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These days I mostly try to focus here on current news or genuinely fresh, credible information (not speculation, hearsay, theories, rehash, same-ol-same-ol etc.) of which there is precious little… but I’ll take a moment to pass along this quirky tangent that blew me away!
On Facebook, Mishelle Lynn posts about a TV show including a segment showing Charlemagne's Palace Chapel Cathedral in Aachen, Germany where she noticed a single mosaic (as they were panning around) with what appears to clearly be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (certainly more clear than anyone else in recent times has produced ;) Mind you this cathedral dates back to around the year 900!, though from Mishelle's own research this mosaic may have been a replacement(?) put in around the 1870s -- that would be well passed the time of early American painters/ornithologists prominently noting the IBWO, but still a bit mind-boggling that it should end up in this context.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/permalink/7046358702052166/
Campephilus woodpeckers (let alone IBWOs) were certainly not a German, nor even European, species, so what an oddball occurrence. It’s well-known that Ivory-bill specimens were distributed to museums throughout the world, including Europe, but still fascinating (to me) that an artist would see fit to include it in a medieval chapel setting. What was he thinking; what was the inspiration???
Mishelle asks several questions in making the FB posting, so do visit it (if you’re on FB) and see if any further questions get answered.
(I don't have the time to research it myself, but if someone else does and wants to report back any results feel free, or perhaps someone already knows the back story on this!).
Sometimes I almost get tired of hearing the adjective "iconic" applied to this bird, and feel it is overused... but then I see a story or example like this, and think, YUP, it's iconic!!
ADDENDUM 10/31:
Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the death of Chris Feeney, at 77 (reported by Matt Courtman), a long-time Ivory-bill enthusiast and searcher. I’d communicated with Chris a bit over a dozen years ago, and then again a few months back when clarifying Paul Sykes’ current view of matters.
He often worked in conjunction with Keith Collins (another long-time searcher), who will be out there again this winter (if he isn’t already) searching in Florida (and perhaps Arkansas?).
It’s a shame that if there is ever a positive outcome to this whole saga, so many of the genuinely long-involved folks will no longer be around to experience it. :(
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…and, another ADDENDUM 11/1:
Matt Courtman announces his guest on his (free) Nov. 20 Ivory-bill evening Zoom meeting will be Martjan Lammertink one of the world’s foremost experts on the IBWO and Campephilus woodpeckers more generally:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/permalink/7087788361242533/?mibextid=zDhOQc
…I will try to remember to post a reminder for this closer to the date.
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ADDENDUM 11/3:
The fun never ends....
I've lost count of the number of "groups" on Facebook that tout the existence of the IBWO, but now there is also a group (for skeptics) devoted to dissing such claims, calling itself, "Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Sighting, Lies, and Fabrications" (...it's a tad reminiscent of some of the comments/discussion that prevailed over 15 years ago on some IBWO sites):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/220897210949459
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1 comment:
The FB page "Ivory-bill Lies" is using without permission an image we published in our USFW submission. Have you studied the video this image is from?
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