==> THEblog devoted, since 2005, to news & commentary on the most iconic bird in American ornithology, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (IBWO)... and sometimes other schtuff [contact: cyberthrush@gmail.com]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audubon is advertising for a field technician to head up the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in southeastern North Carolina (stationed in Wilmington):
"The North Carolina Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search Field Technician will be responsible for implementing standardized protocols developed for systematically searching for the presence of Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the swamp forests and associated woodlands of southeastern North Carolina. Simultaneously, the field technician will survey the study area to assist in research pertaining to the North Carolina Important Bird Areas program. The study locations include the Waccamaw River bottomlands and associated tributaries, selected areas along the Lumber River, and other site TBD. Search efforts will require long days in remote locations and will be physically demanding. After each search day, the field technician will be required to download and enter field data, and maintain all field equipment. Other duties will include: camping, use of canoe or motorized boat, organizing and training volunteers, use of audio and video recording equipment."
The position is currently funded for one year; more details given at the above link. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's Bill Pulliam's take on a story that's been widely-reported recently about the latest population census for lowland gorillas.
Meanwhile Chuck Hagner, of Birder's World Magazine, reports that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker doesn't even appear as a topic on the program for the American Ornithologists' Union, at their annual meeting in Portland, Oregon this week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, an unusual number of hits to the blog have come from folks who've googled "imperial woodpecker" and been directed to my site (because of past posts on the Imperial here). Also, a couple of emailers have made inquiries to me about the Imperial. Don't know for sure why the subject is suddenly arising, though it may be in part due to a recent post (8-3-08) by Mike Collins which ran as follows:
"There exists footage of an Imperial Woodpecker, and the bird is in flight according to what I have heard. Why haven't the details been made public? The flap rate, flight speed, and flap style might shed light on the ivorybill."
I've occasionally heard/seen very loose vague glimmers about a possible Imperial sighting months ago, but nothing substantive or that I give any credence to at this point. I think Mike's reference may actually be to a supposed brief film of an Imperial in flight from the 1950's, which I believe is in the possession of Cornell. Whether they have utilized it in any way, or have any reason not to release it, I don't know.
May be worth pointing out that the Imperial Woodpecker was MUCH larger than the Ivory-billed. So even though the two species are from the same genus, the IBWO is probably actually closer to the Pileated in both size and mass (i.e. not sure if analysis of Imperial flight pattern would be all that helpful in drawing conclusions about IBWO flight pattern or not --- not to mention that it's difficult to generalize from a single short flight clip of any bird; but still, I understand Mike's interest in the clip if it exists).
Anyway, that's as much (next to nothing) as I know, so no need to inquire further here. If someone does know more about such putative ;-) Imperial footage and wants to pass info along for posting here to enlighten others, feel free. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As many know by now there was a major problem accessing this and LOTS of other blogs over the weekend due to problems with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (surprise, surprise); actually, the problem related back to changes at "Sitemeter," a blog traffic tabulator, but seemed to only affect IE, and should now be remedied. At any rate if you are STILL using IE as your main web browser, please get with the program and switch over to Firefox (or almost anything other than the Microsoft product). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
....And for those who never tire of such other things more old Steve Martin comedy here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some bedtime reading perhaps: if you've never read them before here is the famous account of Agey and Heinzmann reporting Ivory-bills in central Florida back in the 1960s:
Good news (for a change) for N. American birds here, about preserving Canada's boreal forest. Scott Weidensaul calls this "One of the biggest conservation stories ever" though it "received relatively little press here in the States." Scott notes the boreal forest is "the great bird factory of North America, producing billions of migratory songbirds, waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors; this is arguably the single biggest win in history for bird conservation." He recommends sending "a note of thank you to Premier McGuinty via BSI's website, http://www.borealbirds.org/ -- something every American birder who reaps the benefits of the boreal forest should take a moment to do."
In the 'Not-exactly-the-bluebird-of-happiness' Dept., this bit of bird humor from the press:
http://tinyurl.com/5mnsvt Finally, this coming Monday marks the anniversary of Roger Tory Peterson's death. Twelve years ago upon that occasion the inimitable Pete Dunne wrote a wonderful tribute to Roger for "Birding Magazine." Below, the last paragraph from that eulogy:
"Roger was fond of saying that God, in all his wisdom, had crafted but two creatures with feathers: birds and angels. God, in his wisdom, gave us Roger Tory Peterson to interpret and instruct us. And although I do not wish to presume, and I cannot possibly be certain, I have a hunch that by the time I reach the hereafter, there will be a "Field Guide to the Angels" waiting for me. With luck, it might even be in its second or third edition."
--- at which point Pete can commence to writing a short text on how to pish for angels ;-)
(And here's another look at the newly-revised Peterson Field Guide to be released next month.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Ivory-bill schtuff; just books, ducks, condors, storklets, and.... west coast news:
Another stop in a bookstore yesterday, and another wonderful find: Artist Charley Harper's "Birds and Words" (originally published in the 1970's) has been re-issued, full of Charley's uniquely minimalist and delightful bird art and short incisive verbal blurbs on each depicted bird. This book will bring a smile to most any birder, but also makes a fine introduction to birds for youngsters who can take delight in the artwork as well, while parents read and explain the wonderful short commentaries.
And for all the duck lovers out there, I have to pass this one along for heart-tugging enjoyment:
An acquaintance recently sent me a poem by David Wagoner she found in the Jan. 1983 edition of "The Atlantic Monthly" which recounts, of all things, Alexander Wilson's famous encounter, 200 years ago, with an Ivory-billed Woodpecker near Wilmington, NC. The poem is available on the Web in a few places, including here. Another blogger who posted the poem several years ago followed it with this sentiment, that I sorta like:
"... The poem deals with the impossibility of a mutual understanding between man and nature argues Czeslaw Milosz in his introduction. I think that's wrong. I think the poem shows what happens when man tries to learn too much, tries to compartmentalize and categorize nature in ways that nature shouldn't be confined. "
....but enough culture already; for humor today, and on behalf of all the 'believers' out there who feel they don't get any respect, here be the late Rodney Dangerfield:
Ohhhh, and p.s., in case you've recently had any inclination to contact "The New Yorker Magazine" for any particular reason, contact info is here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bit more info about the Ivory-bill computer graphic simulation carried out by Cornell which I referenced a few days ago (July 8 post). This work was done in part as the master's thesis of Cornell grad student Jeffrey Wang under the guidance of Dr. Don Greenberg, and is available here in pdf form (~200 pgs.):
I'm slowly reading through the dissertation (and for a technical Master's Thesis it's a fairly lively read), but since computer graphics aren't "my thing" don't know how much I'll glean from it --- I assume some of my readers though will find it informative. And I presume a more formal journal publication is in the works.
....for another comedy moment, one of my favorite old posts from "Cute Overload" blog (be sure to read the 'comments' section below picture):
ADDENDUM --- just a few things I'll note, having now scanned Wang's thesis more:
In addition to flight mechanics and computer graphics, the paper is VERY HEAVY, for obvious reasons, on underlying bird anatomy. We live in an age of academic specialization, and clearly Wang's thesis delves into highly specialized areas (as a sidenote, found it interesting that out of the 100's of Ivory-bill specimens residing in museums, it turns out there is ONLY ONE 'pickled' in fluid, and thus well-preserved for detailed anatomical studies, at the Smithsonian Museum --- Cornell was able to obtain that single specimen on loan for these specific studies --- fascinating... where pursuit of the Luneau video leads us!).
Anyway, Wang's paper (submitted in Jan. 2007), ends prior to actual testing of the computer-generated Ivory-bill against the bird captured in the Luneau clip, which has since been done; i.e. the thesis describes in great detail the creation of a 'virtual' (computer-graphic) Ivory-bill (and seems very convincing), but not the actual running of that bird in a flight path and environment matching the Luneau bird --- and there's the rub! No matter how precise and accurate a created 'virtual' Ivory-bill is, the real crux of the matter comes when applying the flight mechanics and lighting (and the MULTITUDE of variables that arise therein) to the specifics of the Luneau bird's context, and gauging whether the result better matches a PIWO or IBWO (just using a Pileated as a flying 'surrogate' for an IBWO is grist for debate all by itself, but there are likely a myriad more issues skeptics may raise as well). It will be interesting to see how Cornell explicates all of this in a final paper, and I'll also be interested to see who the co-authors (and those cited for assistance/input) are on any such final paper. I hope such a paper is at least as persuasive as Wang's work is... but one suspects the debate is destined to continue. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The end of this month marks at least two anniversaries:
1. the 3rd anniversary of the birth of this blog, little knowing what controversy was to follow :-))) and,
2. the 12th anniversary of the death of Roger Tory Peterson :-(((((
One of the above is pretty trifling so I'll only address the other:Roger Tory Peterson was clearly a hero to many in the birding and conservation communities, including folks at opposite poles of the IBWO controversy.I love Roger's art and field guides, but mostly I love his thoughtful approach to nature, and to sharing that knowledge and experience with others. Roger was always open to possibilities, and to new knowledge and understanding; he understood inherently, how easily what passes for human logic can be defied by Nature; how tenuous and subject-to-change our knowledge is. When others were dropping the Ivory-bill from their field guides, or relegating it to some special back section, he was still including it among the woodpeckers, perhaps signaling a narrow hope he held out. And he was among the last individuals to see Ivory-bills at Louisiana's Singer Tract back in the 1940's; his most thrilling birding moment.Next month, BTW, Houghton-Mifflin is issuing a newly-designed edition of his field guide which sounds great (here and here), so make room on your shelf for yet another.
Too bad Roger isn't alive today to witness the effort finally being put forth on behalf of this species, and add his two cents (more like ten dollars worth!). I could very well be wrong, but I like to think he's looking down from above, a blank canvas before him, paint-brush at-the-ready, waiting, watching over the searchers.... and smiling.
....for today's entertainment, a clip that isn't so much funny, as simply UNbelievable (this guy's a trained professional, or... insane; DON'T you kids try this at home): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiq6V0Shs_s ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August is a month when Ivory-bills may be out-and-about, cruising the forest in family groups in search of food, and possibly dropping feathers along the way (Mike Collins reminds us, in a recent post, that August is a primary month for feather-molting in Ivory-bills)... and ironically, it is a month few searchers are ever in the field looking for them. Mike ponders returning to the Pearl in August and keeping an eye out for feathers in prior hot zones, though finding a feather from an extremely rare bird is probably even more of a needle in a haystack than finding the bird itself (the only advantage being that feathers don't fly away or take evasive action upon approach) --- and getting such a feather DNA-tested, without good advance evidence that it is from an Ivory-bill may also prove difficult --- very few feathers (or other material for that matter) from 3 years of searching have been DNA-tested to this point, so far as I'm aware. DNA-evidence would generate some excitement, but like other evidence would also be debated. For good or for ill, skeptics have firmly established the position of the bar for Ivory-bill evidence: either a carcass or a clear photo/video must be attained; all else is just grist for continued debate. A carcass, a photo or video, and essentially one more season to achieve it.
....for today's humor, a short clip from one of Britain's finest exports ;-), Benny Hill!:
Cornell's Mobile Team posts final (non-informative?) updates to their travel log for the season here.
Not sure why it's being posted this late --- their last previous post was April 10, and these posts merely fill out the month of April, telling where they made cursory stops, but lacking any Ivory-bill info or speculation at all. More significant for how little it has to say, than anything it does report.
....comic installment today, one of the favorite clips (out of sooooo many) from 'Seinfeld':
Believe-it-or-not Ripley, the Luneau film clip continues to be analyzed --- new computer-derived evidence (from Cornell) for the Luneau bird here (using computer graphics to argue that David's bird matches an Ivory-bill --- I can already hear the grumbling and arguments commencing ;-)).
....and for today's comedy relief, some pure Woody Allen:
Summer re-run --- a repeat of thoughts covered here before:
The lack of a definitive Ivory-bill photo from somewhere by now is troubling but points no more to Ivory-bill extinction than it does simply to Ivory-bill scarcity. (Only the ubiquity of photography in today's society and field studies, a relatively new phenomena, makes it seem more convincing to many.)
Assuming IBWO scarcity then, the more difficult issue to grapple with is how such a scarce species could even manage to hang on throughout decades. What such long-term rarity implies is the existence of small populations in near enough proximity to one another that dispersing offspring could relocate and find mates (and as a powerful flyer the 'proximity' needn't be as close for Ivory-bills as for many other species). Creatures in low densities with limited habitat and resources can reach population stasis, or steady-state numbers, that may be successfully maintained over lengthy periods with fair ease. For Ivory-bills, all that is required are a few bottomland or riverine corridors connecting small populations and the birds might maintain themselves at low numbers over long periods, very occasionally being seen and heard, and difficult to get a clear irrefutable photo of --- not unlike, need I say it, the situation at hand (...or at least as plausible an explanation as writing off 100's of claims over years to 'mistakes').
Make some conservative assumptions: Ivory-bill life-expectancy of 10 years (most say it is longer); no breeding during the first 3 or last 3 years of their lives, leaving just 4 breeding years (again, wholly unlikely); out of 3-5 eggs laid, on average only 1 hatchling survives. Given these assumptions, a single pair of ivory-bills, on average, produces 4 offspring in their lifetime (i.e., 4 birds produced to replace 2) --- if half those birds go on to find mates and continue the process, stasis is maintained. To the degree that some of these conservative numbers increase, IBWO population may even increase slowly over time. If habitat itself is in a somewhat steady-state situation (some good habitat growing, while other habitat diminishing), not much may change; only to the degree that habitat is improving for the species, might population markedly grow and encounters with the species increase to a point of easier detection and confirmation. Of course the point of organized, large-scale searches is to increase the number and likelihood of such encounters. Whether they have done so or not is a whole 'nuther debate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got nuthin' better to do so I'll just list my current obligatory baker's dozen list of states in order of most-to-least likely to harbor any Ivory-bills at this point:
1. Florida 2. Louisiana 3. Mississippi 4. Arkansas 5. Tennessee 6. Alabama 7. Illinois 8. Georgia 9. South Carolina 10. North Carolina 11. Kentucky 12. Missouri 13. Texas I'd settle for Ivory-bills being found in just half of these ;-)) ...but, seriously,... awhile back, Bill Pulliam noted to me that he had called attention to Alabama's Mobile Delta region, recently mentioned favorably in Cornell's summary report, over two years ago on his blog when he surveyed (via computer) the Southeast for possible IBWO habitat:
It's been a long time since any credible reports of Ivory-bills emanated from this area (although a few unconfirmed reports have come from other parts of Alabama), and Tanner reported the delta region as totally cut over when he reviewed it in the 30's, but The Nature Conservancy is actively trying to preserve much of it today. The area falls nicely between the Florida Panhandle and the Pascagoula region of Mississippi if one cares to think in terms of a Gulf corridor for the species (which can stretch on to Louisiana's Pearl, and of course eastward to Florida's Apalachicola/Chipola).
....and here, classic comedy interlude for all those who have kids in summer camp this year... or... ever:
