Figure 1.

Comparison of selected frames from the video presented in Fitzpatrick et al [1] of a putative Ivory-billed Woodpecker from the 'Luneau video' (Top row, A), and selected frames from David Nolin's video of known Pileated Woodpecker (Bottom row, B). Numbers in A identify the frames presented in [1]. In B, represent the decompiled frame numbers from DN's video. Frames chosen in A are representative of each phase of the Luneau bird's flight action, on the upstroke rising directly away from the observer (600), at the top of the upstroke flying obliquely away from the observer (366.7), at the midpoint of the downstroke flying directly away from the observer (283.2), towards (416.7) and at (300) the bottom of the downstroke. Each phase of the wingbeat cycle is consistent with frames of known Pileated Woodpeckers presented in B. There are striking similarities. The images confirm the hypothesis that the impression of extensive black wingtips recorded for the bird in the Luneau video (highlighted by white arrows in the original published images) was in fact produced by the extensive black trailing edge of a Pileated Woodpecker. It seems possible that the black trailing edge to the wing of Pileated Woodpecker was often visible in many frames of the Luneau video, but it was misinterpreted as black wingtips. The flicker and extra wings in B, frame 758 are artifacts of the impossibility of deinterlacing the video, but each wing image is clearly separable. Reproduced from [1] with permission from David Luneau.