There is a little blurb about Jim's talk here (PDF format). One sentence from the blurb:
While no recent film or digital pictures of the subject bird yet exist, documentation of the search areas, processes and sighting spots and a grainy video of the bird will highlight the reason for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s recent declaration that the Ivory Billed woodpecker is alive in the Arkansas delta.I think it's notable that this alleged ornithological miracle now merits only a short Friday afternoon slot at this multi-day birding festival.
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1 comment:
Tom,
As with Cold Fusion, the history of UFO investigations also has useful points to make about the current IBWO debacle.
The scientific player in the UFO studies of the Air Force’s investigations was the astrophysicist Dr. Allen Hynek. Dr. Hynek started out as a skeptic. He analyzed countless blurry photos and film clips. Of course, there never was evidence that UFOs were anything of significance.
But still, Dr. Hynek was eventually convinced by the number and quality of the person’s reporting the sightings. Does this sound familiar?
We have blurry photos and blurry videos but Dr. Fitzpatrick and his followers can’t let go because too many good people have had too many good sightings. The study of UFOs provides a guide for us to understand how even good scientists can go wrong. Is Dr. Fitzpatrick the “Dr. Hynek” of the bird world?
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