"glare from the sun"

Here.

"a team of pragmatic biologists"

Here.

Two years ago today

Just for review, here's an excerpt from this article:

...On April 28, 2005, the peer-reviewed 17-author paper was published with much fanfare by Science magazine on its Science Express Web site. Cornell and the Nature Conservancy launched www.ivory-bill.com and provided the media with easily downloaded images. The lab's marketing department fired off electronic press releases to 1,000 members of the media. Cornell's press office beefed up its presence in Washington and assisted in the media rollout of news items: 43 radio shows, 174 television programs and 459 newspaper articles. Overnight, the ivory-billed woodpecker became a generally accepted scientific fact.

Related videos are here.

Sibley's ABA workshop

David Sibley presented his "Psychology of Bird Identification" workshop at the ABA convention this week.

Here's a paragraph from an attendee:

The second lecture, on the psychology of bird identification, was given by David Sibley. In his opening remarks, he said he was always interested in the topic, but the recent debate over the rediscovery (or not) of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and its associated evidence, really has intrigued him. He provided lots of interesting observations on phenomenon and human behaviors that prevent us from being entirely objective. In general, as our experience in bird watching grows, we evolve from a step-wise form of identification to a holistic one. This evolution allows us to make very educated shortcut guesses as identification, that tend to be correct (out of experience) but can also be risky (because the process skips the stepwise approach). There are other factors as well that I will not delve into. All in all it was a very interesting lecture that hit home with me several times. In many ways, the process of identifying a bird with limited information is very similar to the process of figuring out a software problem with limited information. In both cases it is not uncommon for what I would call "conspiracy theories" to form and grow. Human tendency is to note evidence that supports the theory instead of evidence that contradicts the theory. It requires a purposely objective approach to consider the alternatives and reach root cause (or identity).

A bit more on this workship is here.

More from Martin Collinson

Here.

Confusion with non-woodpeckers

This IBWO searcher admits that glimpses of some non-woodpeckers (especially anhingas) can be confusing.

A related post by Patrick Coin is here.

More from Cyberthrush

Here.

Today's links

1. Fishcrow has found an "Ivory-bill" in some of his footage from the Choctawhatchee. Check out his 4/23/07 entry here.

2. A posting about double knocks in the dark is here.

3. They're incredibly elusive, highly mobile, and live in dense forests. Auto-focus is a big problem. More Sasquatch excuses are here.

Mark Ross to search again

Article here.

Related post here.

Harrison racks up yet another IBWO sighting

An excerpt from this link:

Harrison, who has seen the elusive ivory-bill six times now (most recently in February), is raising money for full-time search efforts through the Ivory Billed Woodpecker Foundation.

Update: Regarding his foundation, here's a paragraph from a Birder's World article:

BH: That's right. We'd like to be able to fund whatever cost it takes to have somebody, say, go into the Pascagoula River drainage system [in southeastern Mississippi] and work. But to be able to work full-time is the goal. My goal is to be able to raise $1.5 million in the next year and a half. In 10 years, have over $10 million and work off the principal because that would give a salary and a research budget for different locations. And I want the foundation to outlive me.

Regarding search costs, here's an excerpt from Geoff Hill's site:

We are currently taking applications for full-time searchers for the 2006/2007 field season. The minimum time commitment is January 2 to May 30, 2007. Searchers willing to work through Christmas and New Year holidays are also especially needed. Stipend is $1200/mo with no benefits. Anyone willing to join the full-time search without receiving a stipend will get special consideration. Searchers will live in a remote camp in a tent or in a bunkhouse and must purchase their own food.