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A reminder that Dr. Martjan Lammertink will be Matt Courtman's guest on his coming Monday night Zoom meeting (free, Nov. 20).
I don’t want to detract from Martjan’s expertise or current status, but can’t help but note that it was he who almost 30 years ago published a paper that many of us found objectionable, entitled, “No More Hope For The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus Principalis,” which for many at the time, pounded nails into the IBWO coffin. He seemed to return to the optimist fold around the time of or shortly before the Cornell 2004 finding, and I expect he may have much of interest to say with Matt. Martjan knows the history, details, backstories, and issues of this saga as well as anyone, and just perhaps he'll know something about the current state of mind of the USFWS...?
I've been avoiding linking to 90% of the current IBWO stories, postings, podcasts, press releases, etc. that are around these days because they just fail to add enough new or significant or credible info to what we already know, but this is one that may be worth a listen.
p.s.... such a low percentage of these Zoom meetings have been recorded for YouTube I'd recommend that if you wish to hear Martjan watch it live if you can.
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11/23: For those who missed it, Matt Courtman says he will upload a recording of the (long, 2+ hrs.) meeting within weeks. You can check his site here:
https://www.facebook.com/MissionIvorybill
Always good to hear someone like Martjan, but I was quite disappointed that most of the talk was of OLD, historical information/evidence. While there are constantly new people joining the Ivory-bill discussion who may find such information helpful, it is nonetheless all available in books, articles, internet pages, YouTube, etc. etc. with a little legwork. We simply walk in circles re-treading it over and over and over again, as we can do for another 20 years, when what is needed is new, fresh information, or at least in this case, discussion of the last dozen or so years (since the Cornell/Auburn searches ended) of evidence/speculation and the submissions to USFWS, not the 70-year well-worn history/background prior. In fact the only real tidbit of much interest I got from these 2+ hours came when Martjan was asked what he thought of the famous Mike Collins' "flyunder" video and he unenthusiastically responded to being unimpressed with it, feeling the quality was too low to even identify as a woodpecker -- I agree, as for me it is simultaneously the most intriguing bit of Collins' voluminous evidence but still not identifiable (let alone definitive) for many reasons/variables. And then (elsewhere) you have Collins himself arguing that the Project Principalis drone video (submitted to USFWS), which many of us find quite persuasive, is just a Pileated -- in short a lot of dissension amongst so called IBWO-truthers themselves, let alone between 'believers' and skeptics... just as, despite all the meticulous analysis and modern day technology, the Luneau video still cannot be agreed upon by experienced/skilled field birders and ornithologists. Frustrating and exhausting, though I also fully understand how weak, imprecise, and prone-to-error human perception is, and how complicated (and often immeasurable) the variables are....
It's the winter season, a time when, if new evidence is to arrive at all, it may yet come (though there's often a long lag time between when new evidence is obtained and when it is made public), and about a month away from USFWS supposedly making their own official announcement (perhaps an anti-climax by now).
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