Imperial Woodpecker Reported in Mexico
Rumors can be fun. Mel and I were looking over MexBirds, the birding email list for Mexico, and today there was a post reporting a sighting of Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis). This magnificent woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, was (is?) the largest woodpecker in the world at 24 inches, even larger than the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (also long thought to be extinct and rediscovered this spring in Arkansas).
Perhaps the best source to learn more about the Imperial Woodpecker is an article by the late James Tanner, an ornithologist most known for his studies on Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, published in The Auk, 81: 74-81. January, 1964 (pdf format).
Also, while searching around on the net, I found this article about Imperial Woodpeckers in the wake of the Ivory-billed’s rediscovery. One of the most depressing but informative things about this article is a map showing the distrubution of old growth pine forests (Imperial’s habitat) in Mexico in 1880, and one showing what’s left of this habitat in 1995. Also depressing is the amount of hope if this species does still exist. Martjan Lammertink, a scientist involved in the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed who’s looked for Imperial states:
In the U.S. there are large protected areas where the quality of habitat has steadily improved over the past half century. And the poor rural populations that shot Ivory-bills around the turn of the century have now moved to cities.
In Mexico, it is the other way around. There are no significant protected areas in the range of the Imperial Woodpecker. Forestry practices have intensified over time, and large numbers of people live in those forests. When they come upon an interesting target like a squirrel, turkey, deer, or Imperial Woodpecker, they pull the trigger. There is no enforcement of hunting regulations.
I don’t know any of the people involved in this reported sighting, but I’m including the pertinent parts of John Spencer’s email sent to Mexbirds.
Ron and Sarojam Makau are bird-watching friends of mine. They are avid bird watchers, who live (part-time) near Cabo Pulmo, BCS. They are both professors at UC Riverside in the Biology Dept.
They just got back from the Copper Canyon trip. They had some fantastic news … they are sure, absolutly sure, that the saw an Imperial Woodpecker (!) near Divisadero on the north rim of Copper Canyon.
I questioned them closely, but they were sure, based on the description in Peterson.
Howell says that the bird is extinct and last sighting in 1956.
Peterson says very rare but not extinct.
They swear that they saw the female that has a very unusal reverse crest. They both are experienced birders and are biology professors at UC Riverside. They have birded all over the world and are really good birders. I belive their sighting.
They saw the bird about 30 ft up a pine tree, clinging to the trunk. They were about 50 to 60 feet away, with good light. They observed the bird for about 2 minutes, during that time the bird turned her head and the crest was seen at several angles, definitaly matched the drawing in Peterson for the female. The bird flew off with slow heavy wingbeats (descriped as Raven-like flight). No sounds were heard. The sighting was about 0700 on the trail near the big hotel on the canyon rim.
…
I know that this is an unconfirmed and second-hand report, but I personaly know the reporters and belive their sighting.
If Imperial Woodpeckers do still exist, they’re still likely on their way to extinction, with no chance of saving them. Having a chance to see one though would be incredible. I want to go to Mexico this winter…
Thanks for alerting us to the Imperial Woodpecker’s possible existence. Your position as field trip guide should insure great looks by all participants. I WISH! Man, that’s another near miracle if it still exists.
*cough* bull *cough*
Is all that you can say is “cough” and “bull” . Being a skeptic is a position of power, which you are apparantly exercising. Thank you and have a nice day.
It would be great if a pair of Imperial Woodpeckers would find there way into the Arizona or New Mexico Pine forests, and establish a population there.
Maybe during the Pluvial period during the last ice age, when pine forests grew in the valleys of the US Southwest, the Imperial Woodpecker may have dwelt there also. Well, it’s just a thought.
I am a retired Zoo Curator from New Mexico….Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park, Carlsbad, NM. While I have done some birding, I consider my birding skills to be marginal at best. In any event, by virtue of my position, people often used to stop by and tell me about seeing some unusual bird or animal. This is purely heresay, however…
In the mid 1990’s, I had a couple stop by who had been travelling and camping across the southwest. They told me about an unusual bird they saw while camping in the higher back country of Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona. What they described to me sounded like an Imperial Woodpecker and I told them so at the time. They had never heard of an Imperial Woodpecker, but said that it was the largerst woodpecker that had ever seen, described it as about the size of a crow or raven(don’t recall now just which they said) and that it was black/dark, had a prominent bright red crest, and some prominent white on the wings. I took their names, which I couldn’t put my hands back on right now, but could possibly recover, as I was keeping a daily diary in those days. As I recall, I even tried to call someone at Chiricahua National Monument to tell them about the sighting, but it didn’t seem to generate much interest. If they recorded my call, they could still possibly have a record of the dates, times, exact or near location, and the people involved as well.
Water under the bridge at this point, but none-the-less, interesting to those who might wonder about an Imperial Woodpecker finding it’s way into the United States. We apparently have Jaguars in the the border country these days, who is to say that an Imperial might not have paid us a visit as well?
I am more familiar with the IBWo search – but as an change of pace looked at the Imperial Woodpecker Internet postings tonight. This US sighting appears possible to me as i understand the Mexico Imperial range reached within 40 miles or so of our border. I would like to think we might have a small resident population stateside. That would be great news with possible better protection provided here.
Anyways, something to think about…thanks for the post!
I and several friends of mine are reptile enthusiasts and researchers who have spent a fair amount of time traveling in out of the way mountainous areas of Mexico. One friend who is an employee of the Los Angeles Zoo, has told me of one of his trips to Chinipas (2007), NW of Temoris on the railroad south of Divisadero and in Chihuahua near the Sonora border and northeast of Alamos. In talking to a resident of Chinipas, inquiring about the local snakes, he was told of a very large woodpecker that is seen in the area. I do believe that this area was within the known range of the Imperial woodpecker. A very rough and long dirt road leads into this area from both directions.
Has the current dangerous climate in Mexico curtailed birders from going into the country? It seems grim that any surviving Imperials would be shot by locals in the Mexican mountains. i agree that it would be amazing if the Imperial made its way into the southwestern USA and established a small population here.
What conclusion has been reached by those in the know of the Makau sighting? I read somewhere a consensus had been reached that they probably saw a Steller’s Jay. I find this conclusion…er…unpossible. Either the reported sighting was a hoax (perhaps to drum up habitat preservation ala Sheridan?) or the Makau’s have the observation skills of a 5 year old. Hell, I’d put more money on the Steller’s Jay conclusion as a cover story masking a real Imperial sighting than for the Makau’s mistaking a Steller’s Jay for an Imperial Woodpecker at 60 ft. What say you?
Me again. I was stationed at Fort Huachuca, AZ back in 1969-1971. My hobby was bird watching and exploring that great outdoors. On different occasions, I stood and looked deep into Mexico from the south end of the Huachuca Mountains and at Cloverdale in south-western New Mexico. At the latter point, with the Imperial Woodpecker in mind, I could see two different mountain ranges given as included in the range of that bird. It would be quite easy for it to come up from there to the Chiricahuas, via the Peloncillo Mountains. And it looks like that is what one did in the Chiricahua National Monument sighting mentioned earlier.
Another tidbit: Anyone interested in the Imperial Woodpecker should get a hold of Roland H. Wauer’s book: “A Naturalist’s Mexico”(1992). He has a short chapter on his exploration in the Maderas del Carmen high country, located near the Texas Big Bend country, but on the Mexican side. Those peaks are better watered than the arid Big Bend of Texas, and have pine forests on the eastern side.
He found evidence of large woodpeckers there on his first trip (tree holes) and interviews with Mexicans, e.g. a bear hunter who bragged about shooting them to eat, but had not seen them in recent years. Two American friends of the author claimed to have seen a large crested woodpecker a few years later.
I also ran across a reference, that I neglected to note down, that refers to an unconfirmed sighting of an Imperial Woodpecker in the Texas Big Bend (park?). The book referred to was a guide to birds of Mexico dated 1958.
Might this relict location might even point to a new Campephilus species, instead of being either Imperial or Ivory-billed Woodpeckers?