Monday, October 23, 2006

More from Bobby Harrison

Here.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

A website dedicated to the Ivory-billed woodpecker and not one picture of a live or dead pecker.

Bobby doesn't even believe anymore. He's just running out the clock.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of wooden peckers.

Anonymous said...

...some critics, like in the days of old will not be satisfied until they hold a warm dead ivory-bill in their own hand.

This pathetic "argument" is becoming the latest true-believer meme -- "quaoar" at DailyKos tossed out the same zinger:

Maybe they'd prefer to prove it the old-fashioned way. Back in Louisiana, when there was a report of an IBW, they would send someone out to shoot it and bring it back.

I would accept one of those newfangled dagguerotype things, so long as it was date-verifiable...

Anonymous said...

Yow!! Did Eagle Optics really sponsor that website and not even give him enough money for a spellchecker or offer to copy edit?

The IBWO was "sighed" in 1944. Hill is the "Principle" Investigator” - which I guess is like an Integrity Officer.

But that is nit picking. The real issue is in the banner quote saying "second chances are extremely rare". Who is he quoting? The Fitzcrow? Is that something they started saying at the end of the 2006 search season as they tried to figure out how to salvage something from the mess they made in the swamp? Was it a cry to press on with the work or just the realization that they had blown the “conservation story of the century”. Doesn't Bobby know that he is being given a second chance to step back from all this and show he has the sense and humility to admit that it was way premature to express certitude about the IBWO without a photo. For him to start a 501(c)3 to educate people about a species he can't photograph shows that he is blowing his second chance. Though he will be very surprised to find out how common third, fourth and fifth chances can be if you live long enough.

Anonymous said...

Bobby is going to become the Oliver Stone of the Ivory-billed world. Be prepared for a long list of conspiracy theories on evidence suppression.

Anonymous said...

What Gail actually said was "This is a rare second chance to preserve through cooperative conservation what was once thought lost forever"

And this is an ambiguous statement in that it is not clear if she thinks it is rare to get a second chance to use "cooperative conservation" or to “preserve ... what was once thought lost forever.” Amazing that she would call the CLO/TNC IBWO fortress “cooperative conservation”. What seemed to her to be a partnership of respected research and dedicated conservation was actually a partnership of two groups with a shared delusion not allowing cooperation from anyone who might provide a reality check Let’s hope that sort of thing is rare.

Anonymous said...

"Maybe they'd prefer to prove it the old-fashioned way. Back in Louisiana, when there was a report of an IBW, they would send someone out to shoot it and bring it back."

Yes, Bobby, and that was, what, 75 years ago? A lot of other things have changed since then. Duh duh-duh......

This whole straw man of "skeptics won't be satisfied unless they are holding a warm IBWO in their hands" is just modified spin from the CLO et al. IBWO political machine that began with Fitz's plenary comment "I can understand if, for some people, seeing is believing, but......" And we reply with "no, we don't have to see one in person, but we need some actual proof (and what you've got ain't it)."

What's amazing is the believers' ability to perpetuate their make believe world. It must come naturally to be able to maintain such a biased attitude and filter anything negative. State of Denial II.

Anonymous said...

Some seem to think its an exageration and/or not true that individuals have called for the shooting of an IBWO recently. I have seen at least three posts distributed to several hundred people on various list serves that called for the taking of a bird.

One such post was recently made in NC by a person who has a collecting permit.

It seems at least these skeptics care little about erring on the side of conservation of the species.

Other skeptics calling for the taking of a specimen have shown an inconsistancy in basic thought processes since one day they say the inbreeding of the species is a concern yet soon after they call for the taking of a specimen which certainly would not increase viabilty.

These people exist......so never say its crying wolf when a proponent or a even a thoughful skeptic points out that conservation outweights the need for 100% proof achieved by a specimen.

Anonymous said...

Did you know that a tea made from dried Bigfoot penis allegedly cures erectile dysfunction and baldness! This is bad news for the elusive Sasquatch, already extinct in Japan.

Anonymous said...

I have to back "fred v" on this one. I know of two cases where ornithologists took exceedingly rare birds, without knowledge of population size or stability.

When the Jocotoco Antpitta was discovered, 4 birds were collected (2 males, 2 females), despite the fact that little was known about the bird or its population.

The other is the Forest Owlet. Rediscovered in India after nearly 100 years, at least one was collected despite the fact that a specimen already existed.

I hate to say it, but there is definitely a bit of a "big game" mentality among some ornithologists. Not all, by any means, but some.

Anonymous said...

The birds are "all up and down the river" according to Mennill. So please! Someone with a collector's permit. Please get out there and shoot one!

I beg you. What's one out of 30 birds in the Choctafullofhooyee? Plus we have populations in Arkansas and the Pearl, among others. So what would it matter?

And maybe, just maybe, you collectors will be better with a shotgun than Fishcrow et al is with a camera.

Anonymous said...

No worries. Even if taking a specimen was authorized, there ain't any out there to take. Even so, you believers should redouble your efforts to get other proof ASAP as a preemptive measure....