From the ABA Checklist chairman

Earlier today, the comment below was submitted regarding this post:

Hi Tom,

I'm the chairman of the American Birding Association Checklist Committee (CLC), which you mentioned on your site. With the Fitzpatrick et al. (2005) paper published in _Science_, we have sufficient information to vote on the claim that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is not extinct.

However, some members of the CLC feel that the evidence provided in the paper is open to interpretation, as you and several others have noted.

Additionally, Cornell reportedly has gathered additional data that have not yet been published.

Given that at this moment, the Cornell search team is in its third season looking for Ivory-billeds, the ABA CLC has decided to wait until the end of this season to vote on the matter, in the hopes that additional proof can be gathered to support the claim that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker survives.

We are also awaiting the publication of one or more rebuttals to the Fitzpatrick et al. (2005) _Science_ paper, which are rumored to be in press or in preparation.

You're probably aware that Jerry Jackson has just published his rebuttal in the current edition of the _Auk_; his paper can be read here: http://www.aou.org/persp1231.pdf.


Best regards,

Bill Pranty
Bayonet Point, Florida
ABA Checklist chair