Check out this article by John Crewdson of the Chicago Tribune.
Update: As a commenter pointed out, check out the quotes at the end of this version of Crewdson's article (registration may be required).
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15 comments:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Nothing.
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Oh, methinks today is the day to be a fly on the wall in the bucolic gorges of Ithaca.
Crewdson writes:
At that point, recalled Jeff Wells, who helped coordinate logistics for the search, Cornell began deploying observers in teams of two, hoping that each would serve as a check on the other. Once the two-member teams were in the field, Wells said, the sightings ceased.
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Oh my my my. It gives new meaning to "double-blind" don't it? Methinks I am happy that CLO is not in the pharmaceutical business - or else we'd all be taking meds that would kill us!
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The results: four "brief possible sightings"_ one by a volunteer searcher and three by "members of the public"_ but none by a Cornell staff member or other trained ornithologist.
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Too bad CLO Staff didn't get religion a bit sooner - say, about two years ago - we could have avoided this whole mess!
I gotta ask, do we think Birdchick is the "volunteer searcher" with the sighting?
This is beyond disgusting. Genuine scientists who (theoretically at least) are involved in genuine, accurate, and scientifically rigorous projects safeguarding species, are being deprived of money thanks to this utter utter farce. Please stop this now Cornell, Elvis hasn't left Arkansas, as he was never there in the first place. Let the money that has been sapped up by this poorly researched, faith-based saga be redeployed to the scientists whose keywords are not 'glimpse' and tantalize'. Disgusting and disgraceful, CLO should hang their heads in shame.
The Carpinterio has gone and fetched his "brass cojones" bull testicle trophy off the desk of Don Hendershot down there in Appalachia and has delivered it to Mr. Rawson at the Chicago Trib ...
Jeff Wells throws Gallhager under a bus ... Fitzcrow the swamp stomper obviously isn't taking calls from the media anymore about this, being as how he is busy "focusing" on conservation.
Rawson sees the video as "Roshamon" - which is charitable. We have the video and we have 33.3 and we have Sibley's guide to 33.3 ... there isn't any other interpretation of 33.3. Sibley isn't just "one way of looking at 33.3" ... he is THE way.
all these "biologists" who won't go on record, for "fear" of making Fitzcrow so mad that he will make some calls and toss them out of their jobs.
Amazing ...
Note to all you terrified biologists out there ... when the media calls you ... ask "how did Fitz get exempted from peer review"?
Simple question, we ought to be able to get that answer ... or are you happy to have two sets of facts out there, and a bigfoot video that is compared to a classic japanese movie?
Puede ser que no puedas pedir prestado un aeroplano, pero sabes inmóvil hablar verdad de la gran alcance.
amazing, AP, Trib, NYT, and I assume others run stories and Fitz goes to ground and lets Rorbaugh do the talking.
Amazing.
The arrogance of this is litterally beyond the pale.
When it is high cotton, he is in the swamp, on the podium and changing between blazer and Ghillie Suit like superman, but when the ship is sinking into the sea of despond and someone is going to ask, is the bird really sitting on the side of the tree in 33.3 or are you wrong about that ... he is beyond the reach of the press and Rorbaugh is the one taking the calls?
Amazing.
The version linked here omits some key quotes at the end of the article, including a great one by Jon Dunn. The URL for the Chicago Tribune version is:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0605190139may19,1,2703036.story
(free registration may be required)
Louis
Unbelievable.
Best written story to date.
I went to see Mr. Laneau give his IBWO talk last night. Pleasant enough fellow. He said a couple of interesting things. One was that it took him a year before he was convinced that his video showed an IBWO. Made it sound as if Cornell and the re-creation with models somehow finally convinced him.
BTW, the models he shows, appropriately blurred as in the real video, actually has the Pileated model pointed both down and to the side. It’s really misleading because the bird in the video is much more seen from the rear than that. If he would face the model the correct way the black leading edge would disappear, just as in the actual video.
As far as where his IBWO went, he is just befuddled. Never mentions the obvious answer that TOM would give him. Admits that it couldn’t be the last IBWO in the universe and that many generations of IBWO pairs had to exist for him to see “his” IBWO. Also never mentions the debate except when someone finally asked him about Sibley.
These fellows never think that just maybe they should go back and rethink their original hypothesis. Reminds me of people who owned ENRON stock. If it was a good buy at $100 it must be great at $80. If great that $60 then better at $30. If great at $10, then ….oops…..Where’s my money?
These guys are about to have to face their “oops” moment.
Skeptics! Ok, we made a mistake. But we are focused on the wrong "Fitz". Instead, we must refocus to where the real action is. Fred Collins and John Arvin are searching with federal dollars in East Texas. God bless them and Texas!!
They will find the 7 pairs that we know exist.
Or my name isn't...
The True Believer.
Hey, I finally found him. And it didn't take $1 million. I just used Google. Did you know that the IBWO is on MySpace?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=62921168
I love the learing look of that female (I guess the author didn't know it was a female)! Or maybe at 96 yrs of age the red crest fades a bit. That wily sagacious look on the (stuffed) bird is priceless.
Well the eyes are off Arkansas for now, and the million dollar budget for searching is getting cut.
Maybe now poor Elvis can put down some roots, now that they've stopped hounding him constantly...
He's on to ...Texas!
Paul in New Paltz NY,
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 the CLO --
the Fitzpatrick has struck out.
OK, I know newspapers often get facts wrong, but think about this one... the article quotes someone as saying they did a tree by tree survey over a twelve mile radius. That's 290,000 acres, or 53% of the 550,00 acre search area. Elsewhere we've been told that the search area is so vast and inhospitable that they've covered a mere 8% of the 550,000 acres. Which is it?
Elsewhere we've been told that the search area is so vast and inhospitable that they've covered a mere 8% of the 550,000 acres. Which is it?
Whichever is the most plausible excuse.
"I can't tell what's in the video, but it's certainly not a IBWO"..... Well, if it's definitely not an IBWO, then there aren't too many other choices.... I can only hope that Bret Whitney was misquoted. Otherwise, is he trying to be politically correct? Come on Bret- just go for the jugular!
And Doug Stotz? Shame on you for patronizing Fitz! You've successfully lost your credibility.
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