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The state of Florida has had more Ivory-bill rumors in the last 60 years than any other state, and still today holds more suitable habitat than any other region. It was also one of the very last areas where James Tanner confidently believed the species to reside. Though the most recent focus has been on the panhandle area (Choctawhatchee), historically, several areas of north, central, and south Florida were probably of greater interest at different times, and despite development, continue to hold promise. The Apalachicola/Chipola river system received wide attention (and was the source of many claims) in the past, and still does, in part because of the sheer difficulty of ever conducting thorough searches of that huge region. In past times, the Big Cypress area and Everglades regions in the south held interest as well. And in more recent times Jerry Jackson has expressed especial interest in the Suwannee swamp area, and also the Fakahatchee Strand, while others have especially touted the Wacissa and Aucilla River systems as areas of promise, among yet other less-publicized, but interesting bottomland tracts. In terms of habitat, geography, history, and sheer volume of reports, Florida is the single most likely state for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers to reside in, though many other states maintain the possibility.
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2 comments:
I found your blog from Julie Zick's. Very interesting! Especially John Agnew's report--thanks for that link. A friend goes into the Congaree Swamp here in SC with the Cornell group. They see holes and hear sounds but so far haven't seen any birds. Like you, I believe they are still around.
And yet, the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS) has long considered the IBWO to be extirpated in the State, and the FOS Records Committee recently voted 0-7 to NOT ACCEPT the Auburn team's reports from along the lower Choctawhatchee River, 2005-2006.
You mean those dastardly ornithologists actually expect introvertible evidence before accepting modern-day reports of the IBWO? How uncompromising of them!
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