I visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in D.C. today and saw something interesting. Thought you might find it worthy of mentioning in your blog (not sure if you have already or not). They have a small display in the main rotunda about the "rediscovery", which includes skins collected in 1898 of both an IBWO and PIWO. The title of the display is "Lost or Found?". The complete text contained in the display, along with some photos, can be found here.
I was surprised that they, an "official institution", speak of the IBWO as being "reportedly rediscovered" and its "possible survival". And they didn't tuck the display away in a corner somewhere. It's in the main area of the museum, not too far from one of the entrances...
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I was surprised that they, an "official institution", speak of the IBWO as being "reportedly rediscovered" and its "possible survival".
Note that the scientists at the Smithsonian don't support Cornell's position. They are intentionally very ambiguous. If Cornell's science was so solid, don't you think they would have been able to convince their ornithologists? The following reference to the IBWO as "hope" says it all:
"The 2006 search team, led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is combing the area again this year. Perhaps this year hope will fly by a camera."
I think it's a great lesson on "maybe" vs. "definitely". (Personally, I think even "maybe" is a big stretch, but that's me.)
The photos taken of the piebald Pileated Woodpeckers in the Arkansas search area show a bird that would be distinguishable enough from a regular Pileated to fool a lot of people into the belief that they'd seen an IBWP.
And,dammit I know this sounds like a broken record, but IBWP's were a fairly boisterous, hard to miss bird. Even in their waning years they were easy to find and film.
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