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HodariNundu's avatar
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As I implied in the previous journal, I'm currently working at a Museum, and although most of my time is spent in a small stuffy room cataloguing 100 year old insects, sometimes I wander around the actual displays. I think this one is my favorite and I wanted to share it with you guys (sorry bout the poor quality; took them with my phone, no flash allowed and the light is pretty dim inside)

Img 20161110 160728337 by HodariNundu

Img 20161110 160734296 by HodariNundu

As you probably guessed, this is a skull of the really fantastic Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis) which was the largest woodpecker in the world. It lived in Mexico and parts of the US but is believed to have gone extinct in its last sanctuary (the mountains of western Mexico) some time around the 50s or 60s. There's been lots of claims of sightings, however; back when I was teaching I heard from people who lived in villages up in mountains and swore the bird was still alive. Some of the sightings may actually be of smaller but similar looking species, but I do hope there's still a few Imperials left, away from the eyes of man!

I think the stuffed bird is a red-bellied woodpecker, which is about middle sized for woodpecker standards. The Imperial's skull is nearly as long as the entire body of the red-bellied, if you leave the tail and wing feathers out!

Img 20161110 160744966 by HodariNundu

Img 20161110 160753711 by HodariNundu

The Imperial woodpecker supposedly made a sound like a small trumpet, and was as big as a raven. There's a video of a living female here; to my knowledge, the only one ever recorded.

© 2016 - 2024 HodariNundu
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Venatorius's avatar
Maybe there might a chance that these birds may someday soon be rediscovered and officially documented by scientists and researchers.From where I am from,there is a small bird called the Cebu Flowerpecker that supposedly went extinct early in the 20th century but was rediscovered during the year 1992 on a small patch of limestone forest and has since been found in three other areas around the island where I am fromTheir estimated population is around 85-105 individuals so it is still very rare and critically endangered.It is a small(11-12 centimeters long) but colorful bird but birdwatchers and photographers in my country(as well as other birdwatchers from around the world) have yet to take pictures of these birds during the present day because of their preferred habitat since they usually forage in the canopies of trees.Being a birdwatcher and photographer myself,I too want to see and photograph this species of bird sometime in the future(probably after i graduate,get a job,and buy a much more powerful camera lens) so I just hope that when that time comes,this bird will still be around and not go the way of the dodo.