See if you can spot the giant (ivory billed) woodpecker...

[caty]

Hardly seen (thought to be extinct) in the states since the 40's but they are beginning to be sighted again in a few spots. These are some pictures taken at our place up north.

It's hard to see at first, but it's flying towards you...


In the tree...


http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0612/feature6/index.html

Fall colors---taken on our riverbank...

[XemaSab]

1. That's a Pileated Woodpecker.

:P

[Pierre.Suave]

2. cool pics

this is your yard?

[pitohui]

3. er, it's a strategically placed branch in front of the bill to hide that it isn't an ivory bill

it is a pileated woodpecker w. a branch in front of it, come on

on the top photo where the bird is harder to see, it's clear the bird has a dark bill and is a pileated

so did we pass the test?

you've got to wake up pretty early in the morning to pull a birding related practical joke over the DU crew

nice photos, though, nice clear colors

[XemaSab]

9. Not to mention the black primaries.

Ivory bills would have a HUGH white patch when perched. :P

[nam78_two]

4. That looks like a pileated woodpecker to me

The one in the second pic that is. They are gorgeous creatures....

[caty]

5. What made us think

it was the Ivory billed woodpecker was the light tannish color of it's bill and the large size-- well over 20" in height. It was so huge it didn't look real. The ivory billed woodpecker has been spotted in our area and we really thought that's what we had seen. If it is the Pileated Woodpecker, it's still an amazing bird.

[nam78_two]

7. Yes they are amazing birds (pileated woodies that)

Have you heard this one tap-tap away yet? The sound is awe-inspiring. I heard it first in a national park and it blew me away.

[TZ]

6. I think Its a pileated woodpecker

I have them near my house. FYI, even the people who thought they had really sighted the Ivory Billed woodpecker are now starting to doubt that they have been sighted.
Its become quite the controversy in the ornithological community:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24ivor.html
on edit: you can submit that photo to an ornithological group for examination if you really think its an Ivory Bill. From what I understand the sightings were in very remote stretches of forest...

[Gormy Cuss]

8. It's in the third picture, foreground.

The one in the first two looks like a pileated.