A Different Type of Bigfoot?

Since I became friends with Guy Luneau, I've had a renewed interest in the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. You see, the ivory-bill woodpecker is very much like our elusive bigfoot. Depending on who you ask and what you read, you will find that some people tell us the ivory-billed woodpecker is extinct. While others insist it is still around but only a few of them remain. Guy renewed by interest with his vast knowledge of birds in general. Of course, while on our expedition for bigfoot evidence, we talked about the many birds in our world, including the ivory-billed.

The American Birding Association lists the bird as "definitely or probably extinct". While the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as "Critically Endangered" on its list.

The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944, and the last universally accepted sighting of a Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in 1987. Over the years, and even into the 2000s, there have been sporadic reports of sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker. 

Much like the bigfoot researcher, there is a group of birdwatchers, mostly individuals, whose goal is to find evidence that the ivory-billed woodpecker is still around and still alive. There is the hope of filming or documenting the existence of the ivory-billed in some way. These folks, much like some bigfoot researchers, dedicate large amounts of time, energy, and resources to searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker. Traveling to ideal locations, purchasing equipment, and spending a large amount of time, in out-of-the-way places, are only part of it. Much like the bigfoot researcher, people can often become obsessed with the search.

The ivory-billed woodpecker has a very unique call, some have reported hearing this call in areas that are ideal habitats for the bird. Then there are a handful of videos. One such video was shot by Guy's brother David Luneau back in April 2004. The footage was shot in 480i. The 480 identifies a vertical resolution of 480 lines, and the "I" identifies it as an interlaced resolution. The footage, of course, is not up to today's standards. This led me to the thought that I might be able to enhance the footage and bring out more details. Here are my efforts.

It is easy to see why the two birds are easily misidentified, as they do look similar. I encourage you to study the image and learn to correctly identify the birds. 

I personally think that the ivory-billed woodpecker is probably still around, but very rare and in low numbers. I would even think that there are many more bigfoot than there are ivorybills. Which would probably make it hard to find. Just look at all the issues the bigfoot community has trying to get science to accept that bigfoot is indeed real. 

I encourage all the bigfoot researchers out there to learn about the ivory-billed woodpecker. You already spend a lot of time out in the forest and wetlands looking for bigfoot, just add this rare and elusive creature to your list. With the right evidence, I think science would gladly accept the fact the ivory-billed woodpecker is still here. 

One last thing before I close out this post. While I was on the bigfoot expedition with Guy Luneau, I learned a lot more about birds than I already knew. This new information, learning the rarity of seeing certain birds, made me enjoy and appreciate the forest even more. Anything that brings me more enjoyment while in the woods is a good thing and learning about birds did just that.

Thanks
~Thomas~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years of experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and a poet.

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