Rare Woodpecker sighting questioned

[DougPaul]

Actualy Audubon was very fond of roasted ivory billed woodpeckers. He may have liked them better then eskimo curlews and passenger pigeons but not as much as the heath hen.

Slurp!

Anyway lets hope they can extract DNA from the droppings.

Not so slurp...

Or perhaps from a feather.

Doug

 

[Tom Rankin]

I'm familiar with the red-capped, piliated and Woody but the ivory-billed is a stranger to me.

In Google we trust:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ivory+billed+woodpecker&btnG=Google+Search

LOTS of interesting reading there!

 

[beverly]

Definitely spoiled!

I am very curious, however, about the mammal in your latest avatar ... is it extinct, endangered, extirpated or just plain spoiled?

We just came back from a 2-1/2 hour ramble in Schodack State Park. A gorgeous day for a walk. We stopped at Stewart's on the way back. Chocolate chip cone for me, vanilla in a cup for Tucker!

 

[chuck]

Just saw this from Florida

"By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

PENSACOLA, Fla. - After spending months in remote northwest Florida swamps searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker, researchers say they have seen and heard the rare bird once believed to be extinct. "

 

[DougPaul]

Just saw this from Florida

"By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

PENSACOLA, Fla. - After spending months in remote northwest Florida swamps searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker, researchers say they have seen and heard the rare bird once believed to be extinct. "

The evidence has to be examined by other experts and perhaps verified by indpendent observers before it can be accepted as fact.

edit:
A link to the story: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/09/26/ivory.billed.ap/index.html
My guess is that the evidence isn't strong enough to silence the critics.

Doug

 

[Peakbagr]

For years, I've hoped that someone, someplace, would find that this beautiful bird was not lost to the world. False alarms in Cuba and elsewhere, and then when the Cornell and local ornithologists reported they'd seen it, just great news.
Of course, what followed was justifiable scientiful skepticism, so the jury is still out. When the IBW had been 'rediscovered' a year ago, the big-time birders and listers were hiring out local guides to take them back in the swamp, ignoring the concerns that the increased pressure might interfere with the scientific studies or drive the woodpeckers away.
Although it would be more than sweet for photographic and video evidence that the Ivory Bills are in the panhandle, there's part of me that wishes the scientists aren't ever able to provide the clearcut evidence.

If so, the Ivory Bills get to live in peace, and those of us who can't get away to the Florida Panhandle can daydream that IB's are flitting from tree to tree without being harassed by professional birders trying to tick off number 7,961 on a life list.

 

[BorealChickadee]

I went to a great seminar put on by Elliot Swartout(spelling?), head of the searach teams, at Cornell Monday night where he presented the procedures that have been used to find and verify any evidence and sightings of the IBWO in Arkansas. It was great to see the scientific approach that has been taken. And you should have seen the GPS tracks of the serchers. Every searcher was equipped with a GPS and every night their tracks were uploaded to a GIS overlay.

WEll anyway... for the coming search season (December through April) there will be a small Cornell Lab of Ornthlogy team in Arkansas but there will also be a traveling team that will start canvasing the other areas that have had reports of sightings and that also fulfill the requirement of bottomland hardwood forest. The traveling team may start in Texas and work its way east and then north along the coast.