FILM DOCUMENTATION OF THE PROBABLY EXTINCT IMPERIAL WOODPECKER ( CAMPEPHILUS IMPERIALIS ) MARTJAN LAMMERTINK, 1,4 T IM W. GALLAGHER, 1 KENNETH V. ROSENBERG, 1 JOHN W. FITZPATRICK, 1 ERIC LINER, 1 JORGE ROJAS-T OMÉ, 2 AND P ATRICIA ESCALANTE 3 1 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA; 2 Organización Vida Silvestre, A.C., Ave. Roble 660, Col. Valle del Campestre, C.P. 66265, San Pedro Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico; and 3 Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-153, México D.F. 04510, Mexico Abstract.—Te Imperial Woodpecker ( Campephilus imperialis) of Mexico—the largest woodpecker in the world—probably became extinct in the late th century, without known documentation of the species in life. We describe a recently discovered -mm color film of an Imperial Woodpecker taken in  by William L. Rhein. Te film documents climbing strides, launches, flights, and foraging of one female Imperial Woodpecker. For perches and foraging the woodpecker used dead or recently dead Durango Pines (Pinus durangensis). Trunks of perch and foraging trees were of the largest diameters available in this tree species. After allowing for possible inaccuracies in the frame speed of the film, we found that the Imperial Woodpecker had slow climbing strides and a fast wing- flap rate compared with other woodpeckers. Following landmarks documented during the  expedition, we identified and surveyed the film site in . Te site was in coniferous forest in lightly undulating terrain at ,–, m elevation. In , the area was old- growth forest with abundant large and dead trees. By , the area had been logged multiple times. Interviews with local people indicated that Imperial Woodpeckers had disappeared from the region by  and that they were killed by hunting and perhaps through poisoning instigated by logging interests. Human persecution and the logging of large pines for timber and of dead trees for pulp were likely principal factors in the extinction process of the Imperial Woodpecker. Received  November , accepted  May . Key words: body size, climbing, extinction, flight, hunting, logging, poisoning. Documentación Fílmica de la Especie Probablemente Extinta Campephilus imperialis Resumen.—La especie mexicana Campephilus imperialis—el carpintero de mayor tamaño en el mundo—probablemente se extinguió a finales del siglo XX, sin que haya documentación conocida de la especie en vida. Describimos una filmación de un individuo tomada en formato de  mm en color por William L. Rhein en . La película documenta trepadas, lanzamientos, vuelos y forrajeo de una hembra. El carpintero usó como perchas y como sustrato de forrajeo pinos (Pinus durangensis) muertos o recientemente muertos. Los troncos de las perchas y los árboles de forrajeo fueron los de mayor diámetro disponible de esta especie. Luego de ajustar la velocidad de rodado de la película, encontramos que la especie daba zancadas lentas para trepar y presentaba una tasa rápida de batido de las alas en comparación con otros carpinteros. Siguiendo algunas marcas del paisaje documentados durante la expedición de , identificamos e inspeccionamos el sitio de filmación en . El sitio estaba ubicado en un bosque de coníferas en un terreno ligeramente ondulado a ,– , m de elevación. En , el área era un bosque antiguo con abundantes árboles grandes y muertos en pie. Entrevistas con personas locales indicaron que C. imperialis había desaparecido de la región para  y que los carpinteros fueron cazados y tal vez envenenados respondiendo a intereses forestales. La persecución humana y la tala de los pinos grandes para madera y de los árboles muertos para pulpa fueron probablemente los principales factores en el proceso de extinción de C. imperialis. — 671 — Te Auk 128(4):671-677, 2011  Te American Ornithologists’ Union, 2011. Printed in USA. Te Auk, Vol. , Number , pages - . ISSN -, electronic ISSN -.   by Te American Ornithologists’ Union. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals. com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: ./auk.. 4 E-mail: jml243@cornell.edu The Imperial Woodpecker ( Campephilus imperialis) lived until recently in old-growth forests of pines and oaks in mon- tane areas of northwestern Mexico. With a body mass of ~ g, it was the largest woodpecker species in the world (Short ). Similar in appearance to the closely related Ivory-billed Wood- pecker ( C. principalis), the Imperial Woodpecker differed mainly in its larger size, narrower white stripes on its upper back, absence of white on the neck and face, and longer crest. Te crest was crescent-shaped and red with black in males, and forward-curling and black in females. Imperial Woodpeckers often occurred in groups of – individuals (Nelson , Lammertink et al . ). Tey were associated with large areas of plateau forest at eleva- tions >, m with abundant mature and dead trees for food and cavities (Collar et al . ). Logging of large timber and extraction Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/128/4/671/5148599 by guest on 05 August 2023