Wingbeat frequencies all over the map?

1. In this article, Cornell spins the Luneau bird's wingbeat frequency of 8.7 flaps/second as "proof" that the bird is an Ivory-bill. Never mind that they have only one data point on the wingbeat frequency of an Ivory-bill, and they also offer no data on the expected wingbeat frequency of a startled Pileated weaving through trees in initial escape flight.

2. In this article, Bobby Harrison claims a much higher wingbeat frequency of 14 flaps/second for the "Ivory-bill" in his video , which he says is "of poor quality".

3. On page 201 of the Dec '04-Feb '05 issue of North American Birds, Jim Fitzpatrick's field notes say:

The bird was an incredibly strong flier. It did not flap any more often than a Pileated, perhaps fewer times than would a Pileated.

Ok, so we've got three claimed Ivory-bills. The first, a startled bird weaving through trees, flaps slightly faster than some Pileateds measured in straight-line flight (at up to 7.5 flaps/sec). The second (which may not even be a woodpecker), flaps very much faster than our limited Pileated data or our one Ivory-bill data point. The third bird is estimated to flap at the same or slower frequency than a Pileated.

We have very limited baseline data here, along with wingbeat frequencies of unidentified birds that are all over the place. In my opinion, current wingbeat-frequency arguments are not at all helpful in making the case for the Ivory-bill rediscovery.