Will you see one of these on March 28?
Matt Courtman has studied and looked for the ivory-billed eoodpecker for half a century.
Come listen as he discusses Louisiana’s greatest outdoor mystery: Is the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct?
The discussion is scheduled March 28 at Birdfest sponsored by the Washington Tricentennial Commission as the historic Bayou Courtableau community celebrates the 300th anniversary of its settlement.
Birdwatchers can choose between a bayou boat tour or a tour of the nearby Thistlethwaite wildlife management area. Tickets are $45. The Town will sponsor a jambalaya luncheon after the event. Tickets for that are $6.
Matt Courtman, the featured speaker, has been fascinated with the ivory-billed woodpecker since 1969, when famed Louisiana ornithologist Dr. George Lowery invited the then 8-year-old to examine the ivory-bill specimens at the LSU Museum of Natural Science. Over the years Lowery acted as mentor and inspiration for Courtman, particularly when it came to ivory-bills.
As a former president of the Louisiana Ornithological Society, Courtman was asked by the State of Louisiana to assist in searching for ivory-bills in the wake of a credible 1999 sighting of a pair in the Pearl River Swamp. Since that time Courtman has been involved in several searches for ivory-bills in Louisiana, and had a breakthrough in 2017, when he recorded over three hours of ivory-bills calling. Over the past two years Courtman has had seven auditory encounters and two sightings of ivory-bills.
Based on his experience with the ivory-bill, Courtman has founded The Louisiana Wilds project to search the remote parts of Louisiana for rare and unusual species, starting with the ivory-billed woodpecker, cougar, and red wolf.
For more information, or to report sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers (the project is offering a reward for information leading to its photographing a living ivory-bill), email info@TheLouisianaWilds.org.
For more information about the Birdfest visit Washingtontricentennial.business.site on the Web or Washington Tricentennial on Facebook.
