It seems more likely to me that IBWO would have occured in NA first,
then colonized Cuba later. With so many (11) species in this genus
occuring in North, Central and South America, perhaps the species
originated on the mainland, then colonized Caribbean islands. The
range of the extinct(?) Imperial Woodpecker of northern Mexico lay
less than 600 miles southwest of the historical IBWO range.

Scott R a y
Yakima, WA

On 10/21/05, vogelfreund at comcast.net <vogelfreund at comcast.net> wrote:
> October 21 '05
>
> Hi Tweeters,
>
> I still haven't seen an article on how the Ivory-billed Woodpecker colonized what is now the USA. Hurricane Wilma strikes me as one way it might have happened. A pair might have been caught up in a hurricane rotating in from the west along Cuuba's north shore and wafted them into Florida.
>
> Well, it's just a thought.
>
> Phil Hotlen
> Bellingham
> vogelfreund at comcast.net
> ---------------------------------------------
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--
Scott R a y
Yakima, WA
mryakima at gmail dot com