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fer shuuuuur....
A poster on the Arkansas listserv writes about an old book find from 1931 already referring to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as extinct, well before the Singer Tract study:
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/ARKS.html#1193619323
Of course this species was thought extinct in many minds by 1900, then again by 1920, then by 1930, and then again by 1950, only to be followed by more decades of reports. It's entire history is that of a species prematurely declared gone by the impatient and short-sighted, based upon little solid evidence. Evidence for 'rarity' is one thing, and not so difficult to document; evidence for 'extinction' is quite another, and exceedingly difficult to establish. One ought tread carefully.
....and one last time (well, may do another reminder in a week), Noel Snyder's monograph on Ivory-billed Woodpecker decline available here. It has a limited initial printing so may want to get any orders in early, although if enough demand, could get a second printing.
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Web Grab Bag offering: The new biography of Roger Tory Peterson by Douglas Carlson is now out. I prefer folks support their local bookstores if practical, but nonetheless here is the Amazon link.
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