Thoughts after the AOU meeting

According to my information, some Ivory-bill skeptics decided in advance that last month's AOU meeting was not the right time or place for a public challenge of Cornell's evidence.

After attending the meeting, an ornithologist emailed me the following:
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I suspect that one's take on the general mood following Fitz's plenary address at the recent AOU meeting depended on the crowd with which you associated. Yes, there were many in the audience that were pleased, even giddy. But the skeptics were legion and I doubt that any were swayed. With the exception of a single waffler, everyone with whom I spoke after the talk either doubted strongly or was an agnostic who only happened to enjoy Fitz's show (he is a captivating speaker).

Fitz didn't present any new information. He did, however, have four or five slides that attempted to address concerns that have been raised over the past 3+ months. Perhaps his doing so assuaged minor doubts in some people. But in my view his talk had the opposite effect: to see the entirety of the evidence laid out before me was to walk away wondering how CLO got so far with so little.
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