-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From a recent online interview with David Sibley:
"Question: Speaking of which, a big controversy in the birding world was that reported sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought extinct, in an Arkansas swamp. Does it really exist?
Answer: When it was first reported I went there immediately and spent 10 days. And the river was full of fishermen with binoculars. Everyone was keyed to spot it. It was not a wilderness. And I thought then, “If it’s here, someone will see it in the next four weeks.’’ That was five years ago. . . . I wrote a rebuttal for Science magazine."
.................................
... and not really a whole lot has changed since :-(
Don't know that I'll have much more to say prior to some summary reports being released (and even then may only end up repeating things I've written before), so for the sake of variety I'll again toss open the possibility of "guest posts" if anyone has some thoughtful commentary they care to pass along --- same basic guidelines as given in the original "contest" post, just no longer a contest (maybe folks were inhibited by the idea of competition???).
Send your thoughts/takes/analysis/conclusions (or Ivory-bill rock operas) along to me at: cyberthrush@gmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
-- "Darkest Before Dawn" --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Narrative from another one who was there:
http://birdman-darkestbeforedawn.blogspot.com/2010/01/some-current-notes-on-this-entry-i-was.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Narrative from another one who was there:
http://birdman-darkestbeforedawn.blogspot.com/2010/01/some-current-notes-on-this-entry-i-was.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, January 04, 2010
-- We Have A Winner --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 weeks ago I proposed a "contest" for someone to write their own blog post here; the deadline has passed, and lo-and-behold but one entry appeared (making selecting a winner easy!!). Below the thoughts and experiences of searcher Charles Williams from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (which I think reflect the notions of many of us):
........................................................................................
Ivory-bills: The Jury Is Still Out
Some people who know I have participated in several IB searches enjoy needling me about the minimal results of searches to date. Some of this is in jest and some is more aggressive, implying that there is something wrong, fiscally or morally, with the search effort. These jabs do not bother me. Based on the sightings’ reports that I’ve read and the experience level of the sources, I lean strongly toward the “believers” group but am not in the 100% sure category and won’t be until I see an IB or a clear photo thereof. More important, however, as a participant in several formal and informal searches, I have witnessed many shortcomings of the efforts, which strongly suggest that the search results are inconclusive. Simply put, the jury is still out. I begin by pointing out several fundamental weaknesses, from a thoroughness perspective, of the searches to date:
1. Over-attention to public lands versus private land. Public lands are legally accessible and hence have been the target of most searches. Private landowners are justifiably ambiguous in their attitudes toward an IB being found on their land and have not encouraged searches. Except in Arkansas, where most of the suitable habitat seems to be in public ownership, a large percentage of the potential IB habitat is in remote, lightly used private land that is often under lease to hunting clubs. Could these areas harbor IBs? Of course—and in fact they are more likely to do so than nearby or adjacent public lands due to the lower level of human activity (hunting, camping, fishing, etc.) that occurs on these lands.
2. Over-attention to areas that had the imprimatur of an institutionally reported and accepted sighting. The attention to SE Arkansas and the Choctawhatchee River in Florida was huge, based on the reputations of the sponsoring groups and their sightings, and this was later fueled by enthusiastic public and private funding. Like the recent housing bubble, these searches gained momentum well beyond when the shortage of actual, ongoing evidence raised questions about the extent of resources being devoted to these two areas.
3. Inherent weaknesses in the large, “institutionalized” search in Arkansas. I participated here for two weeks in February, 2007 and for one week in February, 2009. As an example of one weakness in the search methodology, I recall one of my days in the southern part of the White River NWR. Our search crew was staying at duck hunting lodge in St. Charles, Arkansas, an hour’s drive from the search area. We arrived in the search area around 7:30 or 8 a.m. and I was dropped off on a gravel road, with my target destination being Swan Lake, about a mile off the road to the south. After an hour of slow walking and wading, I came to Sixmile Bayou and experienced a somewhat hair-raising wade across this bayou with the water within inches of the top of my waders. Finally around 10 a.m. I arrived in the target area, which was indeed outstanding habitat with very large hardwoods of a variety of types and a good bit of woodpecker activity. I stayed in the area for around 5 hours, criss-crossing the area, and then started out by a different and longer path, getting back to the road after dark. This was a reasonably typical day in that my hours in the prime habitat were mid-morning to mid/late afternoon. These are the hours, per Tanner, in which IBs become rather inactive. How much credibililty was given by Cornell to my search effort that day? I don’t know, but I do know that my GPS track was entered into their data base and contributed, in some way, to their future decisions regarding deployment of searchers. In brief, the total time I devoted and the distance I covered that day did not necessarily mean the area had been thoroughly, or even moderately well searched. But since Cornell was working each day with, typically, 10 volunteers and half a dozen full-time staff, the practical aspects of lodging, feeding, transporting, and managing personnel produced limitations that affected search effectiveness.
4. Under-attention to Louisiana and Mississippi. These two states both have some excellent areas of potential IB presence--Louisiana in particular in the vast Atchafalaya basin where sightings have been periodically reported over the decades since the 1940s. Yet due to lack of recent sightings, remoteness and poor accessibility of the areas, lack of funding, and lack of a strong institutional backer, search efforts have been minimal and “broadbrush” compared to Arkansas and the Choctawhatchee. This same conclusion also applies to most of the river systems of the Florida panhandle. (Note: I exempt from this comment the lower Pearl River basin which has received a heroic, thorough, and ongoing effort by Mike Collins to find the birds (or their descendents) that Kullivan saw in 1999.). As for Mississippi, there are large areas of good habitat along the Mississippi River between Natchez and Angola, Louisiana, where hardwood-dominated “loess topography” could have become a refuge for IBs fleeing the clear-cutting of adjacent bottomland areas. Searching here has been minimal. It would be simply wrong at this point to say that the search results mean that IBs are extinct. The small number of good quality sightings alone should rule out this conclusion. So what do I believe can be concluded at this point in time?
1. Despite its weaknesses, the well-funded and well-manned search in Arkansas has established that the White River NWR is not some kind of “motherlode” of IBs, and the population of 20+/- birds that I heard some Cornell people speculate about is probably not present. Instead, there are a handful of widely dispersed birds whose location and means/ability to reproduce are a mystery. This merits some further searching of a highly targeted nature.
2. The extremely meticulous search in Congaree NP, S. Carolina, has come as close as possible to establishing that IBs are not there. The Congaree search, which I participated in, was very thorough and avoided many of the glitches of the Arkansas methodology, and was conducted in a much smaller area, with searches starting from tent camps at daybreak. This is not, however, to say that minimally searched private lands closer to the S. Carolina coast should also be ruled out.
3. Based on sightings by at least four different individuals, there are almost certainly a few birds in the Choctawhatchee River bottoms in Florida, and this area probably has the best potential for yielding additional sightings and a photograph. Other river bottoms in the Panhandle also merit attention.
4. Since official searches will probably end due to lack of results, finding the IB may well depend on a chance encounter (e.g., Kullivan) in which some alert outdoorsman has a camera handy. Another possibility is that the efforts of a dedicated individual, creative and persevering in approach, and focusing on the best habitat in remote locations, will turn up a documentable IB. This could happen on private land, and I envision the possibility that a bird or birds could be photographed and their location kept secret by advance agreement with the landowner.
Comments or questions may be sent to chazbizz@cox.net. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the input Charles!
4 weeks ago I proposed a "contest" for someone to write their own blog post here; the deadline has passed, and lo-and-behold but one entry appeared (making selecting a winner easy!!). Below the thoughts and experiences of searcher Charles Williams from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (which I think reflect the notions of many of us):
........................................................................................
Ivory-bills: The Jury Is Still Out
Some people who know I have participated in several IB searches enjoy needling me about the minimal results of searches to date. Some of this is in jest and some is more aggressive, implying that there is something wrong, fiscally or morally, with the search effort. These jabs do not bother me. Based on the sightings’ reports that I’ve read and the experience level of the sources, I lean strongly toward the “believers” group but am not in the 100% sure category and won’t be until I see an IB or a clear photo thereof. More important, however, as a participant in several formal and informal searches, I have witnessed many shortcomings of the efforts, which strongly suggest that the search results are inconclusive. Simply put, the jury is still out. I begin by pointing out several fundamental weaknesses, from a thoroughness perspective, of the searches to date:
1. Over-attention to public lands versus private land. Public lands are legally accessible and hence have been the target of most searches. Private landowners are justifiably ambiguous in their attitudes toward an IB being found on their land and have not encouraged searches. Except in Arkansas, where most of the suitable habitat seems to be in public ownership, a large percentage of the potential IB habitat is in remote, lightly used private land that is often under lease to hunting clubs. Could these areas harbor IBs? Of course—and in fact they are more likely to do so than nearby or adjacent public lands due to the lower level of human activity (hunting, camping, fishing, etc.) that occurs on these lands.
2. Over-attention to areas that had the imprimatur of an institutionally reported and accepted sighting. The attention to SE Arkansas and the Choctawhatchee River in Florida was huge, based on the reputations of the sponsoring groups and their sightings, and this was later fueled by enthusiastic public and private funding. Like the recent housing bubble, these searches gained momentum well beyond when the shortage of actual, ongoing evidence raised questions about the extent of resources being devoted to these two areas.
3. Inherent weaknesses in the large, “institutionalized” search in Arkansas. I participated here for two weeks in February, 2007 and for one week in February, 2009. As an example of one weakness in the search methodology, I recall one of my days in the southern part of the White River NWR. Our search crew was staying at duck hunting lodge in St. Charles, Arkansas, an hour’s drive from the search area. We arrived in the search area around 7:30 or 8 a.m. and I was dropped off on a gravel road, with my target destination being Swan Lake, about a mile off the road to the south. After an hour of slow walking and wading, I came to Sixmile Bayou and experienced a somewhat hair-raising wade across this bayou with the water within inches of the top of my waders. Finally around 10 a.m. I arrived in the target area, which was indeed outstanding habitat with very large hardwoods of a variety of types and a good bit of woodpecker activity. I stayed in the area for around 5 hours, criss-crossing the area, and then started out by a different and longer path, getting back to the road after dark. This was a reasonably typical day in that my hours in the prime habitat were mid-morning to mid/late afternoon. These are the hours, per Tanner, in which IBs become rather inactive. How much credibililty was given by Cornell to my search effort that day? I don’t know, but I do know that my GPS track was entered into their data base and contributed, in some way, to their future decisions regarding deployment of searchers. In brief, the total time I devoted and the distance I covered that day did not necessarily mean the area had been thoroughly, or even moderately well searched. But since Cornell was working each day with, typically, 10 volunteers and half a dozen full-time staff, the practical aspects of lodging, feeding, transporting, and managing personnel produced limitations that affected search effectiveness.
4. Under-attention to Louisiana and Mississippi. These two states both have some excellent areas of potential IB presence--Louisiana in particular in the vast Atchafalaya basin where sightings have been periodically reported over the decades since the 1940s. Yet due to lack of recent sightings, remoteness and poor accessibility of the areas, lack of funding, and lack of a strong institutional backer, search efforts have been minimal and “broadbrush” compared to Arkansas and the Choctawhatchee. This same conclusion also applies to most of the river systems of the Florida panhandle. (Note: I exempt from this comment the lower Pearl River basin which has received a heroic, thorough, and ongoing effort by Mike Collins to find the birds (or their descendents) that Kullivan saw in 1999.). As for Mississippi, there are large areas of good habitat along the Mississippi River between Natchez and Angola, Louisiana, where hardwood-dominated “loess topography” could have become a refuge for IBs fleeing the clear-cutting of adjacent bottomland areas. Searching here has been minimal. It would be simply wrong at this point to say that the search results mean that IBs are extinct. The small number of good quality sightings alone should rule out this conclusion. So what do I believe can be concluded at this point in time?
1. Despite its weaknesses, the well-funded and well-manned search in Arkansas has established that the White River NWR is not some kind of “motherlode” of IBs, and the population of 20+/- birds that I heard some Cornell people speculate about is probably not present. Instead, there are a handful of widely dispersed birds whose location and means/ability to reproduce are a mystery. This merits some further searching of a highly targeted nature.
2. The extremely meticulous search in Congaree NP, S. Carolina, has come as close as possible to establishing that IBs are not there. The Congaree search, which I participated in, was very thorough and avoided many of the glitches of the Arkansas methodology, and was conducted in a much smaller area, with searches starting from tent camps at daybreak. This is not, however, to say that minimally searched private lands closer to the S. Carolina coast should also be ruled out.
3. Based on sightings by at least four different individuals, there are almost certainly a few birds in the Choctawhatchee River bottoms in Florida, and this area probably has the best potential for yielding additional sightings and a photograph. Other river bottoms in the Panhandle also merit attention.
4. Since official searches will probably end due to lack of results, finding the IB may well depend on a chance encounter (e.g., Kullivan) in which some alert outdoorsman has a camera handy. Another possibility is that the efforts of a dedicated individual, creative and persevering in approach, and focusing on the best habitat in remote locations, will turn up a documentable IB. This could happen on private land, and I envision the possibility that a bird or birds could be photographed and their location kept secret by advance agreement with the landowner.
Comments or questions may be sent to chazbizz@cox.net. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the input Charles!
Friday, January 01, 2010
-- Happy New... Search Season --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May it be a fruitful one....
"BE" (Neil Diamond -- "Jonathan Livingston Seagull")
Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet's eye
You may find him
If you may find him
There
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may
Be
As a page that aches for a word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way
And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it
While the sand
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus
Be
As a page that aches for a word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way
( http://tinyurl.com/y8uuen7 )
...."Contest" winning entry coming up Mon. or Tues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
May it be a fruitful one....
"BE" (Neil Diamond -- "Jonathan Livingston Seagull")
Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet's eye
You may find him
If you may find him
There
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may
Be
As a page that aches for a word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way
And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it
While the sand
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus
Be
As a page that aches for a word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way
( http://tinyurl.com/y8uuen7 )
...."Contest" winning entry coming up Mon. or Tues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
-- Archival Pics --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A poster on IBWO Researchers Forum provides below link to images (some colorized) from the Cornell archives of Ivory-bills, and other material from the Singer Tract expedition:
http://tinyurl.com/yaln6dw
Elsewhere on Web it's reported that Jerry Jackson is scheduled to give a talk in March in Florida entitled "History, Hoopla, and Hope: Lessons of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and its Emergence as an Icon for Conservation" (I suspect the emphasis will be on 'history' and 'hoopla,' although Jerry always hedges his bets just enough to keep 'hope' from expiring entirely).
January essentially marks the beginning of a new winter search season (to ~April/May), though difficult to imagine much news emerging out of this year's heavily scaled-back efforts. Meanwhile, we await a final summary from official sources that might give some direction (...or, not) --- just wonder if that eventual report will be presented with any degree of enthusiasm, or just stammering and red faces?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A poster on IBWO Researchers Forum provides below link to images (some colorized) from the Cornell archives of Ivory-bills, and other material from the Singer Tract expedition:
http://tinyurl.com/yaln6dw
Elsewhere on Web it's reported that Jerry Jackson is scheduled to give a talk in March in Florida entitled "History, Hoopla, and Hope: Lessons of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and its Emergence as an Icon for Conservation" (I suspect the emphasis will be on 'history' and 'hoopla,' although Jerry always hedges his bets just enough to keep 'hope' from expiring entirely).
January essentially marks the beginning of a new winter search season (to ~April/May), though difficult to imagine much news emerging out of this year's heavily scaled-back efforts. Meanwhile, we await a final summary from official sources that might give some direction (...or, not) --- just wonder if that eventual report will be presented with any degree of enthusiasm, or just stammering and red faces?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 27, 2009
-- Top 10 Posts... NOT! --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Didn't fully realize just what a disappointing year this has been until I went back, as a year-end review, to pick out 10 favorite posts from the last 12 months... and couldn't compile such!
Instead I'll just cite 2 light-hearted posts:
"Get A Photo, Sherlock"
"Name Change?"
...a mere 2 posts of a serious (and similar) nature:
"Ivory-bill Politics"
"Of Bubbles"
...and lastly, 3 totally OFF-TOPIC video posts that remain among my favorite to view:
"Wingsuit Flying"
"Intermission"
"Another Very Endangered Bird"
So much for 2009 :-(
....A little music as the year nears an end... because some of us still believe in things we have not seen ;-) :
( http://tinyurl.com/yfr7wyu )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Didn't fully realize just what a disappointing year this has been until I went back, as a year-end review, to pick out 10 favorite posts from the last 12 months... and couldn't compile such!
Instead I'll just cite 2 light-hearted posts:
"Get A Photo, Sherlock"
"Name Change?"
...a mere 2 posts of a serious (and similar) nature:
"Ivory-bill Politics"
"Of Bubbles"
...and lastly, 3 totally OFF-TOPIC video posts that remain among my favorite to view:
"Wingsuit Flying"
"Intermission"
"Another Very Endangered Bird"
So much for 2009 :-(
....A little music as the year nears an end... because some of us still believe in things we have not seen ;-) :
( http://tinyurl.com/yfr7wyu )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 24, 2009
-- Pics (OT) --
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I assume this is for real, though seems improbable(?) :
http://tinyurl.com/yktogwg
(check out the rest of the pics at this site as well, by clicking directly on each pic to bring up the next one! --- but not while you're about to sit down for a Holiday meal!!)
....and a Happy (belated) Festivus to everyone!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I assume this is for real, though seems improbable(?) :
http://tinyurl.com/yktogwg
(check out the rest of the pics at this site as well, by clicking directly on each pic to bring up the next one! --- but not while you're about to sit down for a Holiday meal!!)
....and a Happy (belated) Festivus to everyone!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
-- Need a Calendar? --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
For all you last-minute Xmas shoppers (...okay, it's probably too late to order for Christmas), your 2010 Hooters Calender is available here (...gotta LUV the cover!):
http://www.zazzle.com/hooters_2010_calendar-158194560331473194
....or view a sample here from 2009:
http://joe-ks.com/HootersCalendar2009.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
For all you last-minute Xmas shoppers (...okay, it's probably too late to order for Christmas), your 2010 Hooters Calender is available here (...gotta LUV the cover!):
http://www.zazzle.com/hooters_2010_calendar-158194560331473194
....or view a sample here from 2009:
http://joe-ks.com/HootersCalendar2009.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
-- Rohrbaugh On the 'Romeo Error' --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cornell's Ron Rohrbaugh speaks with the Cornell Chronicle here:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec09/DefineExtinctions.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cornell's Ron Rohrbaugh speaks with the Cornell Chronicle here:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec09/DefineExtinctions.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, December 21, 2009
-- Largest Search Ever Coming this Winter --
------------------------------------------------------------------------
....but NOT for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Worldwide search for the Slender-billed Curlew, "Europe's most enigmatic bird," will commence this winter:
http://www.surfbirds.com/sbirdsnews/archives/2009/12/wise_men_search.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
....but NOT for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Worldwide search for the Slender-billed Curlew, "Europe's most enigmatic bird," will commence this winter:
http://www.surfbirds.com/sbirdsnews/archives/2009/12/wise_men_search.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, December 19, 2009
-- The Ivory-billed Woodpecker... and Physics --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a quite old post from another blog, but I've got to love it when the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and physics are discussed in the same breath:
http://tinyurl.com/yle6rhs
(maybe 2010 will be the year to confirm both the Higgs boson and the IBWO... or, maybe not)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a quite old post from another blog, but I've got to love it when the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and physics are discussed in the same breath:
http://tinyurl.com/yle6rhs
(maybe 2010 will be the year to confirm both the Higgs boson and the IBWO... or, maybe not)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, December 18, 2009
-- Keeping the Beat --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not IBWO, but in a comment further down "onthecoyle" notes the below YouTube clip in which a Pileated Woodpecker on a window ledge interestingly mimics the knocks (rhythm and number) produced by human observers inside. Great look at a great bird, and fascinating behavior... :
ADDENDUM: still a great look at a great bird, but unfortunately the "behavior" has now been readily explained away; see comment below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not IBWO, but in a comment further down "onthecoyle" notes the below YouTube clip in which a Pileated Woodpecker on a window ledge interestingly mimics the knocks (rhythm and number) produced by human observers inside. Great look at a great bird, and fascinating behavior... :
ADDENDUM: still a great look at a great bird, but unfortunately the "behavior" has now been readily explained away; see comment below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 17, 2009
-- Another Search Technology --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new acoustic monitoring technology to aid searching is described by Mark Gahler over at IBWO Researchers Forum here:
http://www.ibwo.net/forum/showpost.php?p=5314&postcount=5
with further details at the individual's website here:
http://www.south-run.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new acoustic monitoring technology to aid searching is described by Mark Gahler over at IBWO Researchers Forum here:
http://www.ibwo.net/forum/showpost.php?p=5314&postcount=5
with further details at the individual's website here:
http://www.south-run.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
-- If Only the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Was an Email ;-) --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 13, 2009
-- "Ghost Bird" Director Interviewed --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
9-minute interview with Scott Crocker, director of "Ghost Bird":
...and here a momentarily-captive Pileated Woodpecker (juvenile??) making a call unusual for them:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9-minute interview with Scott Crocker, director of "Ghost Bird":
...and here a momentarily-captive Pileated Woodpecker (juvenile??) making a call unusual for them:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
-- 'Putting Miles of Swamp' Between Them and Us? --
------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we await further summary info or plans for the coming season, a reminder that you can bring up
miscellaneous, IBWO-related topics you're interested in at the 'Permanent Open Thread' here (scroll down, I've marked off where any December discussion begins):
http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2009/11/permanent-open-thread.html
Or if you have something longer to say enter the 'contest' here:
http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2009/12/contest-you-too-can-be-blogger.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If there is one ivory-bill still alive, there have to be more. A reproducing population, making more ivorybills, generations enough to span sixty years. Must we trap them in their roost holes, and bundle them into cages, these mythic beings with their wild eyes and fiery crests? Given a choice between such intervention and certain extinction, and the intellect to consider it, what would an ivory-bill choose? I imagine it flying away, in a long, straight line, putting miles of swamp between it and the further workings of humanity."-- From Julie Zickefoose's NPR commentary broadcast 4 years ago following the announcement of discovering an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas [she is referencing here, BTW, the Calif. Condor recovery program instituted to save that species].
While we await further summary info or plans for the coming season, a reminder that you can bring up
miscellaneous, IBWO-related topics you're interested in at the 'Permanent Open Thread' here (scroll down, I've marked off where any December discussion begins):
http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2009/11/permanent-open-thread.html
Or if you have something longer to say enter the 'contest' here:
http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/2009/12/contest-you-too-can-be-blogger.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
-- CONTEST!: You Too Can Be a Blogger!!! --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never had a contest here before... better late than never! (hopefully there will be contestants!?)...
Here's what I've got in mind:
You have ideas, conclusions, or a take on the whole Ivory-bill story that maybe hasn't been adequately expressed yet? Or something's just buggin' you that needs said. This is your chance...
Write a potential blog post, MAXimum 1000 words (minimum, 47 words :-)), about any aspect of the Ivory-bill search, or possibilities of extinction or existence, that you like; this can be from either a skeptical or a 'believer' standpoint. Send it to me by Jan. 2 upcoming, and I'll pick the entry I like best to run as a blog post that first week in January (if there are multiple ones that I like enough, might choose honorable mentions to also run as posts). Sorry, no $$$, no door prizes, no Caribbean cruises, just the recognition of being the first-ever guest blogger here at 'Ivory-bills LiVE.'
(BTW, don't necessarily try to mimic views I espouse here myself, that won't help you; I'll be looking for entries that thoughtfully, or creatively, or convincingly present some significant point-of-view whatever that view may be --- could be on a very narrow aspect or a broad, general theme regarding IBWO; could be highly empirical, or experiential, or just commonsensical (...and multiple entries from 1 person are okay also).
Please email to me at: cyberthrush[AT]gmail.com (by midnight, Jan. 2, 2010)
I prefer entries to have real names attached to them, or if you are better known across the Web under some given pseudonym that is ok (if you feel you can only enter anonymously, explain why that is the case and I'll consider "Anonymous" entries).
Ready... Set... Commence writing. . . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never had a contest here before... better late than never! (hopefully there will be contestants!?)...
Here's what I've got in mind:
You have ideas, conclusions, or a take on the whole Ivory-bill story that maybe hasn't been adequately expressed yet? Or something's just buggin' you that needs said. This is your chance...
Write a potential blog post, MAXimum 1000 words (minimum, 47 words :-)), about any aspect of the Ivory-bill search, or possibilities of extinction or existence, that you like; this can be from either a skeptical or a 'believer' standpoint. Send it to me by Jan. 2 upcoming, and I'll pick the entry I like best to run as a blog post that first week in January (if there are multiple ones that I like enough, might choose honorable mentions to also run as posts). Sorry, no $$$, no door prizes, no Caribbean cruises, just the recognition of being the first-ever guest blogger here at 'Ivory-bills LiVE.'
(BTW, don't necessarily try to mimic views I espouse here myself, that won't help you; I'll be looking for entries that thoughtfully, or creatively, or convincingly present some significant point-of-view whatever that view may be --- could be on a very narrow aspect or a broad, general theme regarding IBWO; could be highly empirical, or experiential, or just commonsensical (...and multiple entries from 1 person are okay also).
Please email to me at: cyberthrush[AT]gmail.com (by midnight, Jan. 2, 2010)
I prefer entries to have real names attached to them, or if you are better known across the Web under some given pseudonym that is ok (if you feel you can only enter anonymously, explain why that is the case and I'll consider "Anonymous" entries).
Ready... Set... Commence writing. . . . .
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
-- Just For Inspiration --
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Anyone who follows astronomy much, knows that a great many first-time discoveries in the profession have actually been made by amateurs or hobbyists. For a lot of reasons astronomy is a scientific field that lends itself to non-professionals making significant contributions. Related story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/story?id=8221167&page=1
Similarly in birding, copious amounts of data and findings are contributed every year not by professional ornithologists, but weekend birders practicing their passion...
As the academics who are immersed in avian science Mon.-Fri. retreat from the Ivory-bill search, it will be left up to weekend hobbyist-types to carry on. ...Worth remembering perhaps, that it wasn't ornithology grad student James Tanner who originally re-discovered/documented the Ivory-bill back in the 1930's, but country bumpkin-of-sorts Mason Spencer.
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Anyone who follows astronomy much, knows that a great many first-time discoveries in the profession have actually been made by amateurs or hobbyists. For a lot of reasons astronomy is a scientific field that lends itself to non-professionals making significant contributions. Related story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/story?id=8221167&page=1
Similarly in birding, copious amounts of data and findings are contributed every year not by professional ornithologists, but weekend birders practicing their passion...
As the academics who are immersed in avian science Mon.-Fri. retreat from the Ivory-bill search, it will be left up to weekend hobbyist-types to carry on. ...Worth remembering perhaps, that it wasn't ornithology grad student James Tanner who originally re-discovered/documented the Ivory-bill back in the 1930's, but country bumpkin-of-sorts Mason Spencer.
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