This is obviously just meant to be a cute story but it has obvious IBWO parallels.Update--The same emailer now writes:
Wanted you to know that the demented people at fark.com had some fun with this angel story at this link, and perhaps the most relevant ornithological link from that site is here.
I am just grateful the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is not thought to be extinct.
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13 comments:
CLO has dispatched a team.
Or, light reflecting off of a species of Sphinx Moth.
If it really has limbs (we're not seeing the original image), it may be a bat.
As with IBWO sightings, angel sightings are most likely in the South, especially among Republicans and (other) uneducated folks. Belief in angels and the devil has been increasing since 1997, correlated with the recent increase in IBWO reports.
See:
http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2004/5_26_2004/ne260504poll.shtml
An interesting quote therein:
"As science, technology and rational explanations uncover and explain more and more about the known world, Americans are likely becoming more intrigued by the unknown," said the Rev. Albert Winseman, Gallup's religion and values editor.
This dubious source also states that more American women then men believe in angels, a remarkable 84% vs. 72% for men (men like the devil, with a belief rate of 70% vs. only 65% for women). Somehow I doubt that family Sphingidae has this level of name recognition in South Carolina.
The photo needs to be studied by a team of experts. Perhaps constructing and filming wooden angel and Sphinx Moth models would be in order.
Until we can prove otherwise, we should assume it's an angel.
Whatever it is, it needs to be collected. No voucher specimen exists for angels.
If an "angel" is something that looks blurry in a photo but can bring you fame and fortune then it is clear the the CLO actually had a picture of an angel and not an IBWO.
And I don't want to hear any more snide commments about the angel image from the skeptics on this blog. When angels finally go extinct it will be due to people like you who made fun of the images.
Whatever it is, it needs to be collected. No voucher specimen exists for angels.
I'm pretty sure Lisa Simpson found one once... but it turned out to be a hoax :-O
Well,....I shall go out on a limb and assert that; 1) that's a Sphinx Moth in South Carolina (don't know the species), and 2) the IBWP is unfortunately extinct.
In re IBWP v. Sanity
And I was one of the folk that was stunned, amazed and happy when I heard that they'd been rediscovered
on that misty April day (at least misty in Salina Ks). 'Course when I went to the IBWP/Cornell website and viewed the video I thought, "crap, what th' hell is that flyin' away from that there kayak?...h-yuck, snort, guffah!!!"
Must go to girlfriend's house and bore her with humorous anecdotes about the IBWP scandal...........
.............after dinner and throwing back some Bunnahabhain Single Malt I'm sure we will see some IBWP's here in the city that never sleeps...........(west of the Flint Hills anyway..)
and won't even have to leave the house for the wilds of hmmmmm.....some bayou a half mile off of an interstate in Arkansas?
A change of subject but perhaps still of interest:
From Wikipedia: "Some speculate that the focus should be on protection of habitat rather than further intrusive studies."
Who are these "some"? And how is it possible to intrude upon a creature that no longer exists? I'm all in favor of birding etiquette, but only if the bird in question actually exists!
I'm also in favor of preserving habitat, but wouldn't it be best for ornithologists to focus on preserving habitat where multiple extant, endemic, and threatened bird species are present? I can think of a few hundred such places and none is in northern Florida or Arkansas.
Ibwo Aetheist,
You are exactly right. But you are running up against a brand of environmentalist that is more animal rightist than scientific. These enviros are nutters who believe that the last few of a species should just be allowed to go extinct in peace than to suffer the "utter horror" of being subjected to salvation by those fools who call themselves biologists.
Did you know, Mr. Ibwo Aetheist, that there was a big brouhaha over bringing in the last of the California Condors for captive breeding in order to save them from extinction? And do you know what group argued the loudest and most vociferously against helping the condors survive?
The San Francisco Audubon Society. Neat huh?
I know more than enough about Animal rights nutters. If they had had their way I never would have seen a (non-countable) condor at Mt. Pinos.
The UK seems to have even more extreme and powerful nutters. They successful saved their invasive Ruddy Ducks at the expense of White-headed Ducks, which may be lost though interbreeding. See:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_wildlife/ALL/1145//
We can thank our nutters for establishment of Shiny Cowbird and other invasives and for the trashiest ticks on our ABA lifelists.
How about diverting the nutters' energy to a good cause by alerting them to the planned helicopter searches for IBWO? I hope they can help prevent a gratuitous waste of gas and annoyance of the common, widespread, non-globally-threatened birds present in the swamp.
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