair fly to another tree and determined they were both Pileateds.
There were pools of water gathering in my sleeves and the spare batteries I had began to rust. My hat was essential as it kept the water rolling off to the sides of my head and allowed relatively clear viewing. I had a bug net rapped around my neck and ears. Thunder and lightning persisted through until about 1:00pm at which point the rain became light. At about 3:00pm I called it day. Without a change of clothes, it was time to drive 2 hours back to the motel. Again, no Ivorybills were seen or heard this day.
As this was not my first search for the Ivorybill, I fully expected a challenge of not only finding the bird but also making my way through the southern swamps in the summer. While it is not as productive due to the foliage, it is still possible to search if one is careful for snakes and can put up with the bugs.
Final note: It is clear to me that because of the hunters we Ivorybill searchers still have habitat to search. If it had not been for birdwatchers and hunters cooperating in the way we do, the Ivorybill would not be with us today. The thousands of acres set aside act as multi-purpose areas and because of this we all win. This is very encouraging. Photos
Click here for the previous Ivorybill page detailing the discovery
Click here for the Cuba search page
Author's email: miami15@hotmail.com