DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3hp
title: Video footage of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

description: This dataset contains raw video footage of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers that
 was obtained in Louisiana in 2006 and 2008 and in Florida in 2007. There
 are interlaced versions in the original codec directly from the digital
 video tape and progressive versions that were de-interlaced. In order to
 download individual files, click on "Mar 09, 2020 version files"
 to get an expanded list. The files in this dataset are as follows: Raw
 digital video files (interlaced): 2006i.dv  2008i.dv 
 2007-1i.mov  2007-2i.mov  2007-3i.mov 
 2007-4i.mov  2007-5i.mov video-metadata.txt Deinterlaced
 versions: 2006p.mp4 2008p.mp4  2007-1p.mp4 
 2007-2p.mp4  2007-3p.mp4  2007-4p.mp4 
 2007-5p.mp4  Isolated events: event2007-1.mp4: downward swooping
 takeoff in 2007-1i.mov (plays at half speed) event2007-2.mp4: upward
 swooping landing in 2007-2i.mov (plays at full speed)
 event2007-3.mp4: horizontal takeoff in 2007-2i.mov (plays at half speed)
 event2007-4.mp4: takeoff with rapid wingbeats in 2007-2i.mov (plays at
 full speed) event2007-5mp4: upward swooping landing in
 2007-3i.mov (plays at full speed) event2007-6.mp4: climbing and double
 knock in 2007-4i.mov (plays at full speed) event2007-7.mp4: downward
 swooping takeoff and upward swooping landing in 2007-5i.mov (plays at half
 speed) event2007-8.mp4: climbing after the landing in 2007-5i.mov (plays
 at half speed)
description: Video footage was obtained during three encounters with birds
 that were identified in the field as Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Several
 events that appear in the videos have been analyzed and published. The
 videos are provided here in raw digital form (interlaced). Deinterlaced
 versions and cropped versions that isolate some of the events are also
 provided. The first video was obtained in the Pearl River swamp in
 Louisiana on February 20, 2006, following the fifth sighting in the area
 that week. The 2006 video shows a perched woodpecker that appears to be
 larger than a Pileated Woodpecker and has characteristics and behaviors
 that are not consistent with that species. On March 29, 2008, another
 video was obtained from 23 meters up an observation tree that is located a
 short distance up the same bayou. The 2008 video shows a large woodpecker
 in flight (it passed nearly directly below the observation tree) that has
 fieldmarks consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and a flight speed
 and flap rate that are not consistent with the Pileated Woodpecker. The
 other video was obtained on January 19, 2007, in the Choctawhatchee River
 swamp in Florida while visiting a site where Geoff Hill and his colleagues
 had recently reported a series of sightings. Two birds were identified as
 Ivory-billed Woodpeckers on the basis of fieldmarks and spectacular
 swooping flights (some of which appear in the video) that are consistent
 with historical accounts of this species but are not consistent with any
 other species of the region. The 2006 and 2008 videos were obtained with a
 hand-held Sony DCR-HC36 standard video camera (captures at 720x480
 pixels). The 2007 video was obtained with a Sony HDR-HC3 high-definition
 video camera (captured at 1440x1080 pixels) that was mounted on kayak
 paddles. The author is a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, but
 the collection and analysis of the videos were privately funded.