The Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker



	Explore the bottomland forests along the Choctawhatchee River through these photographs of the 2005/2006 Florida Ivory-billed Woodpecker search. See the search team in action deploying our remote Listening Stations. Paddling the flooded forests of the Choctawhatchee River in the Florida Panhandle.

Dan Mennill paddles a kayak through the cypress forests along the Choctawhatchee River.		Kyle Swiston, Tyler Hicks, and Dan Mennill travel down the fast current of the Choctawhatchee River.


The search team navigates the shallow waters of a flooded forest to set up an automated listening station.		Dan Mennill and Kyle Swiston float a channel off the Choctawhatchee River, listening for the sounds of woodpeckers.


Kyle Swiston and Brian Rolek assemble the microphone cover for an automated listening station.		Kyle Swiston downloads recordings onto external hard drives, which are sent biweekly to the Mennill Sound Analysis Laboratory at the University of Windsor.


Kyle Swiston and Dan Mennill set up the first automated listening station on January 4, 2006. The seven stations recorded nearly every day from early January until the end of April.		The battery charging station uses low-noise generators to recharge sealed lead-acid batteries. Kyle deployed batteries and memory cartrdiges to each of the listening stations each day.


A massive cavity in the canopy of a Spanish moss-covered tree. Many cavities in our study site exceeded the largest published dimensions of Pileated Woodpecker cavities.		Signs of woodpecker feeding abound along the Choctawhatchee River. Feeding trees showed stronger bark adhesion than in nearby forests where Ivory-bills are absent.


Kyle Swiston and Dan Mennill wade through the flooded forest to investigate a freshly-carved cavity.		Brian Rolek and Tyler Hicks navigate the swift current of the Choctawhatchee River's flooded forests.


Brian Rolek enjoys the miracle of chemical-heat cooking with a bountiful "Heater Meals" pancake breakfast.		Kyle Swiston and Dan Mennill relax at base camp after a day of deploying memory cartridges and batteries at the seven listening stations.

Kathryn Winger in the Mennill Sound Analysis Laboratory with 4,500 gigabytes of sound recordings.		University of Windsor students scan sound recordings from Florida in the Mennill Sound Analysis Laboratory.

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