Not much news, so I'll just repeat a couple of old 1930's quotes from T. Gilbert Pearson, one of the premier American naturalists/ornithologists of the 20th century :
"The supreme moment of my life as a bird student came in May, 1932, when in a great primeval forest in northern Louisiana, I saw, for the first time, a living ivory-billed woodpecker... The ivory-bill is decidedly larger than the pileated, and this difference in size is very apparent, as we had ample opportunity to observe, when by chance birds of both species fed at the same time on a tall decayed stump within 80 feet of our hiding place."...........................................................................................
"The reduction in abundance in this species is due most probably to persecution by man, as the species has been shot relentlessly without particular cause except curiosity and a desire for the feathers or beaks."
Elsewhere on the Web:
Most folks in the east have taken down their hummingbird feeders by now, assuming the Ruby-throats have made their way south, but as many know, more and more western hummingbirds are almost routinely showing up in the east each winter in regular, if sparse, occurrences. So put that feeder back up, keep it filled with fresh sugar water (and try to keep from freezing), and watch what shows up. Moreover, many people around are intently studying the phenomena/movement of winter hummers in the east, so If you're actually lucky enough to get one, try finding an appropriate person in your area, or on the Web, to report it to. More info here (and there is a LOT of other info on the Web):
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/Late_hummingbirds.html
And here's a beaut of an example from current news! (a Green-breasted Mango banded in Georgia recently):
http://www.narba.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/144.htm
(hmmmm.... hummingbirds in winter.... gotta wonder how long they'd been coming before skeptics accepted it....?)
