-- Into May --

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First, I remain flabbergasted that USFWS has not published a statement (so far as I’m aware) regarding the status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, seemingly well-beyond the statutory deadline for them to do so. :( Something seems amiss, as the species appears to linger, from their standpoint, Schrodinger’s cat-like, half alive, half dead...

Big spike in blog traffic last 2 days -- happens sometimes about once-a-month and I often have no idea why, but this time I suspect may be related to USFWS decision.

Matt Courtman will have another free IBWO Zoom meeting this coming Monday, May 1, 8:00pm EDT (tomorrow):

https://www.facebook.com/events/716321880238113/?ref=newsfeed

Otherwise, sorry to say, I’ve seen nothing, either on the Web nor in private email, that I deem very hopeful about documentation in coming months; lot of chatter and misplaced optimism, but nothing solid; indeed much of social media is simply discouraging and exasperating at this point! Also exasperating that yet another winter  (when foliage is off the trees) has passed without good photo documentation of the species (I never have much hope in summertime). The Brits would say (scoff) that the IBWO-world is being strung along with no genuine end in sight, just incessant exaggerated promises that don't materialize.

On a complete side-note, I recently stumbled upon this memorial (I was unaware of) to Bill Pulliam, who I've mentioned here countless times before, and many/most? of you know of for his countless contributions to the Ivory-bill saga (but who died young at 56):

https://swantrust.org/bill-pulliam-memorial/

...just passing along in case you care to contribute.

Maybe more news soon... but getting hard to predict.

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— Perhaps Of Interest (...while WAAAAITING on USFWS) —

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Will post this in case of interest to anyone:

Kate Sutherland will be speaking to a North Carolina bird club this coming Monday evening (April 24, 7:15pm) about “The Fabled Cahow: Saving a Lazarus Species from Extinction” — the Cahow (a seabird, the Bermuda Petrel) was thought extinct for over 300 years before being re-discovered:

https://www.meetup.com/New-Hope-Audubon-Society/events/292750277/

This will be a Zoom meeting you can register for in advance (instructions at bottom of above page).

I wouldn’t expect the talk to have too much pertinence to the IBWO situation, other than to be interesting in its own right, and perhaps inspiring:

"Kate Sutherland will share the remarkable story of how a handful of dedicated individuals pulled the Cahow back from the brink of extinction and have turned the species into a conservation success story like no other."

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-- Twiddling Thumbs --

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Am patiently waiting for the USFWS to make their official announcement (already have a post written but waiting ’til I can include a link in it to their public statement).

In the meantime, for your reading entertainment I’ll just once again pass along Nobelist Richard Feynman’s classic, oft-cited “Cargo Cult Science” commencement address from almost 50 years ago:

http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf

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ADDENDUM: (while awaiting a different release)

...not sure how I missed this bit of USFWS April 1st amusement, but will pass it along now:  (someone in their social media unit has been running 'humor' posts for awhile at this point) [ Correction: I see someone over on Facebook is now claiming that he was responsible for this bit of mockery, and it was NOT actually done by the hand of USFWS! ]

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ADDENDUM2:  (4/14)

A number of IBWO-related articles have come out recently and for the most part I’m avoiding the ones (almost all of them) that are basically retrospective or historical pieces — stuff that can be regurgitated over-and-over ad infinitum. I’ll make an exception though for these two new ones that I do feel hit upon some important material. The second one, from David Martin, is an especially lengthy/detailed essay including several of the same themes as the first one.

We’re reaching the end of yet another week waiting for USFWS to come off its duff and say something publicly. ;)  Sooooo, in meantime, some weekend reading:

https://tinyurl.com/muhbtnw2

https://tinyurl.com/y3f4yfep