9/24/09

That woodpecker book "The Travails of Two Woodpeckers" arrived, and I'm eagerly delving into it. But it is smaller than I expected, has less detective and expeditionary work on the Imperial than I wanted, and could have gone more into the evolutionary biogeography. But I've only read the introduction.

I notice the range map of the Imperial Woodpecker includes two locations about which I've read second and third hand reports, and I'm glad to see those included: Sierra del Carmen, opposite the Texas big bend; and the Chiricahua area.

I just can't get enough of reading about these species! I've only seen them as museum specimens in Europe.

Phil Hotlen; Bellingham, WA