Woodpecker Weekly Roundup 1/23/09

Welcome to my my weekly woodpecker roundup, where I try to give a summary of woodpecker related blog posts, news, etc that I have encountered during my meandering through the internet in the past week. This is only the second week where I am doing this, so the legs a still a bit shaky, and we'll see how long I am able to keep it up.

Soon after posting last week's roundup, Kyle over at As the Mind Wanders posted about his first encounter with a Pileated Woodpecker, (and got a few pics to document it) an experience that I am sure many who have had will remember, and those who haven't yet eagerly look forward to. They are simply beautiful works of nature in both function and form.

Speaking of Pileated Woodpeckers, Chris Thomas posted a quick video of a Pileated, which includes both the distinctive call as well as drumming on the Aspetuck Land Trust Blog.

At the BirdingGirl blog, this 'novice' birdwatcher (a self-proclaimed novice who is attacking id issues with the right attitude and tools, as well as participating in citizen science projects like Feederwatch) reviews the differences between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.

The guys over at 10000 Birds had a couple woodpecker related posts this week:
First, Corey warmed up a cold day with some spectaular close-up photos of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Prospect Park.
Meanwhile, Mike provided a gripping tale of Stalking the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, with N8 of the Drinking Bird and the Nature Blog Network. I have been lucky enough to encounter this endangered bird in the past - to find out how Mike and N8 did, you'll have to read their blogs.

The Bokerns of WI had a new bird show up at their feeders last week- a Red-bellied Woodpecker - and got some nice pics of it to post for "Bird Photography Weekly" in their blog "Our Neck of the Woods..."

Abraham Lincoln (no, not the one that President Obama and the media have been talking about almost non-stop, but a relation) of Ohio has also posted some absolutely stunning photos of Red-bellied Woodpeckers to his Birds blog.

Tom over at Monarch's Nature Blog posted a beautiful pic of a Downy Woodpecker on Sumac for his Wordless Wednesday post.

The author of A Very Long Hallway posted a very nice pic of a red-shafted Flicker, and talks about the woodpeckers they usually see in their neck of the woods in Michigan.

In Ivorybill news, Cyberthrush of the IVORY-BILLS LiVE!! blog provided links to an open-access paper published by the online journal Avian Conservation and Ecology which discusses the number of pairs of large-bodied woodpeckers that needed to exist in the early part of the 20th century in order for there to be any around now. This is a mathematical model, and not being proposed as proof of existence, but it is an interesting read (if you like these thing) and helps to add to the knowledge pool of info about IBWOs. A nice summary of the paper was posted at ScientificBlogging.

Over at the Beginning to Bird blog, dguzmanjust finished reading Jerome A. Jackson's In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, and shares her thoughts on the book.

Jim Williams of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reported in his Wingnut column on Prof Geoff Hill and his fellow researchers from the University of Georgia returning to the Choctawhatchee River Basin in the Florida panhandle to continue their work there on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker for their fourth season. Their team has had some very convincing sightings as well as several sound recordings in past seasons.

Bob, of Birds and Nature in the Forest of Dean blog, posted a nicely composed pic of a Green Woodpecker. (Be sure to click the photo to enlarge it)

As always, for great photos and info on woodpeckers in Europe, check out Gerard Gorman's Woodpeckers of Europe blog. This past week he has posted a pic and some news on the status of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Ireland. And just today he posted some info from an earlier newspaper article about scientists studying woodpeckrs to build a better hammer.

SOME UPDATES SINCE THIS POST WENT LIVE:
Sharon from A New England Life wrote me to let me know that she has been seeing two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers at her feeders for a little while now and has posted some beautiful photos of both.

Vrajesh let me know about an Indian woodpecker video that he posted to his My Handicam blog.
I don't know much about the woodpeckers in India, but I think this might be one of the Flameblack Woodpeckers? Can anybody help confirm the id?

Did I miss you or somebody that you know? Leave me a comment or e-mail and let me know!