Today Cornell released an initial statement of their 2005-6 IBWO search findings, with, as expected, nothing really significant to report. The release begins as follows:
"There were teasing glimpses and tantalizing sounds, but the 2005-2006 search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas has concluded without the definitive visual documentation being sought. The search, led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with support from Audubon Arkansas, stretched from November through April when ivory-bill activity would be highest and a lack of leaf-cover permitted clear views through the dense forest. The search included 22 full-time searchers and state-of-the-art acoustic and video monitoring technology. To supplement the full-time effort, volunteer groups of 14 spent two weeks at a time helping to search the 550,000-acre area focused on the Cache and White River National Wildlife Refuges.Saturday is the official day for their report announcement at the Clarendon Birding Festival so there will likely be additional details available at that point. As the Chicago Cubs would say, 'there's always next season.' But seriously, there are still other searchers to hear from and other locales to scour along with Cache/White River so while skeptics have a field day relax, take some deep breaths, and don't despair...
'The search teams were very skilled, not only technically but in the execution of the search,' said Dr. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Even though we didn’t get additional definitive evidence of the ivory-bill in Arkansas, we’re not discouraged. The vastness of the forest combined with the highly mobile nature of the bird warrant additional searching.”
(full statement at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/latest/end_of_season)
(also, related story here.)
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