Puck
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The Red sox win a World Series, The Patriots have a dynasty and now this....http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4622633
Why would previous sightings of a bird that was feared extinct but is now confirmed to still exist raise "false hopes"? Unconfirmed hopes, yes, but ultimately proven to not be false.Radio Expeditions said:... Many other similar sightings over the last 60 years have raised false hopes.
But this time, Joyce reports that experts associated with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in New York and The Nature Conservancy were able to confirm the sighting....
Their announcement today provoked rejoicing and excitement among birdwatchers, for whom the ivory bill has long been a holy grail: a creature that has been called the Lord God bird, apparently because when people saw it they would be so impressed they would utter an involuntary "Lord God!"
Fortunately, Dr. Fitzpatrick said in an interview, the bird is already in a national wildlife refuge, and is already being protected. The ivory bill itself, as a species, is also doing a good job of "protecting itself," he said, adding, "It is really scarce and really wary."
Now the effort to protect the bird will continue, as will the search for other individuals. So far, the scientists are certain of seeing only one male. If it does not have company, the discovery will be bittersweet.
It sounds like an amazing experience.When they wrote down their notes independently and compared them, Mr. Gallagher said Mr. Harrison was struck by the reality of the discovery and began sobbing, repeating, "I saw an ivory bill."
Just recently read David Quammen's "Song of the Dodo" (great book, btw) which talks about biogeography & species extinction; it mentions along the way that one of the reasons the passenger pigeon apparently went extinct is that their threshold population was rather high (e.g. you need thousands of them still alive & breeding in a group; below that and they would almost certainly go extinct). I forget the reason, however, something to do with either feeding habits or ways to keep from being eaten by predators. If true, this would (unfortunately) make the existence of a lost viable population impossible.sixer said:Now someone has to just find one of the 'extinct' Passenger Pigeons in some remote corner of the 'dacks
I second that (mostly): although they are not the only group that puts their money where their mouth is & protects large blocks of land (Audubon does quite a bit as well, as does Trust for Public Land; and SPNHF has probably protected more acres in NH than TNC has), they are definitely the largest nationwide / worldwide land conservation group. If you have a favorite spot that you like hiking or bird watching, and it's not protected from development, contact one of these groups and ask how you can help; if you wait until you see a "for sale" sign or read about a proposed subdivision or Wal-Mart in the paper, it's probably too late.forestnome said:Cheers to The Nature Conservancy, the one environmental protection group that acts positively, instead of ranting negatively. They are very productive and deserve our support.
arghman said:(Audubon does quite a bit as well, as does Trust for Public Land; and SPNHF has probably protected more acres in NH than TNC has), .
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