My take on the Luneau video

Jackson's critical article is out now and it does not contain any detailed analysis of the Luneau video, just an opinion. So I looked at the video again... since no rigorous analysis seems forthcoming. Several things I noted this time:

Very important: The apparent black edges around the white on the wings (leading and trailing edge, and wingtip) are identical in width and intensity to the black halo artifacts around the oar and hand in the forground. Thus it would seem that nothing can be inferred about the color of the trailing wing edge or wing tips. The only definite black is the body of the bird; any real black that may surround the white on the wings cannot be resolved from the halo artifacts.

Now, looking at how the white comes and goes on the wingbeats. The bird appears from behind the tree early in a downstroke. Only the right wing is fully visible. Abundant white is clearly visible throughout this stroke. The bird is dropping relative to the background. All of this white could easily be on the underwing. The second downstroke shows the same pattern, this time more clearly.

Beginning on the third downstroke, the bird is no longer dropping relative to the background. On this stroke, there is a point in mid-downstroke where the visible white diminishes. It then increases again at the bottom of the downstroke. This same pattern repeats more prominently on the forth downstroke: Abundant white initially, then a fading of the white in mid-stroke, then a reappearance of white. The same is seen on the fifth, sixth, and seventh downstrokes.

By the eighth downstroke, the bird is clearly rising relative to the background. Beginning at this stroke, the white no longer fades in mid stroke. Rather, it is evident to a similar amount throughout the stroke. This continues with subsequent wingbeats, as the bird gets more distant and disappears intermittently behind trees.

Ok now that damned interpretation thing...

What seems rather clear to me is that for the first two downstrokes, we are seeing entirely (at least on the clearly visible right wing) underwing. Then, on strokes 3-7 (especially clear on 4-6), we see initially underwing, then a fairly edge-on view of the wing, then upperwing. Finally, on strokes 8-10, the bird is traveling away and upwards, and we see upperwing the whole stroke. This is a bird with extensive white on both the underwing and the upperwing. It is not a normal pileated woodpecker.

But we really need an expert in image analysis to examine this video and account for every feature of every frame.