I attended the Baton Rouge Audubon Society evening presentation by Jon Andrew, chief of the SE Region USFWS and Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Recovery Team. The talk’s announcement was titled “Ivory-billed Woodpecker Update” and the teaser on the meeting’s notice was “What has happened since the announced confirmed sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker near the Cache Rive in Arkansas? Is there a possibility that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker will someday be seen again in Louisiana? Come and learn the latest information.”Dittmann also has several pages of more detailed notes, which I personally found very interesting. As noted above, you can email Dittman to request a copy.
I was a little tardy arriving and sat down just as BRAS Program Chair, Charles Fryling introduced Andrew. Andrew’s title slide ‘Recovery of Ivory-billed Woodpecker in SE Arkansas’ indicated the much narrower focus of his talk, the bulk of which consisted of the rediscovery events, and a compilation and support of evidence of the rediscovery. Specifically, review of the Luneau video (a brief analysis including flight characters, measurements, and the 6 pixel bird), audio evidence, and the flurry of ’04 sightings. He mentioned that not everyone agreed with the identification of the bird in the video, and in that context mentioned Tom Nelson (twice) and David Sibley (three times) but said that he/USFWS has to manage based on the assumption that IBWOs are there. He touched on potential user conflicts, such as duck hunters versus birders, but concluded that these did not really pose a threat. There was little detail about recovery efforts: one slide touched on modeling and assessment and Andrew indicated that the draft recovery plan was going to be released in October ’06 for public input and a final plan would be issued in Spring ‘07. More emphasis was placed on IBWO impact on ecotourism in Brinkley and the importance of community outreach … I took notes in anticipation of acquiring new information (anyone actually interested, I’d be happy to email you a copy), but for the most part, if you attended hoping to hear new details of the ‘05-06 AR field season (there is more information on the Cornell’s Webpage), results of other recent searches and recovery efforts for Ivory-billeds, or whether they may be present in Louisiana or elsewhere, you would have been disappointed.
Donna L. Dittmann
St. Gabriel, Louisiana
ddittma AT lsu.edu
Monday
55 minutes ago
Posts
17 comments:
Ok Skeptics, there is good reason to be proud of the comprehensive and compelling response that has come together around Arkansas evidence, but it took a lot of effort and many months to formulate. Late arrivals to this blog may not recognize that. I think comments suggesting that Team Panhandle learned nothing from CLO, are way off. To the contrary, I think they learned quite a lot from CLO and as a result, few of the approaches used to dismantle the specifics of the Arkansas evidence will be useful in dismantling the Panhandle evidence. I’m not saying the evidence is strong, but it is stronger CLO’s and deserves a commensurate response.
Buried among the trash talk, I hear speculation about jays, geese, cranes, flutes, windmills, and door hinges. Yikes, there’s along way to go before this formulates into a response that meets the high standard skeptics set for themselves in Arkansas.
I’m sure that response will come together but let’s not forget that it’s going to take some work. Meanwhile I’m sure the Hardy Boys will be working hard to get me the photo I need to win my wager with Amy. Tom was the underdog in Arkansas, but Team Panhandle is the underdog here. I’m going to be consistent and stick with the underdog.
Go Tigers! Go Lancers!
pd
Side Notes:
Who or Whom ever came up with the
"Super Duper Skulker" nom de guerre must receive the $1000.
"Dark Matter" - second place - $500.
Amy Lester wins the Lemony Snickett award for children's book ideas that scare the bejesus out of everybody.
Cornell and Auburn lose their accreditation.
Audubon, et al win the Face the Wrath and Fire award presented by us dumb proletariat.
Finally, thanks again to the Great Spirit for creating the Internet.
And thank you Mr. Methinks for Tom Wolfe because I asked that before and forgot; seniity really stinks.
Wake up, Pd! Quit dreaming. Time to go to work.
Pd?....Pd?....time to go.....
Are you kidding Pd? Have you become part of the practical joke?
They didn't learn anything from the Arkansas effort.
They didn't use paired teams to eliminate their bogus sightings. They didn't leave their videos on. They accepted 3 sec flying pileateds as IBWOs. They really really did an even worse job on scaling evidence. And don't get me started on their A-holes!
Sheesh..Pd....Ask Amy for forgiveness of your debt right now. It's still not too late!
Carpinterio,
I completely forgot about how much those moorhens and coots "toot" and kent. Those Auburn boys, if they were true duck hunters, would know something about the swamp.
The Skeptics have pretty well put holes in Auburn's evidence.
Does anybody out there really still believe in IBWOs continued existence?
The question is no longer does the Ivory-billed exist. They clearly don't. The question is why has American Ornithology gotten so bad?
And the corollary is why have American (and now Canadian) journals so lowered their standards of evidence?
I completely forgot about how much those moorhens and coots "toot" and kent. Those Auburn boys, if they were true duck hunters, would know something about the swamp.
Except coots and moorhens don't live in swamps. They live in marshes (i.e., wetlands without trees).
Another question is why anyone can consider these sightings credible after looking at the unprofessional field notes and truly awful sketches?
Tom, I really think we need more posts and comments on the FieldNotes2006 pdf. Jon Dunn will have to reconsider his statement that Cornell's documentation is the worst ever.
"Except coots and moorhens don't live in swamps. They live in marshes (i.e., wetlands without trees). "
hahahahahahahahahaha....
Good joke. I'll tell the warden that next time.
Officer: Sir, what is this coot doing in your boat out of season?
Me: I don't know but it's not a coot.
Officer: Sir, this is a coot.
Me: No, sir, coots don't inhabit swamps.
Officer: Where did you hear that!
Me: An idiot on Tom Nelson's Ivory Bill blog
Officer: Well, he is sadly mistaken, sir! That will be a $250 fine!
Officer: Ok, now, what's this?
Me: I don't know but it's not a moorhen!
ahahahahahaha....
You dry landers crack me up!
here
here
here
"Except coots and moorhens don't live in swamps"
I hope to god that you are not a member of the Auburn team. It would destroy any trust that I have left.
"Except coots and moorhens don't live in swamps"
I was kidding when I wrote that (note the "duh"; obviously sarcasm doesn't translate well, or maybe you just don't have the ability to detect, hence Tom's warning on a recent post), but seriously, swamps and bottomland forests really aren't the habitat, definitely not the major habitat, of coots and moorhens. They're in open wetlands with reeds, grasses, low shrubs and also in ponds, particularly coots.
"They're in open wetlands with reeds, grasses, low shrubs and also in ponds, particularly coots."
Please see preceding 4 comments. Then double the ridicule. Thanks for commenting Fishcrow.
Please see preceding 4 comments. Then double the ridicule. Thanks for commenting Fishcrow.
I looked at the preceeding 4 comments. Didn't see anything to contradict what I said, just sniping comments. There's a picture of an American Bittern in what looks like an area with trees, but I didn't say anything about bitterns. Then you got two pictures of a Common Moorhen, no trees in the second one and mangroves in the first one. A mangrove swamp bears little resemblence to a bottomland hardwood forest/swamp. Mangroves are more or less shrubs in that situation. Sure, they may be about 15 feet tall on Sanibel Island (where the picture was apparently taken), but the structure ain't what you'd call a woodland. Quite thick actually. Probably why it's pretty difficult to see a Mangrove Cuckoo there.
I'll tell Fishcrow you said hi.
"I'll tell Fishcrow you said hi."
Hah, so I did smoke you out?! You are with Auburn, aren't you? Mr. Hicks! Yes!
Mr. Hicks, how much did Auburn talk with the Fishcrow man? He says you and he talked for quite a while?
Did he help you any? With the protocol? On techniques? Did he talk about his double knockies?
It's ok. Just between you and me. No one will know. What happened when you met him? What's he like in person?
Because you amuse me and because I know you are from Auburn, I will be your teacher, grasshopper,
http://www.floridasprings.org/
exploration/featured/wakulla/
text/exploring/river/
"The common moorhen can be seen in constant motion walking on mats of river plants all along the Wakulla River. The moorhen's distinctive call can be heard echoing up and down the river. In late spring and early summer, moorhen adults are frequently seen feeding their chicks while keeping a watchful eye for alligators."
Is that great or what. Even has those aligators that you are trying to use to keep us out of your study site. Good luck with that! Anyone that has been on those beautiful Florida rivers sees coots and moorhens!
Now go back into the field and find what is making those kents and try to get the double knockies down too!
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