Transcript of Gallagher/Harrison descriptions
humminbird said:
Better have a look at the notes again. If what they wrote is what they saw then the white WAS in the primaries!
Here's my transcription of the notes on figure S1 from the supplement to the 2005
Science paper. I've tried to transcribe the hand-written notes as best I can from the PDF, including original spellings and punctuation, but I could have made some errors.
Caption
Fig. S1. Sketches from field notes of T. Gallagher (A) and B. Harrison (B) that depict the pattern of white and black they noted on the wings and back of the large woodpecker they observed together in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas, on 27 February 2004. Sketches were made independently of one another.
Transcription of notes on sketches
Tim Gallagher (figure 3A):
My entire focus was on the white at the trailing edge of the wing at the time of best view. Did not see any red. Do not have a firm impression of bill shape or its color.
Black areas are jet black (arrow pointing at leading edge of wing.)
White is dazzling snow white in the sunlight.
Bobby Harrison (figure 3B):
Against a brilliant black-black (?) of upper body and leading edge of of wing and most primaries. I was captivated by the amount of white on the wings an its Brilliance set against such a brilliant black. Because my eyes were drawn to the contrast of black and white I have no recollection of head or tail feathers.
Back (Top of Bird)
Head (sketch) Tail
White in Secondaries and appeared to be in some of Primaries.
I don't see that Gallagher mentioned the primaries. Harrison does, saying the white extended into "some" primaries, but that most of them were black, if I read that correctly. I apologize for being imprecise previously. The sketches are consistent with about the first 2-3 primaries being white, but I feel they just do not match the one photograph I've seen of an IBWO in flight and the various illustrations--in those the white extends out into the longest primaries at the end of the wing. It is quite striking and I just do not see that in Gallagher and Harrison's sketches.
There are just so many things they did not record in that sighting, most notable among them the broad white stripes on the back, and Harrison notes they were looking at the back of the bird. They should have been able to see the broad white stripes, but they did not note them. That, combined with the wing pattern they sketched and the failure to note any other details such as body and tail shape, make this a very sketchy sighting. I had initially been very convinced by it, but it does not hold up well to close examination. (IMHO of course!)
And again, I just see no details in those notes to indicate how they knew the bird was a woodpecker. As I've stated previously, I feel woodpeckers are easy to recognize when perched, but more problematic when flying. I usually recognize them by their undulating flight pattern, but the IBWO was said not to have this--it flew like a duck. People were said to mistake the IBWO for a Pintail. I just don't see anything in the descriptions or sketches to indicate that this was not some sort of waterfowl. The wing patteren of the Hooded Merganser and the White-winged Scoter are close to the pattern shown in the sketches. How did they exclude these? Here we do have, apparently, the complete notes taken by Gallagher and Harrison at the time, and they are silent.
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