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..... Seven years ago today, Cornell Lab of Ornithology officials made what may have been either the most incredible, or, ultimately most embarrassing, announcement in the entire history of American ornithology. Some of us are still awaiting a verdict on that announcement… (while others have long-past made up their minds). And seven years later, no final compendium of the official search, as promised, has been forthcoming; in fact the principals largely steer clear of public Ivory-bill discussion now -- what was once a great fund-raising tool would now virtually be a fund-raising obstruction.
But the topic continues....
Many (unfortunately) will view last week's mini-fiasco at a local Texas TV station (implying first a Red-headed Woodpecker and then later a Pileated Woodpecker were putative Ivory-bills based on one local observer) as the mere continuation of a (perceived) comedy of errors begun 7 years ago.
Every few months I still get via email a claimed Ivory-bill sighting from somewhere… and I suspect others in the ornithology community hear a lot more stories than I do. Claims for Ivory-bills continue to show up on websites, including Twitter and Facebook. And YouTube receives several "Ivory-bill" videos each year. In short, even after all this time and publicity, claims from the inexpert and inexperienced roll in… and I don't blame people (too much?) for getting excited and jumping to false conclusions based on limited knowledge. …It is odd though when out-of-the-blue, one of these multitudinous claims makes it directly onto a TV station. So, I do blame a knucklehead ;-) news station when they take such a story and run with it to a mass audience without the simplest of verification (the Texas story was no doubt used, because it included video… but THAT of course is exactly why it could've so easily been researched and junked!).
I won't recount the full story here; it's already received more publicity than it ever deserved. One suspects the primary station involved was deluged with a range of polite to riled corrections from a throng of birders/biologists… but I also suspect they simply found it humorous that, in a day of Jihadi terrorists, global warming, and economic plight, folks would so bristle over a mere botched animal/human-interest story. Bristle they (rightfully) did...
Because of the nature of the Internet, and despite a later correction from the broadcast station, the bogus story will continue to bounce around the Web in some quarters for days or weeks, reinforcing the 'laughability' quotient of the whole Ivory-bill topic.
A Texas trademark slogan warns us, "Don't mess with Texas"… I'd prefer to revise that to, "HEYYY, Texas, DON'T MESS with birders… puhhh-leeeze!!!"
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---------------------------------------------------Documentary filmmaker George Butler has been working on "The Lord God Bird," the only Cornell-endorsed film account of the IBWO search, as "a work in progress" since the beginning of this Arkansas-based saga. The independent film has been screened sparingly over recent years, and is included in upcoming Earth Day celebrations (next weekend) at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, if you're in the area:http://berkshireonstage.com/2012/04/14/earth-day-with-george-butler-and-the-lord-god-bird-at-the-berkshire-museum/An old 2007 John Trapp review of it here:http://birdstuff.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-just-saw-lord-god-bird.html
The film was originally intended as "the first in a planned trilogy of films dealing with extinction," with subsequent entries to focus on the Royal Bengal Tiger and the Lowland Gorilla.----------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------A semi-interesting post over at IBWO Researchers Forum from a prominent independent IBWO searcher regarding a recent double-knock in the Atchafalaya (he urges further investigation of the the area if possible):http://www.ibwo.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5980#post5980(As a note, the general Atchafalaya region of La. is the site of a great many historical Ivory-bill claims over the years, though the Cornell team that surveyed it didn't seem as impressed with it as several other regions.)And on a complete sidebar, I've posted about the Madagascan Pochard previously, and a reader sends in this feel-good update on that possible conservation success:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17616488
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...just a quick note of thanks to all those who did NOT send me a report of spotting an Ivory-billed Woodpecker yesterday!!
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