Listen to the knock of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker:But did an IBWO really produce that particular double-knocky?
Credit: Sound derived from a search for ivory-billed woodpeckers in the Florida panhandle, spearheaded by biologists at Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Windsor in Canada.
I recently talked to Mike Lanzone from the Carnegie Museum’s Powdermill facility about his sighting during the original, covert season of Cornell-led searching, and why they weren’t able to find any the following year. He felt that the original sightings in the Cache River NWR may have all been of the same bird, dispersing from a source population in the White River NWR, and that the Cornell team erred by putting too many searchers back in Cache last year and not enough in White River. Be that as it may, Mike is one of the best birders in the country, and was quite matter-of-fact about his own sighting of an IB landing on the trunk of a tree some 65 feet away, pulling out a grub, then flying off.1. I thought it odd that the sighting described above wasn't mentioned in "The Grail Bird", and it also didn't make Cornell's list of seven "robust" sightings (considering that Jim Fitzpatrick's 100-meter, naked-eye, 98.5%-confident flyby made the cut).
There’s more backstory to all this than I am willing to put into print, but suffice it to say that the most prominent doubters have axes to grind, and that Cornell may have made some blunders. The IB is a reality.
After realizing he had just seen an ivory-billed woodpecker thought to have vanished from the Earth 60 years ago, Westmoreland County ornithologist Mike Lanzone burst into tears.2. It's absolutely ridiculous to suggest that Cornell didn't deploy enough searchers in the White River area last season.
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As he floated past a giant cypress tree, he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye.
"The bird flew off a stump after it saw me and flew from left to right through the woods in front of me," Lanzone said. "I got a good look at it for three to four seconds. I knew it was an ivory-billed woodpecker.
"I've observed birds for 20 years. Everything about it -- the way it flew, the size of it, where the white was on the wings -- I knew it was it."
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Scientists hope as many as 30 of the birds might be living in the area.
Like it or not, the birding world has undergone a split, a crevice that will continue to widen until the believers and nonbelievers come to a conclusion as to the Lord God Bird's existence.I disagree. I think the split actually peaked some time ago, and is slowly narrowing as all searches everywhere continue to come up empty.
The Service and its conservation partners consider most persuasive, among a number of reasons, the failure of all known videos showing pileated woodpeckers in flight to even come close to matching the characteristics present on the bird in the Luneau video in rejecting this alternative explanation.
Book ContestThe OWAA Creed is here:
Sponsored by OWAA
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First: "The Grail Bird" By Tim Gallagher. The discovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct for more than 60 years, makes for an exciting tale of the swamps. The history of the bird and what happened to its habitat throughout the swamps and bottoms of the southeast was compelling reading.
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I believe in the profession of outdoor reporting as a public trust to report that which is true. Accuracy, fairness and clarity in words and photographs are a fundamental part of my profession.
I will present to my audience only that which I can present ethically. My financial return will not influence my judgment, nor will I evade my personal responsibility to search for facts. I believe in honest representation and conscientious performance and I will not stoop to plagiarism.
I believe the trust that is imposed on me is subject to justification in my own heart and mind, and that the true test of my work is the measure of its public service.
I assume this is legit (...if it isn't, killing a feral cat will be the least of Jim's crimes) --- master birder Jim Stevenson of Texas weaves an interesting, previously-untold tale of Ivory-bill discovery here...That post has now been replaced with this one:
Since too many elements of the Jim Stevenson article seem non-credible I'm deleting it unless or until there is further validation for it. If you didn't read it don't worry about it; if you did consider it entertainment for now.
...The worst miss was the prediction that the ivory-billed woodpecker would be re-found. Come on, birders, give us some help out there; a good photo, please, not the skin.
Santa: brings gifts to those who believe in him
IBWO: brings donations to those who believe in it
Santa: inexplicable sightings from all over the country reinforce rather than discourage believers
IBWO: inexplicable sightings from all over the country reinforce rather than discourage believers
Santa: Media plays along with his existence - news shows report “sightings from NORAD” on Christmas Eve since it is a “feel good story”
IBWO: Media plays along with existence - NPR reports “sightings from kayaks” in Arkansas since it is a “feel good story”
Santa: his elves wear ridiculous costumes and appear not to have lives of their own
IBWO: his searchers wear ridiculous costumes and appear not to have lives of their own
Santa: even those who know he doesn’t exist think he is important for what he represents
IBWO: even those who know it doesn’t exist think it is important for what it represents
Santa: no picture that can’t be debunked
IBWO: no picture that can’t be debunked
Santa: propelled by the astonishing flight of 8 gravity-defying reindeer
IBWO: propelled by the astonishing hubris of 17 reality-denying authors
Santa: Ho, ho, ho.
IBWO: Kent, kent, kent.
And Rideout said it is possible that Davis and Robison did see an ivory-billed woodpecker.Update: The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) gives the story this headline: "Sighting revives woodpecker hunt".
"It's definitely not always a black or white with this kind of thing," Rideout said. "I think because the sighting was in an area where there have been other sightings, we will have some search effort in that area this year," she said.
There is a new interview with Texas-based monster metal band FREAK13’s Chester Moore who tells about his upcoming tour during the summer of 2007. In the interview, Moore seems to be saying he more or less indirectly was involved in the discovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. A friend of Ted Nugent, Moore is an outspoken advocate for killing a Bigfoot to prove they exist, which is not discussed.Moore is described as a "wildlife researcher/author" in this April 2005 article. An excerpt:
Moore has logged expeditions search for the elusive species in Louisiana and Texas and even got to spend time in the field with the Zeiss-sponsored research team in the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area in 2002.This accompanying photo is captioned "Researcher Chester Moore points out ivorybill sign in the Sabine River bottoms."
“I have been doing ivorybill research since the late 1990s, but going out in the field with Zeiss team members David Luneau and Martjan Lammertink really opened my eyes up to the possibilities. They were very enthused with the habitat they found in one tract we were in and I looked around and realized it is identical to that found along the Sabine River,” Moore said.
People in the region report spotting the bird nearly every day.
Update: Winging It has printed idiotic Audubon propaganda about the ridiculous, copycat claims from Auburn University, warning birders to stay out of the study site in Florida -- "we can all agree that [the report] inspires hope" etc. (Nov/Dec 2006, p.20). No we can't. What this article actually inspires is fury that money that should be spent on essential habitat conservation and research by competent biologists is being wasted and that organizations founded by serious birders are now run by charlatans. It's a zero-sum game, and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker nonsense is zeroing out legitimate projects.
Wednesday night, Dr. Fitzpatrick reviewed the evidence for the bird's continued existence. He showed the brief film and analyzed it. The bird in the film certainly looked, to an untrained backyard birder like myself, like an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Perhaps the most telling piece of evidence for me was the analysis of wingbeats that matched exactly with what was known of the wingbeats from the 1940s birds.A related post is here.
I don't find much encouraging in Cornell's overdue final summary of last season's Big Woods search. Indeed one is almost left to wonder if the report's very late public release has anything to do with fears that earlier publication would've discouraged applications from new volunteers for the coming search season (but maybe I'm being too negative)???In this instance, Cyberthrush raises a good point. The report is devastating to the "body of evidence" argument, and I see no other plausible reason why it wasn't released earlier. Note that it is dated "October 2006".
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