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Ivory-billed Woodpecker (formerly updates) (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter KC Foggin
- Start date
dave_in_michigan
Well-known member
Nice find, Jane. Illustration and all! Thanks for sharing it.
Ilya Maclean
charlatan
Yes.
dave_in_michigan
Well-known member
Maybe.
lewis20126
Well-known member
No.
joannec
Well-known member
...... 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
deborah4
Well-known member
Uh?
Think you'll find the article is comparing the 'chatter' of Wood Pigeons to human voices not the Woodpecker to a Wood Pigeon (IBWO)
Nice bit of Victorian natural history there Jane - btw
(In answer to Quercus' Q - No, but then I haven't been searching for one for the past 4 years
)
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joannec
Well-known member
oops..... didn't read it properly.
pcoin
Well-known member
revisions of Cornell's BNA account / USFWS site
Previously, I noted an interesting contrast in different versions of Cornell's Birds of North America account for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker:
Cyberthrush, quoting Arthur Schopenhauer, tells us that all truth passes through three stages:
Also note that "efforts to locate this bird ... have proven difficult".
A slight understatement.
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). There is an update of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Questions and answers (PDF) from 18 July 2008 that has a couple of noteworthy statements:
Not anymore. ...working to provide additional viewing sites...Please take a good picture of it!
The first two are just a tad ironic and the last a little plaintive. I'm sure the additional viewing sites will prove useful for the public.
Previously, I noted an interesting contrast in different versions of Cornell's Birds of North America account for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker:
There is now a new wording on the BNA account, dated July 2008:
Editor's Note: July 2008 -- Since documented (but controversial) sightings of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Big Woods of Arkansas in 2004 (Science: 3 June 2005), efforts to locate this bird in Florida, Arkansas, and elsewhere have proven difficult, and no unequivocal evidence of the species has emerged. 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.
It is an interesting progression of statements: rediscovered --> unverified --> controversial
Cyberthrush, quoting Arthur Schopenhauer, tells us that all truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.
Here we seem to have the opposite progression.Also note that "efforts to locate this bird ... have proven difficult".
A slight understatement.
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). There is an update of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Questions and answers (PDF) from 18 July 2008 that has a couple of noteworthy statements:
Is the Service restricting access to the location where the bird was found?
Not anymore.
But in April 2005,... (lengthy detailing of previous closures of areas in Arkansas)
How can I see the bird?
Good viewing areas are designated on the associated map (http://www.fws.gov/cacheriver/index.html). The Service is working with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, and The Nature Conservancy to provide additional viewing sites. If anyone sees an Ivory-bill, please take a good picture of it.
Not anymore.
But in April 2005,... (lengthy detailing of previous closures of areas in Arkansas)
How can I see the bird?
Good viewing areas are designated on the associated map (http://www.fws.gov/cacheriver/index.html). The Service is working with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, and The Nature Conservancy to provide additional viewing sites. If anyone sees an Ivory-bill, please take a good picture of it.
Not anymore. ...working to provide additional viewing sites...Please take a good picture of it!
The first two are just a tad ironic and the last a little plaintive. I'm sure the additional viewing sites will prove useful for the public.
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cyberthrush
Well-known member
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.
pcoin
Well-known member
thanks, correction
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 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?
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DunnoKev
Guest
Thanks Jane - I actually liked "..the wail of the sloth breaking forth from the dense thicket.." best of all. Have heard that sound plenty of times on here.
DunnoKev
(Former member of 'The Dense Thickets' birdrace team)
Bonsaibirder
http://mobro.co/saddinall
You are spot one with Schrodinger's Woodpecker - it can be heard but not seen or it can be seen but not heard. Never both at the same time!
Mike Montier
Well-known member
Like the cat, I think it all depends on who is looking...
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.
pcoin
Well-known member
Schrodinger's Woodpecker cover-up
Edit--correcting above statement in italics. I are wrong! The phrase "Schrodinger's Woodpecker" was used by the blogger aphriza back in 2006 in a post here, a choice quote being:
(Back to original post)
You are correct about the cover-up. My personal theory, and I have it on good authority, is that the whole Ivory-bill "rediscovery" is a cover-up for the real rediscovery of another iconic bird of southern swamps--the Carolina Parakeet. Everyone is in on it: USFWS, Cornell, Auburn, Jerry Jackson, Tom Nelson, Collins, Cyberthrush, Bobby Harrison, ... the whole gang. It has been devilishly successful--nobody has suspected the truth...until now.
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.
Edit--correcting above statement in italics. I are wrong! The phrase "Schrodinger's Woodpecker" was used by the blogger aphriza back in 2006 in a post here, a choice quote being:
Which brings me to the last reversal of the paradox: Birders weren’t any worse in the 70s and 80s than they are now. And people did follow up ivory-bill sightings then, too. So if we’re envisioning small populations persisting all over the South, why are we only just now getting shaky sight reports backed up by shaky sight reports? The woodpecker seems to exist only as long as you’re not looking for it.
(Back to original post)
You are correct about the cover-up. My personal theory, and I have it on good authority, is that the whole Ivory-bill "rediscovery" is a cover-up for the real rediscovery of another iconic bird of southern swamps--the Carolina Parakeet. Everyone is in on it: USFWS, Cornell, Auburn, Jerry Jackson, Tom Nelson, Collins, Cyberthrush, Bobby Harrison, ... the whole gang. It has been devilishly successful--nobody has suspected the truth...until now.
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Jane Turner
Well-known member
Well there are certain uncertainties!
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