Luneau speaks

Here.

An excerpt:

Pileateds are more common and have been the subject of thousands of erroneous ivory-billed "sightings." But Luneau and a handful of others who saw the Arkansas bird insist it had the distinct markings of an ivory-billed.

Meanwhile, another sighting in another location also is causing a stir. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Stennis, Miss., near the Pearl River, announced in April that one of its researcher Mike Collins had photographed an ivory-billed.

Prior to the Arkansas announcement, some researchers believed the Pearl had yielded the most conclusive evidence the ivory-billed might still exist.

Lots of people want to believe, one reason Luneau and other searchers are in demand at bird festivals around the country.

He still teaches full time but keeps three cameras in the woods and goes out once a week to collect images they've stored.

The Big Woods Partnership is still searching for more definitive proof. A report on this past winter's search activities will be released later this month at the Big Woods Birding Festival in Arkansas. "One thing we've learned," Luneau said, "is that they're extremely hard to find."