This is a post that I have been meaning to do for a little while. As much fun as I think it would be to develop a repository for all kinds of woodpecker information on the web, I simply do not have the time to do so, BUT there are a few places on the web that I do visit pretty regularly that I wanted to share with you in the event that you haven't discovered them on your own yet. Some are relatively new, and some have been around for a while. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of woodpecker info on the net, just a peek into some of the things I check out when on-line.
Let me start with a few sites that have recently hit the web. First off, I want to point out Bill Benish's new blog devoted entirely to the family of 11-12 Campephilus Woodpeckers. (You know, that family that includes the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that everyone heard so much about!) Not only is the photography fantastic, but it's pretty informative, and he provides all kinds of great links to other info on the net. Excellent job, Bill - truly a great site that I look forward to pointing my browser to!
Another relatively new site that I've really enjoyed visiting is PicidPics. This is a pBase gallery filled with amazing photos taken by Martjan Lammertink and Julio Pérez Cañestro of woodpeckers from all over the world. These guys are amazing and really worthy of a few minutes of your time to take a look at their work. (Trust me, you'll probably spend more than a few minutes, and you'll keep going back.)
Speaking of keep going back - another site that I love to check on a regular basis is Gerard Gorman's Woodpeckers of Europe blog. Gerard has literally written the book on the 10 species of woodpecker that can be found in Europe, (and is about to publish his monograph of the Black Woodpecker) and the blog is updated regularly with photos and information about these species.
I really have no desire to get into the Extant/Extinct debate that surrounds the Ivory-billed Woodpecker - like religion, I find that everyone has their own take on the situation, and I don't feel like I have the eloquence to firmly express my opinions on the subject. There is somebody on-line though who I feel has done an excellent job of keeping up with IBWO news, and writing well about both his opinions as well as those that go against his own. Cyberthrush's IVORY-BILLS LiVE ???! blog is a great resource to find out the latest happening with the search, and I think he does an excellent job of walking the line of debate while remaining informative and avoiding the inflammatory attitude that is often expressed on both sides of the debate.
There are a ton of websites out there devoted to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker - some are based in large and well funded places like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or the Nature Conservancy, some are from those who either join a search team or go independently searching for evidence and proof, and I'm not going to try to list them all here (a quick google search on "Ivory-billed woodpecker search" will give you all the reading you can handle) but frankly there is one that I've found intriguing lately called Project Coyote. I especially enjoy the Updates page. IMHO, it's definitely worth a look!
Last but not least, I wanted to make mention of an independently made documentary called Ghost Bird about the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the effect it had on a nearby small town in Arkansas. I have to admit that I have not been able to catch a screening of this at a film festival anywhere yet (Both times that it played within a few hundred miles of me, I was out of town!) but I've been following the the tweets and facebook page devoted to the movie and the reviews have been outstanding. Check out their page and catch the film if you can!
Have you found some interesting woodpecker information anywhere online (or maybe even a good book)? Please leave a comment and let me know - I'd love to hear about it!
