Wednesday, April 26, 2006

"We're encouraged"

Is this satire?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking for IBWO pecker holes is almost impossible because all big pecker holes look alike from a distance. The PIWO pecker holes are all over the place.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but will Dr. Fitzpatrick be back next year? That's the question. Or will he leave it to the "amateurs" from now on?

Marcus Benkarkis said...

This is not satire, satire implies intellect, this is a joke. My favorite comment is that all the bird watchers have driven the IBWO deeper into the Dark Woods. Ya gotta love these guys --- there are too many birders, too many acres to cover, the bird has gone silent over the past 60 years to evade hunters and bird watchers, and on and on and on and on.

It is just incredible.

Anonymous said...

Looking throught the archives of the Arkansas birding listserv, I see that a STKI was seen in 1998. They continue to be seen with some regularity. I think the 3 years means, 3 years to find a nest.

It is also interesting that they offered $500 for a confirmed STKI nest (not sure if anyone ever collected). So there were birders, and ornithologists studied both Swainson's Warblers and Swallow-tailed Kites in the White River NWR from 2000-2006....and no reports or tantalizing glimpses, or knocks or kents ever reported....(except for Mary Scott).

Interesting....

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight. They are pulling back on the search this year because it's getting "hot" and "leavers" on the trees make the search difficult?

What about the folks that get decent photos of Campephilus species in Central and South America in hot, leafy forests?

Anonymous said...

MUST MAKE EXCUSES
CAN'T TAKE HEAT
SNAKES SCARE ME
OUCH MOSQUITO HURTS

(said slowly and strained, as if dying of thirst)

Anonymous said...

It took three years to find the swallow-tailed kite?? (incorrectly stated in the article to be a hawk)
Is this correct or just misleading because the author of the article has no knowledge of birds, particulary migrating raptors. Or a complete distortion of the truth to make the search for IBWP seem more credible? The swallow-tailed kite is a numerous bird in other parts of the Americas both north and south and does not take a lot of finding.


I believe he was speaking about the SWK nesting in the White River NWR. In 2003, Ark G&F was offering 500$ rewards for SWK nests. The first nest of one in over 100 years was discovered in AK the year before.

-christen

Anonymous said...

Offering money for a nest turned out to be absolutely ridiculous. Swallow-tailed kites are not skulkers. They swoop and weave above the tree tops. Very pretty. But easily found.

This is not comparable to finding an IBWO after 50 years of extinction.

Anonymous said...

are IBWO's "skulkers"?

or "super skulkers"?

Anonymous said...

are IBWO's "skulkers"?

or "super skulkers"?


Actually, (and as a co-author of the upcoming report, I know I shouldn't be revealing this) they will be designated "super-duper skulkers."

We've also designated the search area as "absolutely freakin' enormous" and will reveal that the search may take "decades or perhaps hundreds of years."

All this will be laid out in my upcoming book.