"False advertising?"

Here.

Update: The Birdchaser has now changed the post at the link above; also see a good comment by Patrick Coin there.

Today's links

1. The Ivory-bill is mentioned in this Telegraph article.

An excerpt:

The pointless endeavour that most captured my own imagination this week, though, was the quietest one: the latest instalment in the saga of the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker, a creature last seen in 1944 and thought by many to be extinct. The ivory-bill is the Nessie, the White Whale, of the bayou.

2. Bobby Harrison's Inaugural Fund-raising Gala is tonight.

For some reason, the associated "ibwfound" link doesn't seem to work these days.

Here's today's blurb from the Huntsville Times:

Ivory-billed woodpeckers, speakers Bobby Harrison and Tim Gallagher, benefit for ivory-billed protection, Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, 3000 Johnson Road, 6 p.m., $35, 883-1166 or 830-0738.

Article about the Big Thicket search

Here.

Excerpts:

Armed with a research grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arvin began the hunt in the Big Thicket last Nov. 1. It will continue through the next month when new leaf growth on trees will make looking for the elusive nomadic bird even more impossible.

"I'm hopeful, neither optimistic nor pessimistic," Arvin, 63, said. "I'm not 100 percent convinced. We may not have any, even though they may be somewhere else, Florida or Arkansas."
...
No clear signs of the Ivory-billed have surfaced after several months of searching the Big Thicket and monitoring by electronic devices. Shoe-box size cameras belted to tree trunks are aimed at promising cavities carved out by woodpeckers or at areas where bark has been scaled off by birds in search of a beetle snack.

They've captured photos of squirrels and other birds, including a similar-looking but smaller Pileated Woodpecker, but no Ivory-bills.

"Look Who's in the Swamp"

Here.

Award for Harrison and Gallagher

Here.

Masterpieces Or Fakes? The Joyce Hatto Scandal

A reader writes:

Link here.

Just like the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: 100% phony.

IBWO excuses

IBWO excuses:

Area too vast--not enough searchers
Too many searchers--IBWO scared off

Area too remote--not enough searchers
Area not remote enough--IBWO scared off by traffic (I-40), hunters, fisherman, four-wheelers

Bird too wary, spooked by searchers (but not by traffic, hunters, fisherman, four-wheelers)
Bird too wary, suddenly spooked by traffic, hunters, fisherman, four-wheelers that have been present for decades

Bird won't sit still, always just flies by
(Exceptions: Kullivan, Sparling, Hicks, Scott)

Bird always hops to other side of tree

Bird hops into roost hole during day upon encountering searchers

Too little water--makes tromping through swamp forest noisy (a boat would be better)

Floods--make tromping through swamp forest difficult, so must use boat, limiting access (walking would be better)

IBWO must be dead now--shot by hunters annoyed by searchers

IBWO must be dead now--hit by truck on I-40 (or I-10, ...)

(It WAS alive until we saw it and published our GREAT papers, but now it's dead, so too bad if you want to see it. Ha, ha!)

****

No photo excuses:

camera slow to start up
auto-focus chose branches, canoe paddles, etc., instead of IBWO (Hicks, etc.)
Camera left on seat of car (Scott)
Camera left in backpack (Kullivan, LaBranche)
Bird too wary of anyone with camera, unless it is off, out of focus, or left on car seat or in backpack (See stories of: LaBranche, Hicks, Scott, Kullivan)

IBWO wary of automated cameras, so Pileateds are able to sneak in and work on areas stripped of bark by IBWO. (Those sneaky Pileateds.)

IBWO wary of automated cameras, so Pileateds, squirrels, Red-headed Woodpeckers, raccoons, etc., are able to sneak in and use "A-holes" drilled by IBWO.

***

No calls, or wrong calls excuses

Noisy birds shot out years ago, now only mute IBWO survive
(Except IBWO call for ARU's and Blue Jays all the time.)

Blue Jays make kent calls because they have heard IBWO for years--thus proof of IBWO existence.

No nuthatches present in study area (known with 100% confidence), so we know any kent-like calls are made by IBWO.

No Blue Jays present in study area (known with 100% confidence), so we know any kent-like calls are made by IBWO.

OK, so some Blue Jays present in study area, but their kent calls are clearly imitations of all the IBWO's in the study area. (See above.)

But IBWO's are now mute, OOPS. Except for when (non-existent) Blue Jays are present. Except for when ARU's are present and working...

Better excuse. IBWO's are mute when they are being seen--they now must call only from within an A-hole, therefore undetectable visually, or when a Blue Jay pokes its head into the A-hole, or maybe a Nuthatch.

A radical new hypothesis...

IBWO's now must live inside their A-holes. They must have learned to imitate the begging calls of Pileateds, Squirrels, Nuthatches, and Blue Jays, which provide food to adults and young. Entire generations of IBWO's survive inside these A-holes, and only emerge to fly, briefly, to a vacant A-hole. THIS could explain the data!

Error, error--my brain exploded.

(this was all first posted in the comment section by Patrick Coin)

Animating the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

A reader writes:

They're gonna 'prove' that thing's an IBWO if it's the last thing they do!!!

"Animating the Ivory-billed Woodpecker", Jeffrey Wang, Master of Science thesis (PDF, 5.6 Meg) Cornell Graduate School, 2007

From the abstract:

"The proposed rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, while celebrated by some ornithologists, was debated by others. Central to the argument is the interpretation of a fuzzy video depicting a large black and white bird taking flight. This thesis describes the creation of a physiologically-accurate animation of a flying Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in hope that it can be one day used to verify the rediscovery."

"Beginning to feel like Charlie Brown"

Here.

Recovery Team Executive Committee meets

...at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Florida.

Check out the entire article here.

Regarding the alleged one millisecond (in bad light) sighting by Tyler Hicks, the article says:

"It was as good a sighting as you can make," said Hill. "He basically saw all the field markings expect for the yellow eyes."

Note also this language (the bold font is mine):

Laurie Fenwood of the Fish and Wildlife Service was leading Wednesday's executive committee session.
...
"It was an iconic species," said Fenwood. "Rediscovery of this amazing woodpecker, it would be a symbol that conservation can work, and has worked, in the United States."

Mobile search team update

Here.

An excerpt:

When I walked into the house in the evening, Martjan told me that Nathan had photographed a new species for the search, a large black-and-white bird with a little red that flew like a duck. I struggled to remain composed while trying to decide whether it could actually be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I was not impressed with the Muscovy Duck photos.

We met with Mike Collins this evening for Cajun cuisine and to discuss Mike’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker searches in the Pearl River Basin. We were impressed by Mike’s dedication, having now gained an appreciation for how difficult it is to work in the Pearl River Basin in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Mike obtained video of a large woodpecker in the Pearl last year that he identifies as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (www.fishcrow.com/winter06.html), based in part upon the shape of the bird’s neck. We discussed the variation that can occur in the shape of Pileated Woodpecker necks depending on posture and we recommended caution with this characteristic.

Another update from Hill

Here.

"...Leah Filo Returns from Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Search"

Here.

Today's links

1. Check out this video about the Texas Ivory-bill search.

About the Luneau video, the narrator asks "Is it an Ivory-billed Woodpecker" and then answers his own question with "Most think yes...".

Under "More Info" at the link above, we see this:

John Arvin will be speaking to the Dallas Audubon Society on the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker March 12.

The Audubon Dallas web site says Arvin is speaking on that date, but his topic is “Using NEXRAD Weather Radar to Study Bird Migration”.

2. David Luneau's site now has some photos from this month's celebration of the third anniversary of Sparling's alleged Ivory-bill sighting.

Interview with Hill

Available here.

Bivings paper

Mentioned here.

I've read the paper, but I haven't yet found a freely available copy online.

Gizmodo on the "robot bird watcher"

Here.

An excerpt:

It's like UFO sightings, only several orders of magnitudes less exciting.

"Questioning the Global Warming Science"

...an annotated bibliography of recent peer-reviewed papers (PDF) is available here (short version) and here (long version).

Tantalizing bark scaling in northern New Jersey

Here.

DNA "barcoding" article

Here.

An excerpt:

The Smithsonian has barcoded an Ivory-billed woodpecker preserved from decades ago, "so if birdwatchers now find a fresh feather, we could strongly confirm the bird still survives," says Dr. Hebert.

"Bigfoot video supports IBWO"

A reader writes:

I’ve always appreciated the similarity of Bigfoot “research” and the woodpecker debacle. This video puts both together, just as you might imagine. Basically some are saying that millions of dollars spent on pecker research (Cornell) resulted in 4 seconds of video that confirmed the bird. They think if millions were thrown at Bigfoot research, the same “confirmatory” result would occur. Hey, if 4 seconds of blur works for Cornell, it’ll work for Bigfoot.

This video is about Bigfoot, but at about 6:20 they talk about the IBWO. It’s pretty entertaining.

Enjoy the video here.

The "carbon sink" and global warming-OT

Here.