Mystery Bird: Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus

Well, it's purported to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (the large white edges of the wings being the fieldmark), but I don't think it's yet been confirmed. The other option put forward is a Pileated Woodpecker with partial albinism in the wings, I believe.

At any rate, I recognize the video. ;)

I've watched this video over and over and I don't think it can be said with certainty, despite what the "official" Lab of O folks say, that it is an Ivory billed Woodpecker. I think they are wrong in their analysis of certain sections of it, as when the bird takes off and parts of it can be seen to the left of the tree. The only way to be able to get an accurate idea of what one is looking at here is to run it in sequence, and the folks at Cornell have made an identification based on selected individual frames, in which one can see almost whatever one wants to.
Anyway, I'll say inconclusive. A big woodpecker.

Sigh.

Incredibly instructive, this video, which I hadn't looked at for months. The point to be made is that we can't identify a bird correctly if we don't know what part of it we're seeing; and in this case, many analyses, including the initial one, seem to have mistaken the under surface of the wing for the upper surface.

i am glad you all enjoyed seeing this video. i was interested to see what people's reaction would since the elation had died down a bit -- i never was convinced this was an ivory-billed woodpecker but accepted the initial "discoverers" word for it since they were the ones with the science paper, not me. but after i'd had more time to think and watch the video, i think i was right and THEY were wrong.

but THEY still have the science paper, not me! and a science or nature paper is what looks good on a CV -- MUCH better than being correct.