November 12 '05

To arm-chair Ivory-bill chasers:

When I saw that link about the recent sighting of the Imperial (Ivory-billed) Woodpecker, I recalled reading an article in a readily available nature magazine, several decades ago, about someone's trip on the train from El Paso/Juarez to the Sonoran coast. He/they stopped at Copper Canyon, mentioning some of the birdlife there.

To make a long story short, he/she mentioned seeing the huge Imperial Woodpecker, although I don't recall that it was mentioned by that, or any specific name beyond being a woodpecker. But there was no doubt as to the identity. I never saw any follow up on that sighting, and I assumed it was rejected out of hand by the birding authorities.

On another note, I once stood at a ghost town in extreme southwest New Mexico (Cloverdale) and looked deep into the Sierra Madre Occidentals, visualizing that the Imperial Woodppecker was there. That also would've been the area, more or less, where Geronimo had hid-out in the old days.

Cheers!

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA
<vogelfreund at comcast.net>
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