1. From The Birdchaser here.
2. From A Transitional Fossil here.
3. From Cryptomundo here.
Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #621
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3 comments:
I didn't know Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison are ornithologists! I guess it's because they aren't.
I didn't know Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison are ornithologists!
We continue to belabor a moot point on this forum: birders vs. ornithologists. That discussion doesn't serve any valid purpose.
An ornithologist is a person who studies birds. Period. A birder also studies birds. A birder is an ornithologist. We also have the classic academic ornithologist who studies taxonomics and systematics.
Museum/laboratory folks. Some of these museum ornitholists are also decent field birders. Many of them are worthless in the field.
The old axiom has been "birders tell the museum ornithologists what the birds are, ornithologists tell the birders how they are related to one another."
The terms "amateur" and
"professional" are sort of a slippery slope. The ornithology student working on a field study for a stipend is a "professional".
The hard-core nationally-known birder who is an authority on field ID techniques is an "amateur", since his day job lies outside ornithology.
Now, after going through all this somewhat subjective exercise in terminology, we return to one undeniable fact concerning the IBWO:
No birder or ornithologist has presented any documentation that proves the existence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker beyond ca. 1944.
If the species did somehow exist into the 21st century, I feel that it would be impossible or at least extremely unlikely that it would not have been documented many times.
I am acquainted with several highly-skilled birders of excellent reputation who have participated in 21st century IBWO hunts, and I know several others by their excellent reputation, who have also been involved.
Not a single one of these folks has claimed to have seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
Glaring inaccuracies aren't a moot point. It's the sloppy believe-what-you-want-to-believe attitude in reporting, and "research," that has been plaguing this whole debate.
If someone is a good birder, being an ornithologist or not IS largely a moot point.
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