-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a last minute gift for that Ivory-billed-obsessed friend??? One lesser-known volume they may be lacking from their bookshelf is "Ivory Hunters" by veterinarian Dr. Greg Lewbart. Little known, because 1) it's a NOVEL, and 2) it came out in 1996 long before the current hubbub over the species. The plot revolves around Ivory-bills discovered in the Big Cypress swamp of Southern Florida (a locale still of great interest/potential) and the good and ill-willed people who pursue them. You can check it out at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1575240092/103-0626673-4626246?v=glance&n=283155
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 comment:
This is a rebuttal of a posting you had below...I firmly disagree with the statement that the skeptics will cause the IBWO to got extinct. That is just not a fair comment. You wrote below...
"If the IBWO is finally verified, only to then die out years from now, it won't be the loggers and hunters and collectors of yesteryear who pounded the final nails in its coffin, but the 20th century ornithologists and skeptics who, upon such scant flimsy data, prematurely wrote the species off and failed to do the hard professional work needed to save it decades ago. For a scientist, a bigger sin is usually committed NOT by being SO open-minded that one accepts as possibly true, things which later prove to be false, but rather, the bigger sin is made when being so closed-minded as to dispute as false, things which are later shown to be true -- that is the error we ought be guarding against as birders, conservationists, and/or scientists."
I am on the skeptical side but I am open minded. There is little evidence that they have found the bird so far. That is a fact to me.
Are we to accept everything blindly without firm evidence?
I am a scientist by trade and that is the nature of the business...you have to defend your claims in any field....ESPECIALLY IF IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY CLAIM!!!!
The existence of the IWBO is a miracle if true. they need more evidence. Much more. The home run photo or video...nothing short of this will suffice in my book.
Should they keep searching? YES.
Should we protect vital areas of forest and habitat for all wildlife? YES
So even if they don't find the bird...the end result is still good...we preserved some precious southern bottomland forests. So some good will come out and I applaud this. However, I am very disappointed by the claims and was falsely led to believe they had strong evidence. I tried to see the other side...read the books...visit various web sites and this is my opinion. the chances of this bird being in existence is small...
Also, I will be happy to join Tom Nelson for some fresh crow if they indeed find this bird...it would be the best meal of my life!!!
i would be happy to eat crow or
even raven if they find this bird!!!
Post a Comment