"The last of its species"?!

Check this out.

One snippet:

ARCATA -- The ivory-billed woodpecker seen in an Arkansas swamp in 2004 is no Lazarus of endangered species, said an ornithologist leading the effort to rediscover the bird, or at least not until a mate is sighted.

John Fitzpatrick, the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said in an interview Friday that no information gathered since then has shown the bird may be a lone woodpecker.

”This is moot if we found a stray bird flying around at the end of its breeding life,” Fitzpatrick said.

If it were, it would be the last of its species, and turn a story of great hope and resilience back into a story of extinction.

Still, the team of 30 ornithologists are still scouring thousands of square miles old woods in the area. They are looking for a female bird that could provide hope for the species' future. They are also listening with remote devices, recording bird calls and trying to differentiate the ivory-billed woodpecker's call from that of jays'.

Will the Ivory-bill save the world?

Here's my guess: no.

According to this, Fitz is delivering a keynote lecture tonight:

ARCATA -- “How Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers (and Other Birds) Will Save the World” is the title of the keynote lecture to be given on Saturday by Dr. John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, for the 11th annual Godwit Days Spring Migration Festival.

The "Field of Dreams" hypothesis?

An excerpt from here:

Costner's character builds his baseball field and long-dead ballplayers show up, though it takes a while, and not all humans can see the ballplayers, which perhaps has parallels with current Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) management.

Pictures from the White River IBWO search

Here.

More from Tim Barksdale

Here is a month-old MOBIRDS post from Tim Barksdale.

One astonishing snippet:

The Sibley article was an interesting but ineffective exercise. Kenn Kaufman's comments could easily be chalked up mostly to honeymoon "hangover" while Jerry Jackson's Auk article was very entertaining. So Far - I see nothing which even comes close to causing any concern or real doubts about the existence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Arkansas.

Elsewhere in that post, Barksdale employs what I'd call a classic "cough-mumble" defense.

There's more from Barksdale here.

A familiar story

It's an oft-repeated pattern: an Ivory-bill searcher cries after a really lousy glimpse of a fleeing bird.

When recently recalling this particular March 2005 sighting, the searcher remembers hearing kent-like calls in the area on the previous day. In accounts from last year (account 1; account 2 [PDF-see page 14]), there is no mention of the kent-like calls.

Note that the "post-glimpse crying" description also appears to vary (from "almost in tears" to "tears for hours").

IBWO mascot head on eBay

From this eBay item description:

For many years, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was pronounced extinct... but within the last year or so several IBWs have been confirmed and documented in the Cache River and White River forests of eastern Arkansas! What was once thought to be a long-lost creature has made a miraculous comeback and this head is a testament and celebration to the bird's strength and perseverance!

Harrison's busy schedule

A couple of excerpts from an article in The Decatur (Alabama) Daily today:

Since igniting a scientific frenzy last May when announcing the rediscovery the ivory-billed woodpecker, the Decatur native has had the difficult task of juggling his schedule. He needs enough time to do more research in the Arkansas swamp where he found the bird long thought extinct and to answer requests to explain the rediscovery at 41 birding programs.

That includes his May 5 talk during the inaugural North Alabama Birding Festival. He will speak at the Holiday Inn during a $25-per-plate catfish and barbecue dinner.

"I have spoken to Audubon groups, birding festivals and at museums," Harrison said. "I have numerous programs booked for the fall. The reception from the people has been wonderful. This story has certainly touched the hearts of those that love nature."
...
Harrison said presently he can't comment about whether he's had more bird sightings, but he said he will show new video that proves the bird's existence.

"One of the videos has not yet been made public and will be shown for the first time during the catfish and barbecue dinner," he said.

I suspect the video above may actually be this quarter-second flyby. That 2004 video may have already been shown to the public.