Imperial woodpecker -- largest that ever lived -- caught on film

[n2doc]

The footage is old and the camera work is shaky. But as soon as ornithologist Martjan Lammertink saw the 85-second, 16-mm film, he knew he'd found it: the only photographic evidence of the Imperial woodpecker — the largest woodpecker that ever lived.

Some have called the 2-foot-tall bird "majestic." Others have described it as "near-mythical." But the guy who shot the film — dentist and amateur ornithologist William Rhein — said it was more like "a great big turkey flying in front of me."

"You can even see his toupee there," he says in a voiceover of some of the footage.

Rhein took the film in 1956 from the back of a mule while camping in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in Durango, Mexico. The footage might never have come to light if Lammertink hadn't come across a reference to the film in a letter Rhein wrote to a fellow ornithologist. Lammertink was determined to track down Rhein and this invaluable footage.

In 1997, after years of trying, he finally did. And it was just in the nick of time. Rhein died in 1999.

Despite the poor quality of the film, Lammertink was able to identify the bird as an adult female imperial woodpecker. The footage shows the bird foraging, hitching up trees and then flying away — the white feathers on its wingtips clearly visible.

more with video

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/largest-woodpecker-that-ever-lived-caught-on-film-.html

[WinkyDink]

1. Thank you! I love stories like this!

[Jamastiene]

2. K&R

[occupyeverywhere]

3. I had no idea such a creature existed

thanks

[nebenaube]

4. Is this guy one of those?

[undergroundpanther]

5. wow what a cool bird.

If I saw a bird like that,I'd think I was hallucinating, is it a strange huge parrot,a crested vulture? Amazing,what a beautiful crest. I hope there are more imperial woodpeckers are around..