I was checking through a book I'm selling on Amazon (Tropical World by Hartwig 1873 if anyone is interested), when I came across the following!
Just to re-cap ( cos I'm not reading 13,683 posts).... has any one actually seen one?
Yes/no answers will be enough for me!
Just to re-cap ( cos I'm not reading 13,683 posts).... has any one actually seen one?
Yes/no answers will be enough for me!
Just to re-cap ( cos I'm not reading 13,683 posts).... has any one actually seen one?
Yes/no answers will be enough for me!
Just to re-cap ( cos I'm not reading 13,683 posts).... has any one actually seen one?
Yes/no answers will be enough for me!
I was checking through a book I'm selling on Amazon (Tropical World by Hartwig 1873 if anyone is interested), when I came across the following!
...... a wood pigeon :'D !!!! Been turned into a fool by a wood pigeon more than I would like to admit but....never thought it an IWBO. That takes the cake!:-O
Think you'll find the article is comparing the 'chatter' of Wood Pigeons to human voices not the Woodpecker to a Wood Pigeon (IBWO)
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There is now a new wording on the BNA account, dated July 2008:...The Introduction to the BNA account had originally trumpeted the 2004 rediscovery. Compare the January 2006 version from the Internet Archive:
Editor's Note: April 2005 -- Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscovered in eastern Arkansas! The Big Woods Conservation Partnership launched an unprecedented search effort for this species after credible sight reports emerged from the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in 2004. Acoustic and video documentation since then confirm the earlier sightings. This account will be updated soon to reflect these developments, but the basics of the life history information here remain accurate and unchanged. This is an extraordinary species that we might have the chance to study again.with the current version, apparently from January 2008:
Editor's Note: January 2008 -- Despite considerable press attention, Ivory-billed Woodpecker reports from Arkansas, Florida, and elsewhere from 2004 to 2007 remain unverified. An unprecedented search across the species' former range continues, with the Big Woods Conservation Partnership and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service coordinating efforts. This account will be updated to reflect any developments. Basic life history information in this account remains accurate and unchanged. This is an extraordinary species that we all hope is not lost. Read more about search efforts at the CLO website, or BNA contributer Louis Bevier's site, or on the entry for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in the Sibley's Field Guide.
....
In other news from official IBWO channels, I note that the USFWS IBWO site has not posted an official press release in two years (September 2006)....
Thanks for the correction--I was looking at the news releases they highlighted on the main page, the last of which was in 2006. The complete list of news releases is here, and as you mentioned, the latest is from September 2007, with the link Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search Summary for 2007 – Elusive Bird Spotted But Not Confirmed this Year -- summarizing the search efforts for 2006-07. Which does beg the question, what does "spotted but not confirmed" mean, in a scientific sense? It seems rather like the "documented (but controversial) sightings" the BNA account mentions. In other words, the sightings are "valid, but not accepted", "legitimate, but doubted widely", ... A mass of self-contradiction. But I guess just as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker can contain multitudes, so can Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings--they can be both valid, and invalid. Clearly it is a quantum mechanical phenomenon--Schrodinger's woodpecker can be both extinct, yet extant. I finally see the light.actually, they published a news release in Sept. 2007 announcing their summary for the 2006-7 search season, but they have not publicly released a full summary for the '07-'08 season, although the "Recovery" team met and compiled findings.
I was checking through a book I'm selling on Amazon (Tropical World by Hartwig 1873 if anyone is interested), when I came across the following!
Clearly it is a quantum mechanical phenomenon--Schrodinger's woodpecker can be both extinct, yet extant. I finally see the light.
Thanks for the correction--I was looking at the news releases they highlighted on the main page, the last of which was in 2006. The complete list of news releases is here, and as you mentioned, the latest is from September 2007, with the link Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search Summary for 2007 – Elusive Bird Spotted But Not Confirmed this Year -- summarizing the search efforts for 2006-07. Which does beg the question, what does "spotted but not confirmed" mean, in a scientific sense? It seems rather like the "documented (but controversial) sightings" the BNA account mentions. In other words, the sightings are "valid, but not accepted", "legitimate, but doubted widely", ... A mass of self-contradiction. But I guess just as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker can contain multitudes, so can Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings--they can be both valid, and invalid. Clearly it is a quantum mechanical phenomenon--Schrodinger's woodpecker can be both extinct, yet extant. I finally see the light.
No press releases for the last year, and no press release worth highlighting on the front page for two years. Good point about 2007-08. I wonder why they did not release another summary? Could there be nothing to summarize?
Thanks. I can't take full credit--the quantum mechanics metaphor dates back to 2006, at least, in an article from the New York Times (13 Ways of Looking at an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker ) by Jack Hitt. Cyberthrush has also used the metaphor here. However I suppose I'm the first to call it "Schrodinger's Woodpecker".Congratulations on a witty post, PCoin. Yes, I smiled.
Coincidentally, Michael Collins referred to Schrodinger's old sparring partner, Einstein, here:
http://fishcrow.com/winter09.html (entry for 21st October, 2008).
Mr Collins suggests that much of the research into Ivory-billed Woodpeckers has been secretive.
Hmmmmmmmm. Has there been a cover-up, I hope?
Perhaps I settled my bets with Tim Allwood and Ilya Maclean a tad hastily.