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Nothing too notable to report from here; unlikely to be much news during the summer, unless it pertains to something from last winter that just now gets publicized/reported. Short of the Project Principalis work, making its way (in some form) into a reputable journal, I'm still not expecting much news prior to end of year. So just another ramble....
A lot of readers to the blog go back a very long way, and only check back here periodically for anything new to look into. They don’t follow all the IBWO-related miscellany going on around the Web, primarily on social media (very little being written up regularly in scientific circles). Plenty of loose articles/commentary/podcasts also around the Web stemming from the Project Principalis paper too. The most active of the 'social sites' now is Facebook, with one major, rapidly-growing IBWO FB group currently over 3900 members and counting (I credit Matt Courtman in large part for the growth of that site, though many contribute, and Matt doesn’t even post that often, nor run the site). But the more and faster it grows, the more that many of the discussions/threads turn into daily trainwrecks. I HAVE little choice but to follow the site myself for the worthwhile tidbits that arise, but hard to recommend it unconditionally to others, as it gets slathered with a lot of misleading or unconfirmed info, frustrating repetition, old and uncertain info, weak logic, loose speculation, sketchy science, bias, and cringeworthy postings, etc. that can easily lead new people (in particular) astray. Additionally, at that site as well as others, IBWO sightings are (as predicted) getting reported virtually every week -- some are from decades ago, and others far more recent, but few have the detail or credibility to be taken very seriously, or come from experienced birders. But then everything the Ivory-bill touches seems to get mushy :(( -- with that said, though, I'll refer folks to this more interesting, lengthy post that demonstrates the sort of detail needed:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/permalink/5379507862070600/
IBWO expert Chuck Hunter** was among those drawn in to comment on the above report, and he doesn't often participate in Ivory-bill Web commentary. (I might add that David Martin, formerly of the IBWO Researchers Forum is also participating in the Facebook group, where even Don Kimball, likewise formerly of IBWO.net, has previously commented.)
In any event, I keep reading the online stuff so you don’t have to! ;) … unless of course you want to. As Nate Silver would say, just be careful of the noise versus the signal out there.
On a side-note, someone asked me awhile back which states I believed IBWOs might exist in (after I'd mentioned believing the species was extant in at least 3 states), so I made a quick list. Probably most folks would put Louisiana and Florida at the top of such a list (as do I), then it gets a little more murky and subjective. But my own, for-fun-and-controversy, continued list in order of probability is:
3) Mississippi
4) Arkansas
5) Georgia
6) Alabama
7) Tennessee
8) Texas
9) southeastern Missouri
10) S. Carolina
11) southern Illinois
12) N. Carolina
13) Kentucky
(...and I don't restrict IBWO probability to just 3 of these, but 3 at a minimum)
Finally, Matt Courtman is concentrating on the Tensas Wildlife Refuge in the initial weeks of his small, organized search for IBWOs in Louisiana (...or wherever else it takes him), and seems to be focusing on finding cavities or foraging sites... which again, seem unlikely to be findable at this (leaf-out) time of year. His passion for the bird is inspiring others and he continues to do Monday evening Zoom meetings (8pm EDT) on the subject, including urging skeptics and deniers to come online and debate with him over the evidence. Unfortunately (to sound like a broken record again), the impasse between 'believers' and non-believers over what constitutes good science or logic is irreconcilable without definitive photographic evidence -- the current level of argumentation could easily continue for another 20 years unresolved, getting us nowhere... and none of us want that (...indeed, several of us will be extinct in 20 years! ;)).
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ADDENDUM 5/26:
In a bit of additional news, Matt Courtman reports (on FB) that his ($12,000) is the only reward currently being offered for information leading to documentable evidence of living Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. The old Nature Conservancy reward of $50,000 has apparently been withdrawn, and I believe there was also previously a separate $10,000 reward (perhaps specific to Arkansas?) which is also defunct.
Hate to nitpick over words, but Matt's announcement says in part “…we must find an active Ivory-bill roost cavity… in a tree where a living Ivory-billed Woodpecker makes its home. The Louisiana Wilds will pay a $12,000 reward to anyone who leads us to a tree that has an Ivory-bill living in it.” This makes it sound as if someone simply finds an IBWO foraging spot where manual monitoring, or an automatic camera, easily produces the necessary, definitive evidence of existence, they may not be eligible for reward, since it is NOT a roost nor live-in cavity. [Matt, being an ex-lawyer, I would tend to take his words pretty literally]
The old reward, during the Big Woods search, more generally stated that the reward would be proffered to an individual “…leading a project scientist to a living Ivory-billed Woodpecker at a nesting, roosting, or foraging site.”
Of course the monetary reward will not be the biggest reward for finding the IBWO, and even to the extent it bears importance, any individual locating IBWOs will have opportunities to make a lot more than $12,000 through other means should they wish to.
ADDENDUM2 5/28:
** Someone wrote to ask who “Chuck Hunter” was… so for any who don’t know, Chuck is a long-time USFWS biologist who was integral to the prior Big Woods (and beyond) search for the IBWO, and is likely the most expert current individual on the species. In the past, perhaps because of his position, he rarely commented on social media, or even in public, on IBWO matters, so it is fabulous to see him participating in his thoughtful, cautious, careful, and knowledgeable way in the discussion on FB of all places. (His own FB page is HERE, though his Ivory-bill posts aren’t listed there.)
Perhaps he has a book on the way, or is just tired of sitting on the sidelines, or knows of new evidence coming along, or just trying to assist in preventing his own Agency from de-listing the species, but whatever the reason very glad indeed to see him adding his considerable input!
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