Ivory-billed Woodpecker (formerly updates) (2 Viewers)

[timeshadowed]

Regarding sighting reports without photos:

I am encouraged by each reported sighting even if it does lack the much desired photo evidence. So why are you letting the lack of photo evidence frustrate you so much? The photos will come in time. We must just be patient as the search continues.

What is frustrating me, and I'm sure many others, is the fact that this one thread was started in May 2005 with promises of searches that would bring conclusive proof. And it's not even the oldest thread of it's type!
Now 18 months later all we see is the same thing over and over.

"I've seen/heard them but couldn't get a picture" etc.

Please realise that I would be delirious if this bird was not extinct, as I'm sure many other of the skeptics would be. But continuous posting of sightings that can't be proven only makes the frustration worse.

 

[Osprey_watcher]

Osprey_watcher,

I think the IBWO is almost certainly extinct. I am unconvinced by any of the evidence presented. If I am on a side on this thread, it is the side of the non-believers, particularly those who highlight other conservation priorities.

Nonetheless, I believe that your first post to a new member of the forum was rude, insulting and inflammatory. Your follow-up posts directed at MMinNY were worse. Read them back and consider whether you would wish to be spoken to in a similar tone under similar circumstances. What kind of an apology is qualified with a further insult?

For better or worse, this thread is the entry-point for a number of new members of the forum. It saddens me to of the poor impression it creates, and how it misrepresents the general spirit of BirdForum.

Regards,
Graham

And this isn't rude? But I don't mind.
I did take time out to say I wasn't trying to be rude.
And whether I would wish to be spoken to in similar tones?
No problem. If someone disagrees with me let them say so however they wish, as you have done.
And if I disagree with something I will say so.
Must say there's a lot of high horses on here tonight!!!

 

[Osprey_watcher]

WOW.
The guy posts that he has seen something he believes to be an Ivory-Billed, and gets knocked for it right out of the gate?
Are we just a little paranoid that it might actually exist?

Not at all Heartlander. Would love it to exist.
Just can't understand why people constantly post about sightings without any evidence to back it up.

 

[Osprey_watcher]

Regarding sighting reports without photos:

I am encouraged by each reported sighting even if it does lack the much desired photo evidence. So why are you letting the lack of photo evidence frustrate you so much? The photos will come in time. We must just be patient as the search continues.

Hurry up then. I'm getting old now. I could be extinct before the photos come.

 

[Jane Turner]

I am an Arkansas duck hunter.On 12/31/06 I was scouting for ducks on another refuge near WRNR and CRNR.I had a nearly 8 minutes encounter at about 35 yards with a possible IBW.I am now a believer and have since been in the area 2 more days looking around.It was an amazing experience.

Hi there.

Can I encourage you to carry a small notebook just in case you are lucky enough to have this opportunity again. Live notes of what you observe and hear at the time are incredibly valuable.

Best wishes

 

[Jane Turner]

That's OK, Tre329. But just in case you have not read much of this thread yet, I just wanted to let you to know that this discussion thread can become very 'heated' at times between those who think that the IBWO is extinct and those that hold that the IBWO still exists. So don't let anything that may be posted here by some bother you. Again, I look forward to reading more posts from you.

and those of us who have an open mind but think that the evidence so far presented is totally inadequate for an acceptable record of a minor state rarity. let alone a rarity of this importance.

 

[Osprey_watcher]

Bitterntwisted

Can't reply to your PM cos your mail box is full.

 

[Gomphus]

This thread is sad, really sad. 30 years of birding and it makes me embarrassed to be a birder. Why such sniping and name calling, can we not get along nicely? Its a bad advert for the hobby otherwise.
Please treat members of the public who are not birders better, some (not all) seemed to tell an excited and enthusiastic guy who seems to have had a very interesting sighting, we are not interested, you are wrong, theres no evidence, so you didn't see it, its extinct! This could be seen as insulting. May not be intended, but it can read that way. People (including birders) are easily put off reporting sightings because of this attitude, it would be sad if "the one sighting" was missed because of this attitude. Sorry if this offends any one but its just my opinion.

I also sadly think that if we are not careful the result of all this may result in someone frustrated and annoyed enough to go out with a shotgun and blow one of these magnificent birds away just to provide the vocal doubters with their evidence, and the world would be a much sadder, much poorer place for it.

I don't know if the IBWO exists, I don't feel that I am in a position to judge here in the UK, if I'd put time in searching day in day out then maybe I would be in a better position to. But I really, really hope it does, and dispite the doubters going on about no evidence etc, my heart tells that there is that golden chance that somewhere there are IBWO going about their business quietly and without fuss!

 

[Tyke]

This thread is sad, really sad. 30 years of birding and it makes me embarrassed to be a birder. Why such sniping and name calling, can we not get along nicely? Its a bad advert for the hobby otherwise.
Please treat members of the public who are not birders better, some (not all) seemed to tell an excited and enthusiastic guy who seems to have had a very interesting sighting, we are not interested, you are wrong, theres no evidence, so you didn't see it, its extinct! This could be seen as insulting. May not be intended, but it can read that way. People (including birders) are easily put off reporting sightings because of this attitude, it would be sad if "the one sighting" was missed because of this attitude. Sorry if this offends any one but its just my opinion.

I also sadly think that if we are not careful the result of all this may result in someone frustrated and annoyed enough to go out with a shotgun and blow one of these magnificent birds away just to provide the vocal doubters with their evidence, and the world would be a much sadder, much poorer place for it.

I don't know if the IBWO exists, I don't feel that I am in a position to judge here in the UK, if I'd put time in searching day in day out then maybe I would be in a better position to. But I really, really hope it does, and dispite the doubters going on about no evidence etc, my heart tells that there is that golden chance that somewhere there are IBWO going about their business quietly and without fuss!

Well said :clap: :clap:

 

[Osprey_watcher]

Bitterntwisted

Can't reply to your PM cos your mail box is full.

Still can't get through, must be full again.
But no problem anyway.

 

[John DiFool]

Not at all Heartlander. Would love it to exist.
Just can't understand why people constantly post about sightings without any evidence to back it up.

Because it is what they saw? The conflict here seems to be between private
and public knowledge. Is it too hard to accept that some people may have seen
things which you were not privy to and they were correct in their interpretation?
Because they can't prove it to YOUR satisfaction does not in any way take away
from their experiences.

The rational thing to do at this point is to wait and see, and not provide bogus
percentages of survival and bullcrud like that (as if we were providing Vegas
odds on a football game), along with flames, innuendo and sour attitudes. But it
seems like people MUST come down, before all the evidence is in, on one side or
the other. What is wrong with a patient, nonjudgemental lets-see-what-turns-up
attitude? Certainly you can debate the evidence which is there, but flaming
the experiences of other people does them, the search, and the bird absolutely
no good.

 

[dacol]

The Auburn IBWO site has a new update:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/scie.../faculty/webpages/hill/ivorybill/Updates.html


More sightings and acoustic encounters!

Dalcio

 

[lewis20126]

The Auburn IBWO site has a new update:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/scie.../faculty/webpages/hill/ivorybill/Updates.html


More sightings and acoustic encounters!

Dalcio

Thanks for that post; I note a few similarities between:

27/11...
.."Unfortunately, Brain failed to capture an image of the fleeing bird—the auto focus on the camera focused on trees and bushes in the foreground as the bird flew off and the view of the fleeing bird was poor, through thick bushes..."

and

7/1
.."Tyler’s encounter was a great photo opportunity, but the camera failed us. Tyler’s SLR was set to auto focus and it focused instead of taking photos during the couple of seconds the bird was in front of him. This is extremely frustrating for all of us, but we are getting very close to a photograph of these woodpeckers. We’ll have a photo or video soon."

Coupled with earlier reports of blurred binoculars, I'm starting to wonder if this project has a problem with its focus.

 

[Ilya Maclean]

The Auburn IBWO site has a new update:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/scie.../faculty/webpages/hill/ivorybill/Updates.html


More sightings and acoustic encounters!

Dalcio

but sadly still no evidence :-(

 

[MMinNY]

Evidence yes (several eyewitnesses, perhaps recordings, though that's not clear.) Absolute proof no. But it shouldn't be long now.

"Tyler’s sighting cannot be dismissed as a misidentification. The details reported by Tyler absolutely rule out any other species of bird."

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/scie.../faculty/webpages/hill/ivorybill/Updates.html

That's a pretty categorical statement, and he's way, way out on a limb, only a couple of weeks into the search.

On edit: More than a couple of weeks but still very early.

And thanks Dalcio!

but sadly still no evidence :-(

 

[Edward woodwood]

But it shouldn't be long now.

no it shouldn't - let's hope it's not...

and i hope he get's the pic before he decides to write a book about it all...

Tim

 

[Touche]

Gotta feel for Tyler Hicks.

The most wanted photo in birding - denied!

Been trapped by technology myself with Fea's Petrel off Madeira - very frustrating!

Though not quite in the same league as the Southern Ghost...

A very convincing encounter.

 

[IBWO_Agnostic]

Reading about Tyler's most recent sighting I really think there are only two possible conclusions (because of his detail and notes of more than 1 field mark):

Conclusion 1: Tyler is a liar and interested only in gathering attention to himself.

Conclusion 2: An Ivory-billed Woodpecker exists in Florida.

Are there others?

 

[curunir]

Reading about Tyler's most recent sighting I really think there are only two possible conclusions (because of his detail and notes of more than 1 field mark):

Conclusion 1: Tyler is a liar and interested only in gathering attention to himself.

Conclusion 2: An Ivory-billed Woodpecker exists in Florida.

Are there others?

Conclusion 3: Delusional.

 

[chris murphy]

From the account given it does sound like Hicks had an IBWO, however, I do hope the 'autofocus' excuse isn't going to be one that we start hearing over and over again.