-- Funereal? --

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Not sure how I’ll wile away time here between now and the 20th-year July anniversary of the blog, with so little expectation of significant IBWO news to come. Maybe dabble in more politics, with the country barreling full-speed ahead toward the allure of fascism (and a significant portion of the populace seemingly quite enthused about it)😟. Won’t be at all surprised if Heir Orange Fuhrer chooses to shut down the USFWS or at least alter its mission…. maybe change it to the USGS (United States Golfing Service) for purposes of draining and clearcutting all those yucky, worthless southern swamplands and converting them to gorgeous, manicured, money-makin' golf courses for the super rich!… because one thing we surely lack in this country is enough golf courses... to bury our mistresses & ex-wives on… "Log, Baby, log" may soon carry the same rhetorical flourish as "Drill, Baby, drill," forests being worth a lot more logged, than maintained as habitat for creatures that no crony of Donald Chump would ever think worth seeing.

Anyway, for now, moving along, I'll just close out January with a couple of quotes... starting with this favorite rumination from Henry Beston that I've posted multiple times before:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” 

And lastly, these poignant words that long-time Ivorybill enthusiast Mike Brown posted on Dwight Norris's IBWO FB page awhile back, quoting William Shatner who had flown into space on a Jeff Bezos rocket:

“I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things — that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film 'Contact,' when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, 'They should’ve sent a poet.' I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.

It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

Wish I could pass along something more positive, but I'm sympatico with Shatner in that mostly what I feel these days (for both the IBWO, and, my country) is grief and dread..... 

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ADDENDUM 2/19:

So far over 3400 personnel have been fired from the US Forest Service and another 1000 from the National Park Service, while USFWS has lost over 400, during this methodical, deliberate, even diabolical weaponization of the US Gov’t. being carried out by perhaps the most transparent and pathological
demagogue in US history in pursuit (apparently) of a 4th Reich using the Government as his personal piggy-bank (I doubt any actual savings from all this 'cost-cutting' will ever be seen by American taxpayers, but only by their oligarch overlords).  Personally, it seems pretty obvious where this dystopian insanity is all headed and how it will end, but you can use your own imaginations (if bulldozers start showing up at national refuges though at some point, don't say I didn't warn you). 

And here is a piece on the the USFWS:

https://www.refugeassociation.org/news/2025/2/14/eodwispvhseybqgjow291z3k5wxerh

-- New Year, Will It Be Same Ol' Same Ol'? --

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1)  In just 6 more months the blog celebrates its 20th anniversary (…if it makes it that long), and I’ll probably depart regular posting at that point (almost have already!) given the political darkness I expect to befall the country well before then.😕  With so few searchers, sporadically searching so few areas in any rigorous systematic way and with limited resources, it’s hard to imagine a positive or definitive outcome over that time period, when a species has already proven itself so capable of evading human encounters (if it persists at all).

I always remember asking Bill Pulliam about IBWO prospects in a certain area and him casually saying that if they existed there they deserved to be left alone -- if they had made it this far along, they could continue to do so (…until perhaps their numbers might rise to a point of being more easily detectable). Make no mistake, the problem of actually protecting this species (from human hordes), if ever found, may indeed be just as great a problem as locating them has been for 80+ years. In short, conclusively documenting the species, while cause for some celebration, would really just be the start of yet the bigger issue/debate over what to do next???... perhaps just as acrimonious a squabble as what we’ve already been through.

Anyway, always hoping for the best, or at least some sort of surprise, but realistically, have very low expectations for the next 6 months.

2)  About a year ago I inquired of Dr. Chris Haney if his wonderful volume (that we all love), "Woody's Last Laugh" would have a second edition, and he said that he didn't oppose it but there were no current plans for doing so. So I inquired again recently and haven't heard back, but assume the answer is the same. I'd actually like to see a different publishing house take the book over, do better editing, and add an index at the end (but I don't know what, if any, contractual obligations Chris may be under).  Moreover, at a minimum, Chris would probably need to include material on the USFWS hearings and on some of the Latta-group Louisiana claims.... as well as any number of other claims/storylines from the last couple years he might want to add to a new edition -- i.e., a second edition wouldn't necessarily be an easy/simple task for Dr. Haney depending on his own time constraints. In any event if you want to write the original publisher encouraging them to do a new edition, feel free (in case it has  any influence). Their website, with a contact link, is here:

https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/changemakers-books/

 The original volume was already almost 500 pages though, and there's a limit to how many pages the mass market will bear, so again, considerable editing would be crucial.  Unless or until Chuck Hunter produces an Ivory-bill volume, Haney's is the most comprehensive one we have, with prolific footnotes almost as vital as the main text.

[UPDATE:  just today (1/7) I heard from Dr. Haney that, lo-and-behold, a recent meeting with the publisher to discuss a new edition WAS in fact scheduled but missed due to weather/travel issues, and he's not sure when it will be re-scheduled (the individual travels internationally). So sounds like something is in the works, hooray!]

3)  Speaking of.... In the last month, Chuck Hunter has posted further occasional long Ivory-bill history posts on a couple of the IBWO Facebook accounts (from Dwight Norris and Fred Virrazzi). I won't link here (just trying to minimize historical material), but I do hope most of you catch his detailed, informative postings, which take care to indicate what is established 'fact' and what is more speculative or debatable in our Ivory-bill knowledge.

4)  About every other year I link once to Sufjan Stevens' haunting ballad to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and since I didn't link in 2024 may as well start this melancholy year off with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-GDRP8eAtg

Enough for now.... (maybe another post before end of month, IF my head doesn't explode on Inauguration Day).

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