One
here:
...“We can be fooled by our biases and expectations,’’ said Louis Bevier, who also spoke at the state ornithological association meeting and who has co-authored an article in Science magazine questioning the Cornell team. “We would want there to be an ivory-billed woodpecker. But we think this is a pileated woodpecker."...
...and another article
here (registration may be required):
...The 26-member Cornell team, ironically, was put together by Sara Barker, a 1994 graduate of Colby College, more than two years ago. Attempts to interview Barker by press time were unsuccessful...
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6 comments:
Comrades, True Belivers, Countrymen:
Barker has been embargoed by the cornell PR bureau - the seach team can no longer be be trusted to document the woodpecker.
At this point Fitz's office is running all the offical communications from the Fuertes war room.
The term "repression" is now being officially used to denote the prosecution of people recognized as counter-conservationists and enemies of the Belivers.
This purge is motivated by the desire on the part of the leadership to remove dissident elements from the Search Party and consolidate the authority of John Fitzpatrick. Additional campaigns of repression are being carried on against birding groups which were believed or are accused, for ulterior political motives, of have opposing the "Sighting" and the politics of the TNC/Cornell Party.
"the search team can no longer be trusted to document the woodpecker"
Doesn't, by definition, documentation only come by searching?
"...remove dissident elements from the Search Party..."
I thought the whole idea of only having search teams exist for only 2 weeks at a time was to prevent the teams from thinking about rebellion. Maybe they should think about 1 week teams?
I'm beginning to wonder how many anonymous posts on this blog are from past searchers.
Welcome, one and all.
All the world's a stage,
And all the birds and birders merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man, Fitzpatrick, plays many parts
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,
but there is no joy at Cornell
oh mighty Fitz has struck out.
In The Perfect Storm the author talks about how crisis at sea is the result of dwindling options. Cornell is down to very few options now - pull all comments from the search team, no returned phone calls, Sibley is a crappy painter who knows nothing about bird flight (man, he fooled a LOT of people), Jackson is a barbarian (although he authored the BNA IBWO account they sell), Prum is a fool (him and his dinosaur feathers), peer review at The Auk is terrible (I'm sure it was better when Fitz was the editor), and even Science may not be their friend anymore (although Kennedy is on the ABC steering committee, he may still be helping there).
They just don't have a lot of options left. Maybe it is time to find a woodpecker.
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