George, While very rare, I don't believe they are extinct. I just wonder how many other people have seen them. You are one of a few!
JP On Feb 10, 12:00 am, "George Fieo" <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > In April of 1981 my family and I vacationed in St. Mary's, Georgia to visit > with family on my mothers side. St. Mary's is on the Georgia, Florida > border which is divided by the St. Mary's River along the Atlantic Coast. I > was at my uncles house, which sits on the St. Mary's River, and was sitting > in a lounge chair out by the pool when I heard a bird calling. It was loud > and making a ruckus. I looked up and saw the bird land on the trunk of a > tall skinny tree in my uncles back yard only 20 or 30 yards from where I > sat. It was and is the largest woodpecker I have ever seen. It reminded me > of a pterodactyl. It was an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. It was black and > white with a red crest and an ivory bill. I watched it there for 20 seconds > or so before it flew away. I was 10 years old at that time and the image of > what I saw that day has not faded. A few years ago while at the doctors > office I read an article about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and only then > learned that the species was declared to be extinct. While browsing through > the ENTS website I was reminded again of the memory of this woodpecker. > Today I googled St. Mary's for an aerial view to see if there was an habitat > to support the woodpecker and I think there may be. Okefenokee National > Wildlife Refuge is approximately 25 miles west of St. Mary's. It is a vast > refuge with almost 402,000 acres of longleaf pine and cypress forest, marsh, > lakes, and islands. This is the first time I have spoke of this to anyone > outside of my family and feel it should be known, even if it was 25+ years > ago. I'm glad to share this with ENTS. > > George --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
