Thursday, November 24, 2005

-- New USF&W Website, and more --

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US Fish & Wildlife Service has put up a new site to aid those making their way to Big Woods to look for 'Elvis'. Worth a look even if you're not headed down that way:

http://Arkansas-ES.fws.gov/BigWoodsBirding

Possibly worth mentioning (though I'm very wary of them), there have been a number of undetailed, individual reports of possible IBWO sightings briefly mentioned on the Web in the last few months in Fla., LA., MS., MO., and I think either GA. or AL., in addition to AR. Not terribly meaningful at this point, but with more time, maybe. No idea how many reports have flowed into Cornell through their solicitation, or how many of those have any credibility whatsoever in their eyes.

....and a final editorial note: All creatures have a 'will to live' and a drive to reproduce far stronger I think than humans (and particularly, skeptics) give them credit for, regarding them instead more like automatons obedient to OUR hypotheses and expectations. But the intelligence, instinct, and individuality of woodland creatures far surpasses what we tend to acknowledge, often proving our
flimsy notions false. Quite simply, this is especially so for creatures with wings who are not gravity-bound, and who possess a freedom (and evasiveness) we fail to appreciate or factor in. If documentation of IBWOs is attained, words like "incredible," "miracle," and "unbelievable" will be grossly overused -- it will be nothing of the sort; just creatures who can, on a whim, fly to new habitat, drawing upon their will to live under changing conditions as they always have and always will... and defying simple-minded human considerations in the process.
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