Sounds

Development

Allen and Kellogg (1937) describe begging calls (as heard from the ground) of small nestlings as a weak buzzing. Tanner (1942a) described them as a rapidly repeated chirp-chirp-chirp, moderately pitched and rising in pitch and intensity. As nestlings matured, they sounded increasingly like adults.

Vocal Array

Calls. Many people have described the calls of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, but descriptions are often second-hand. Discussion here will focus on descriptions from observers we know truly saw and heard the birds and on recordings made by Arthur Allen and Peter Paul Kellogg in Feb 1935 (Allen 1937, 1939; Allen and Kellogg 1937).

The most distinctive notes of the Ivory-billed were its simple, “tin-trumpet” “ kent ” call notes (Fig. 4), given singly or in pairs and often repeated. An attempt to phonetically spell or otherwise verbally describe this or any bird call is fraught with problems: We all hear things a bit differently, and the same call can also sound different depending on weather conditions, distance, nature of vegetation between the bird and the hearer, and many other factors. Nonetheless, most of us find mnemonics that work.

Among the mnemonics and other descriptions for the characteristic call notes of this species are the following:

Audubon (1842: 216): pait, pait, pait .

Brewster (1881: 42): a “comparatively feeble haec .”

Frank M. Chapman (1932), who collected Ivory-billeds in Florida: a high, rather nasal yap, yap, yap .

Allen and Kellogg (1937): kent, which can be imitated by blowing on the mouthpiece of a clarinet. The mnemonic used for the call note had originally been “ kint,” and in each case Allen had changed it to “ kent ” [Cornell Univ. archives, A.A. Allen Box 123].

Phelps (1914), who saw this species in s. Florida, noted that its call “lacks the carrying power” of that of the Pileated Woodpecker. Phelps also noted that unlike the call notes of the Pileated, there is a char-acteristic pause between the notes of the Ivory-billed.

Pearson (1937) commented that Ivory-billeds gave their nasal kent calls almost continually while feeding.

The call notes heard on the Allen recordings are simple notes that do sound like a child’s horn or, perhaps more recognizable today, somewhat like a New Year’s Eve party horn—they can be imitated by blowing on a clarinet mouthpiece.

Audubon provides us with considerable description of Ivory-billed calls, but attention needs to be placed first on the context, carrying capacity, and diversity of calls rather than on the mnemonic descriptions. Audubon (1842: 216) commented that the Ivory-billed “never utters any sound whilst on wing, unless during the love-season; but at all other times, no sooner has this bird alighted than its remarkable voice is heard, at almost every leap which it makes” while climbing.

The sound recordings made by Allen and his colleagues in the Singer Tract (Allen 1937, Allen and Kellogg 1937) were of a single pair of birds at the nest and thus give us vocalizations from a limited context with no indication of possible individual, seasonal, or geographic variation. In addition, recordings can distort calls and songs, but careful attention to these reveals the sounds that we know of other birds—and they do not sound distorted. Here again, the calls of the Ivory-bill sound like a small tin horn and can be imitated by blowing on a clarinet mouthpiece. Tanner (1942a) observed birds from the same population over an extended period and noted that, when disturbed, the pitch of the kent rose and the call was repeated more rapidly, often as a double note. While Allen and Kellogg did not describe the context, this variation can be heard on their recordings. Tanner (1942a) also noted that when ≥2 birds were together, they sometimes gave a chorus of prolonged, up-ward-slurred kient notes, particularly just before taking flight. Tanner also noted softer yent notes associated with close communication between pair members. Allen and Kellogg (1937) described the note of the female as weaker and less harsh than that of the male, but Tanner could not discern such a difference.

The distance at which an Ivory-bill call might be heard would certainly vary with the nature of the call, the habitat, and the wind; Tanner (1942a) sug-gested that under the best of conditions — on a calm day after leaves had fallen — it might be about 0.4 km.

Social Chatter

Audubon referred to what seems like social chatter among birds foraging close to one another. He noted in his journal entry of 14 Dec 1820 that 5 Ivory-billeds feeding on the berries of creepers were “gentle” and kept up a “Constant Cry of Pet Pet Pet .” Dennis (1979: 76) also described the birds as having a “conversational chatter.”

Alarm Calls

In response to the presence of a Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii), a male Ivory-billed gave an “almost continual cackling scold,” and, in possible response to the presence of a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) near an Ivory-billed fledgling, a female Ivory-billed gave a single loud “ yap ” (Tanner 1942a: 54).

Phenology

No data.

Daily Pattern

Audubon (1842) and Dennis (1979) considered this woodpecker very vocal, beginning to vocalize shortly after emerging from the roost, exchanging notes with mate and offspring as they traveled together through the day, and becoming silent only on approach to the evening roost.

Places Of Vocalizing

See above.

Repertoire And Delivery Of Songs

See above.

Social Context And Presumed Function

See above.

Thompson (1889) and E. A. McIlhenny (in Bendire 1895: 43) mention drumming in the Ivory-billed. McIlhenny said one bird will alight on a dry limb of some tree and rap on it with its bill so fast and loud that it sounds like the roll of a snare drum; this it continues to do at short intervals until its mate comes. Although characteristic of other woodpeckers, this type of drumming has not been reported for any Campephilus woodpecker and so seems unlikely for Ivory-billed.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker did produce a double-rap sound with its bill, akin to drumming and characteristic of other Campephilus woodpeckers (e.g., Pale-billed [C. guatemalensis]). Tanner (1942a: 62) described double rap as a hard, surprisingly loud rap, the second note as “sounding like an immediate echo of the first.” He imitated the sound several times for me, each time giving the raps in rapid succession, the second not quite as hard/loud as the first, hence the impression of an echo. Tanner (1942a) also heard a lone male give similar single raps.

Wing-sound loud (swishing whistle) in flight (Tanner 1942a); probably no communicative function.