Update: The glimpser will evidently be on an NPR affiliate tomorrow!
An excerpt from this link:
I spent most of April down in the Bayous of Arkansas with the Cornell team, looking for the elusive IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. I went down as a skeptic. I came back a believer.Another update--here's an excerpt from this link:
I was fortunately (lucky) enough to actually SEE one!!!
The story is a bit long. And beyond this note, it's probably not appropriate for this forum.
I will be discussing the details tomorrow on the Albany, NY NPR affiliate WAMC. Folks down through the Hudson Valley or out the Mohawk Valley can listen in. Or, others can pick up the live broadcast on line at www.wamc.org.
Rich Guthrie
First for those who asked (sorry - my lapse), the radio program will be from 2 PM till 3 PM EDT (with a short news update at the beginning). The program is called "Vox-Pop", a listener call-in show (with an 800 348-2551 toll freeIf you have questions for Rich, I encourage you to give him a call today (Wednesday) between 2 and 3pm Eastern.
number) where I am essentially on the "hot-seat" taking questions on the air.
2. An interview with Geoff Hill is here.
3. John Wall writes:
As of May 2007, the National Audubon Society is still soliciting money on the false pretenses of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker "rediscovery"...Some details are here.
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22 comments:
From the Hill interview: Have you invited any professional photographers down who are well known for photographing illusive birds?
Now THAT is funny.
Illusive. Hah. I didn't catch that.
The "Eureka!" sighting did it right. A nice brief look, "confirming" an Ivory-bill before it could turn into something else, and no photo which could disprove the claim.
Perfect. Plenty to string along those so inclined.
I suppose you can dismiss anyone within a 100 mile radius of Cornell but I've met Rich Guthrie and he has my respect. I have come to accept the position that the original observers have deluded themselves but Guthrie has had two? years to assimilate all the verbage about Ivory-bills and he's no dummy. First time in a while that I've greeted a report with optimism. Not sure what to make of the 2 dollar bill reference.
Mark Cranford
Mississauga, Ont.
Another minimal reputation reaches a new low in the muck of white and black sillyness.
Auburn had time to consider what had happened to Cornell, too, but they followed right over the cliff.
No one is expert enough to positively identify the bird with one field mark. It's a little hard to fathom how people can generate the tiniest amount of excitement when every single "sighting" falls flat on it's face.
>Another minimal reputation reaches a new low in the muck of white and black sillyness.
On the contrary, Rich Guthrie has ascended to the upper echelons of Ivorybilldom by aggressively marketing his brief glimse of The Lord God / Grail Bird. Hundreds of people see Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, and by Bobby Harrison's standards, one sighting is barely noteworthy. But getting an interview on NPR is quite an achievement. It qualifies Guthrie for the -crow addendum, which is this blog's equivalent of the Japanese -san for the highest and mightiest in the land of Ivory-bill parascience.
There may be great opportunities ahead for Guthriecrow, including publication in learned journals like Science Magazine, Birding, American Birds, Audubon, Auk and Auklet. None of the post-1944 Ivory-bill records reported in these publications is better than his.
Furthermore, although Rohrcrow already has taken the Cornell sideshow act on tour to Audubon societies and garden clubs throughout the Northeast, the same groups have yet to hear a presentation by an actual Ivory-bill observer. Perhaps he could tie his lectures into local bird-a-thons to raise money to Send Rich Back for more Ivory-bill searching from North Carolina across to Texas.
Getting federal grant money will be tricky, but funding could be taken from minor species in the Albany area, like the Karner Blue butterfly, to assure that Albany's Ivory-bill expert can continue his important work.
As a birder from upstate NY I've met Rich Guthrie and he has been "Mr. Bird" around here for awhile. And it wasn't difficult for him to get on the local NPR affiliate as he has been doing a call-in show on the station for years (and encouraging and educating local birders as well).
I have no idea if he saw an Ivory-bill or not but I have no reason to doubt him (I've followed up on local rarities he's reported and found them) and I am not impressed by those who would question his reputation or motives behind a veil of anonymity.
And, for the record, Rich paid his own expenses (including transportation down and back) to take part in the search.
Here's Guthrie in his full Ivory-bill huntin' glory. He's in the middle.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/0607images/VolsGroup7.jpg
Between his camo and his shoot from the hip ID, perhaps his self-identification as a skeptic is a bit questionable.
I have no idea if he saw an Ivory-bill or not but I have no reason to doubt him
Really? You think that's the rational response? You may have no reason to believe he is lying, but you have every reason to doubt him, in my opinion.
A whole bunch of Cornell "experts" saw "Ivory-bills" but apparently there weren't any. Ditto for Auburn and a long list of lesser-known people.
For heavens sake! Fool me once, fool me twice. Fool me over and over and over. Fool me for sixty years. Fence-sitters, come to your senses!
The reason it can't be proven to exist is IT DOESN'T EXIST. The bird is fully as dead as the dodo. It isn't real. This is the biggest birding search in the history of the world for a large, obvious bird. It's a happy hope and a happy dream but it's only a freaking dream. Mis-identifications are real and common, especially with the standard brief glimpse/1 field mark.
(Walks off to calm down.)
No reason to doubt him?
Well, other than the obvious one
Has a good reputation?
I think the correct word there should be had
Just another nobody, sticking his head up and claiming his 15 minutes of fame, to be followed by an eternity of infamy. Except he won't be remembered because amongst all of the truly delusional people involved in this whole sorry mess he doesn't really stand out as any different from the masses. Now fishcrow and tmguy, they should both be remembered for a long, long time.
That's the same bird Tyler Hicks saw in Fla. It must be flying back and forth.It could possibly be the same bird Mike Collins saw in Louisianna!
Just place people in all three states at the same time and I think you'll finally get that $10K shot.
Better station some people in Ithaca,NY too just in case this bird likes to vacation up north in the summer.
Yeah, that's the ticket!
Again, it's easy to criticize from behind a wall of anonymity...afraid you might be wrong?
Everyone has a right (a duty?) to be skeptical but sniping at people's reputations and bird ID skills when you won't even ID yourself is pretty weak.
And as for calling somebody a "nobody" or a "Guthriecrow" or "delusional," well, if you are going to sink to that level without even identifying yourself then I think you have some issues of your own to work out. There is no reason to sink to the level of personal insult.
And if reading a comment on a blog about a bird sighting works you up to the point that you have to walk off to calm down, well, maybe you should find a new hobby.
I realize that this blog is called Ivory-bill Skeptic so it's pretty obvious what the reaction here to any sighting or report would be but I didn't expect the vitriol. Birders should be better than this.
corey said...Again, it's easy to criticize from behind a wall of anonymity...afraid you might be wrong?......sniping at people's reputations and bird ID skills when you won't even ID yourself is pretty weak.........There is no reason to sink to the level of personal insult.......I didn't expect the vitriol.
If you didn't expect the vitriol, what did you expect?
All of these people, who clearly are either delusional or fraudulent, can't really be in any doubt as to what will happen as they reveal each extraordinarily poor piece of 'evidence'. Unlike us poor sceptics they do know 'what is coming down the pike to crush their flat little world'.
As for ID'ing myself, I do. Every morning, without fail, I look in the mirror and recognise me.
Afraid I might be wrong? No, I've been sceptical since before it became really fashionable and I have absolutely no reason whatsoever to change that view.
I'm going over now to check out the example of spineless cowardice that calls itself the 'Ivory-billed Septic'. Will I find your condemnation of the comments on that blog somewhere on there? No? Didn't think so.
Cory,
It's extinct and your hero stinks.
Corey said "Birders should be better than this."
I love that sentence and suggest that the CLO start marketing (and we are all aware of their marketing skills) a t-sthrt that says:
The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: birders should be better than this
I agree comments that are intended to be personal insults are unnecessary and inappropriate. I think Mr. Guthrie is likely a great guy and a good birder.
I do know he didn't see an Ivory-billed Woodpecker however. If he wants the glory of claiming he saw an extinct bird, at this stage of the game he's guaranteed to take plenty of heat.
So are you certain he saw the bird? If not, wouldn't it be accurate to say you doubt him?
Corey:
I appreciate your standing up for a friend. That is a human characteristic that most people respect. But self-deception and a need to believe in something bigger than their own lives are also human traits. And from my point of view the IBWO "rediscovery" has been characterized by a bunch of friends, who have facilitated their self-deception so that they can see themselves as part of something bigger. In itself this is not a bad thing but when it combines fleecing an unsuspecting public and degrading "science" in an attempt to draw from a limited pool of conservation funds I am personally insulted and am not surprised that the discussion has sunk to the level of personal insults.
I am afraid I have to agree with an earlier commenter that Guthrie certainly appears to be the "Crow" form of the TB species. All of the field marks are displayed on his blog. Specifically he says:
"I knew instantly what it was! There was no mistaking it!"
(characteristic of all recent "IBWO" sightings since anything seen for more than an instant turns into some other species)
"Even though the camera was “on”, it was in a “pause” mode."
(the digital camera, its slow response and need for protection from the elements always plays a major role in the lack of a photo)
"But keep in mind, the area is huge"
(any smart journalist covering the IBWO rediscovery has this phrase as a one-key macro for easy insertion)
"We really don’t know all that much about this bird’s behavior. It has earned a reputation to be very ellusive(sic)"
(this should be a required macro also - but with elusive spelled correctly)
"Now, if you want hard evidence, go get it."
(while this type of statement is characteristic of the Crows it is unclear if it refers to evidence of the IBWO or of the level of delusion of the TB)
and perhaps most importantly he finishes with:
"No picture."
(this seals the deal for the Crow club. The first person who can say "Click on the link to see my picture" would never make it as a "Crow"
Any three of the above would earn him the name "Guthcrow". But he does appear to be most closely allied to the Fishcrow since he did not finish up his display with the "more funding" vocalizations characteristic of the Fitzcrow and Hillcrow.
I agree wholeheartedly with Corey's sentiments. There have been way too many people hurling insults in the comments section of this blog under the veil of anonymity/secrecy. That benefits no one.
I recently lambasted Fishcrow (as he himself prefers to be called) on my blog not because of his dogged pursuit of evidence to document the continued existence of IBWOs, but because of his rude and condescending remarks about "top birders" and ornithologists for not affording him the respect that he feels he deserves.
TBs and skeptics should be able to conduct this debate in a civil manner.
John Trapp believes that "TBs and skeptics should be able to conduct this debate in a civil manner."
I think that that the level of civility one brings to the IBWO discussion is related to the extent that it affects one's personal efforts and income. I am sure that there are software engineers who bird on weekends who follow all of this like a sporting event. But, there are people who visit here who are serious conservationists and researchers and are dependent on the same funding pools and donors being tapped by the IBWO rediscovery crowd. There are also environmental educators who are attempting to increase public awareness of the decreasing quality of our environment and find the circus of the IBWO "rediscovery" gives the wrong message to a world that will be trying to support ten billion people (and maybe even some wildlife) by mid-century.
Those with guaranteed incomes or in some agency trough can probably afford to be civil to anyone who wants to publicize their glimpse of an extinct bird. Those who have seen their donations or efforts hurt by the IBWO fiasco can be expected to display an increased level of emotion.
The trouble, Mr. Trapp, is that this whole absurd IBWO sillyness is smoking out those birders that are just plain below average on the IQ meter from those who have a brain.
Those of us with brains can't understand when it was that these idiots were ever allowed to dominate our sport, hobby, profession, and life-long love.
"TBs and skeptics should be able to conduct this debate in a civil manner"
Yes, after the TBs apologize for at least some of their incredibly rude statements, such as their blaming skeptics for the IBWO's near-extinction and their repeated premature gloating whenever there have been rumours of new "evidence"
After a round of elaborate apologies to Dr. Jackson and all other slandered skeptics they can retract their patently bogus scientific papers and public statements and pay back all the money they've wasted under false pretenses. At that point we should be well on our way to becoming a friendly community again.
I guess you have to report a sighting every few months just to keep this charade alive.
One thing is for certain. There's ample documentation of this birds' ass to write a whole thesis on it.
I bet Dr. Tanner didn't even see the birds' ass as many times as these people have!
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