...Also at the conference, David Luneau, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock electronics professor who, almost two years ago, captured murky pictures of the bird with a video camera mounted on a milk crate in a canoe, defended his claim to have rediscovered the bird against recent scientific attacks.
Of an article in the journal Science that suggested Luneau may have in fact recorded the flight of a pileated woodpecker, a smaller bird that lacks the ivory-bill’s white wing markings, Luneau said, “We don’t feel threatened.”
Wednesday
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2 comments:
“The ivory-billed is a disasterdependent species”
from the dem-gazette ... perhaps the new niche of these surviving birds which behave more like sprits than ghosts, is that they they are no longer dependant on natural disasters, but they thrive on human disasters. Sending seachers mad in the quest for "the million dollar picture" ... shadowy, super naturally elusive wraiths taunting respected scientists with the promise of treasure and myrrh, while feeding on their dreams of fame and glory.
Fitzpatrick et al have provided them with a feeding frenzy and by all accounts swelled their numbers.
The next disaster will be that they become the next "spotted owl" species to the people of arkansas as soon as they realize that the tourists aren't coming.
Hell hath no fury like a CVB promoter scorned.
But I do feel threatened
Making money off a naive public is as American as apple pie and if Cornell, TNC and others want to do this I have no problem with them joining the ranks of P.T. Barnum, Jim and Tammy Fay Baker and whoever invented the Pet Rock. What I do mind and what threatens all of us is their use of the journal Science as an advertising tool.
This past week Science reported on observed and predicted changes in ice sheets that will have profound effects on the entire globe and are likely to dominate conservation and political agendas from the mid-21st century on. The 2005 abuse of the journal Science by the IBWO crowd means that anyone can now doubt anything published there and dismiss truly important information relating to environmental concerns. The argument that important regional habitat is being preserved no matter what the validity of the IBWO “rediscovery” does not hold up when one considers the damage that has been done to those who are documenting important global degradation of the environment and have to do so in a journal that made the error of either missing the boat or jumping the gun on the IBWO story.
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