Recent content by Mike Johnston

Dig out Harris' MacMillan Field Guide to Bird Identification, turn to page 150 and there's the culprit, with the helpful note - "Partial albino Swift. Such individuals are not infrequent and can cause confusion with rarer species." Indeed.

A hypothetical question ;) - if you had a Zeiss Diascope 65 with 15-45x zoom, would you exchange it for a Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20-60x zoom?

I want to put a good B+W filter on my scope, mainly for protection. Is there ANY optical advantage in using a UV filter over a plain glass protective one? Thanks.

Even the guy 'selling' this plan for the FWS, doesn't sound too convinced! http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/23/ap4049402.html: Fleming said recovery efforts are worth the money even though some have questioned whether the ivory-billed woodpecker sightings were legitimate. "I would...

According to Birdwatch there is an article in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology claiming that the double raps are perhaps being confused with the wing collisions of Gadwall. http://birdwatchmagazine.blogspot.com/2007/06/another-nail-in-coffin-for-ivory-billed.html

More from Mike Collins, from 5.15.07 (http://www.fishcrow.com/winter07.html). Watch that space! There's still a long way to go this search season. I have an exciting new idea and will be getting help implementing it. I'm confident that the idea will eventually lead to sightings, good videos...

I'm still curious as to how LolaGal has seen Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed woodies, neither of which have been previously recorded in Kentucky, and Red-cockaded, which is officially listed as extirpated.

I see Rosann Kovalcik (Group 5) has her life-vest OVER her Swaros (you can see them dangling out the bottom). Is that in case she's tempted to actually use them?

Docmartin has a nice piece in his blog today on the paper, media, etc. Answers a couple of points too. And, of course, a bit of humour. ;)

Yes, Fitzpatrick is citing this as a reason for not accepting Doc's analysis - says it's like comparing apples and oranges. However, the fact that nobody at Cornell is even open to the mere possibility that they might be mistaken is starting to grate on many. Too much at stake I suppose. But...

Docmartin's paper now online here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/5/8/abstract

Docmartin's paper will be online today. There are already some articles on its contents. See these for a start: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14353338.htm http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/bc-aco031207.php http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0314-ibwo.html...

I seem to recall you also accusing Tom Nelson of being a troll when he posted here (2005), when all he was doing was questioning the evidence that Cornell had presented.

Was looking over the reported sightings in Florida this season and thought a summary of what has been reported might be of interest: Nov. 2006 Jeff Barna - Flew overhead at treetop level at sunset. Silhouette only. Large woodpecker. Long wings, thin neck, long wedge-shaped tail. Straight...

Cyberthrush has obtained a copy of Geoff hill's new 'Ivorybill Hunters' and has a mini-review on his site. He quotes Hill's closing thoughts (written before this search season): "What I am sure of is that the ivorybills are there. Not one bird. Not a single pair. At least a half dozen pairs and...