Wednesday, February 07, 2007

-- Fact Check --

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Opinions (that have NEVER been independently verified or authenticated):

Ivory-bills went extinct in the United States in the 1940s...
Ivory-bills require large tracts of virgin forest for survival...
There were less than 3 dozen Ivory-bills left in America when James Tanner did his study...
Ivory-bills require a large supply of wood-boring beetle larvae to survive...
There have been no photographs of a living (U.S.) Ivory-bill taken in the last 60 years...
The Luneau video shows a ___________________ (fill in whatever bird you want)...

And one can invent all the alternative explanations for sightings, sounds, reports, claims, etc. that one wishes --- still none of those explanations rise above the level of opinion and speculation.


FACTS:

Ivory-bills can fly.
Ivory-bills are suited for living in swamps, and in areas that humans don't frequent.
Ivory-bills spend time out-of-sight in woodland tree canopies.
Ivory-bills spend time inside tree cavities.
Ivory-bills have been reported 100's of times since the 1940's, including credible reports from credible observers, as well as reports whose credibility can't be easily adjudged one way or the other.
"Extraordinary" is a relative and highly subjective term, not a scientific term.
A large-scale, thorough search of all habitat that Ivory-bills might live in has never been carried out.
Humans are neither all-knowing nor infallible in their judgments.
Throughout the last century birds (and other creatures) believed extinct have been re-discovered.
It is unlikely that anyone will ever know when or where the last Ivory-billed Woodpecker in existence dies.
If there is 1 living Ivory-bill left than the species is NOT extinct... and, never has been.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Notice how you always dwell on possibilities and never point to any particular sighting that is generally accepted as reasonable proof?

Notice how every single exciting development falls flat on its face?

Anonymous said...

"Humans are neither all-knowing nor infallible in their judgments"

As your blog makes abundantly clear!

Anonymous said...

Other "facts"

A. The bird only may be found, if at all, in Southern Swamps;

B. The bird did not range farther north than the southern tip of Illinois;

There is no proof of the same, and in fact there is substantial physical evidence and still in existance proof that B is wrong. I can tell you that A is wrong also if one cares to believe the statement.