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Transcript of an old (1996) radio edition of NPR's "Living On Earth," with good cast of characters, on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (before the Big Woods story, and even before David Kulivan):
http://tinyurl.com/429c39n
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
-- For Your Weekend Viewing --
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Scott Crocker's "Ghost Bird" is now up on the Web, in it's entirety (85 mins.), at this learning site:
http://learning.snagfilms.com/film/ghost-bird
(I'm assuming this is a legitimate showing... if it is pirated or otherwise unauthorized someone let me know that and I'll remove the link).
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Scott Crocker's "Ghost Bird" is now up on the Web, in it's entirety (85 mins.), at this learning site:
http://learning.snagfilms.com/film/ghost-bird
(I'm assuming this is a legitimate showing... if it is pirated or otherwise unauthorized someone let me know that and I'll remove the link).
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Thursday, June 09, 2011
-- Bookshelf --
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I suspect (hope) the very best books about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker may not yet have been written... but, of the volumes already out there touching on the subject, my favorites, in order of preference, are as follows:
1) The Search For the Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- Jerome A. Jackson
2) The Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- James T. Tanner
3) The Race To Save the Lord God Bird -- Phillip Hoose
4) The Travails of Two Woodpeckers -- Noel F.R. Snyder, David E. Brown, Kevin B. Clark
5) The Grail Bird -- Tim Gallagher
6) Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers -- Arthur C. Bent
7) Hope Is the Thing With Feathers -- Christopher Cokinos
8) Ghost Birds -- Stephen Lyn Bales
9) Stalking the Ghost Bird --Michael Steinberg
10) Ivorybill Hunters -- Geoffrey E. Hill
11) The Black Swan -- Nassim N. Taleb ;-)
For now, I continue to believe that the claims of certain individuals over the last several years (and prior), indicate persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, BUT having said that, of all the players in this saga, the two individuals who's overall judgment I most trust at this late point (and perhaps the only two!) are Jerry Jackson and Noel Snyder, both of whom, counter to my notion, appear extremely doubtful about continued IBWO presence.
Hopefully, individuals with the interest and opportunity to continue searching for the species will do so... while being under no illusion as to the magnitude of the task before them. Those especially who are already on public record as saying they've seen the bird may bear a special responsibility to further pursue definitive evidence backing-up such claims, lest their names go down in birding history forever with an asterisk by it (and, accompanying snickers)....
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I suspect (hope) the very best books about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker may not yet have been written... but, of the volumes already out there touching on the subject, my favorites, in order of preference, are as follows:
1) The Search For the Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- Jerome A. Jackson
2) The Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- James T. Tanner
3) The Race To Save the Lord God Bird -- Phillip Hoose
4) The Travails of Two Woodpeckers -- Noel F.R. Snyder, David E. Brown, Kevin B. Clark
5) The Grail Bird -- Tim Gallagher
6) Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers -- Arthur C. Bent
7) Hope Is the Thing With Feathers -- Christopher Cokinos
8) Ghost Birds -- Stephen Lyn Bales
9) Stalking the Ghost Bird --Michael Steinberg
10) Ivorybill Hunters -- Geoffrey E. Hill
11) The Black Swan -- Nassim N. Taleb ;-)
For now, I continue to believe that the claims of certain individuals over the last several years (and prior), indicate persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, BUT having said that, of all the players in this saga, the two individuals who's overall judgment I most trust at this late point (and perhaps the only two!) are Jerry Jackson and Noel Snyder, both of whom, counter to my notion, appear extremely doubtful about continued IBWO presence.
Hopefully, individuals with the interest and opportunity to continue searching for the species will do so... while being under no illusion as to the magnitude of the task before them. Those especially who are already on public record as saying they've seen the bird may bear a special responsibility to further pursue definitive evidence backing-up such claims, lest their names go down in birding history forever with an asterisk by it (and, accompanying snickers)....
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Wednesday, June 08, 2011
-- Priceless... --
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(from Phillip Hoose's "The Race To Save the Lord God Bird")
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A.T. Wayne's [19th century collector] Sample Price List as of July 29, 1893:
Ivory-billed Woodpecker, male and female $22.00
Mississippi Kite, price reduced 2.00
4 Carolina Paroquets, adults 15.00
1 (Carolina) Paroquets, immature 3.50
3 South Carolina Swifts @ .50 1.50
1 Scott's Sparrow 1.25
1 Red-eyed Vireo .25
1 Yellow-throated Vireo .30
1 Acadian Flycatcher .35
1 Bachman's Warbler 2.50
1 Parula Warbler, Blue Head 1.00
1 Black-poll Warbler .25
1 Worm-eating Warbler .50
4 Manau's Marsh Wrens 3.20
(from Phillip Hoose's "The Race To Save the Lord God Bird")
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Saturday, June 04, 2011
-- Campephysics Principalis ;-) --
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Here's another odd photo (pileated woodpecker) showing how lighting can play tricks on perception:
http://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/schrodinger%E2%80%99s-woodpecker/
The analogy to 'Schrodinger's cat' has also of course been made repeatedly to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Another, more-current analogy one might make though is to the Higgs Boson. I'm not competent to describe the technicalities of the Higgs, but simply put, years and years of tangential evidence has indicated its likely existence, yet no proof of it has been forthcoming -- one of the major goals of the much-publicized Large Hadron Collider is to establish the presence of this elementary particle (known popularly as "the God particle"... hmmm, echoes of "the Lord God Bird"). Both the LHC and its rival, the Tevatron collider in the US, have recently found rumored evidence (still being analyzed) for the Higgs, after decades of theorizing and failed searches. Hints, glimpses, findings, calculations, debates... but still awaiting proof.
I'll confess my bias: Schrodinger's cat is mostly an abstract thought exercise... I suppose I prefer an analogy to the Higgs, because so many of those in the know feel sure it is really there, and just a matter of time before that is patiently demonstrated... may it still be so for the Ivory-bill... not Schrodinger's Woodpecker, but Higgs.
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Here's another odd photo (pileated woodpecker) showing how lighting can play tricks on perception:
http://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/schrodinger%E2%80%99s-woodpecker/
The analogy to 'Schrodinger's cat' has also of course been made repeatedly to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Another, more-current analogy one might make though is to the Higgs Boson. I'm not competent to describe the technicalities of the Higgs, but simply put, years and years of tangential evidence has indicated its likely existence, yet no proof of it has been forthcoming -- one of the major goals of the much-publicized Large Hadron Collider is to establish the presence of this elementary particle (known popularly as "the God particle"... hmmm, echoes of "the Lord God Bird"). Both the LHC and its rival, the Tevatron collider in the US, have recently found rumored evidence (still being analyzed) for the Higgs, after decades of theorizing and failed searches. Hints, glimpses, findings, calculations, debates... but still awaiting proof.
I'll confess my bias: Schrodinger's cat is mostly an abstract thought exercise... I suppose I prefer an analogy to the Higgs, because so many of those in the know feel sure it is really there, and just a matter of time before that is patiently demonstrated... may it still be so for the Ivory-bill... not Schrodinger's Woodpecker, but Higgs.
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Wednesday, June 01, 2011
-- Something New and Something Old --
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Yet another Ivory-billed inspired work (novel) on the way, in July, here:
http://26yearstolive.blogspot.com/2011/05/of-wing-ivory-billed-obsession.html
(see also: http://www.ofthewing.com/new.htm )
And as a reminder as to why the bar of evidence for this bird is now set so very high (clear photos will be assumed inauthentic until demonstrated otherwise), this old 'anybody can do this' post from Mark Bailey:
http://hogfoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/ivorybill-photo-hoax.html
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Yet another Ivory-billed inspired work (novel) on the way, in July, here:
http://26yearstolive.blogspot.com/2011/05/of-wing-ivory-billed-obsession.html
(see also: http://www.ofthewing.com/new.htm )
And as a reminder as to why the bar of evidence for this bird is now set so very high (clear photos will be assumed inauthentic until demonstrated otherwise), this old 'anybody can do this' post from Mark Bailey:
http://hogfoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/ivorybill-photo-hoax.html
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
-- 'Honking Woodpeckers' --
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A year+-old interview over at another blog (I may have linked to previously) with Jerry Jackson:
http://www.natureskills.com/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker/
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A year+-old interview over at another blog (I may have linked to previously) with Jerry Jackson:
http://www.natureskills.com/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker/
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Thursday, May 26, 2011
-- Just Chillin' Out Today... --
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and perhaps through the weekend...
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and perhaps through the weekend...
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
-- Slither --
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Awhile back I mentioned a rehabber friend having two young orphaned Pileated Woodpeckers she was caring for. There's good news and bad news... The li'l tykes progressed well and when close to fledging were moved into a large pen. One quickly left their "box" nest for higher environs, but the other stayed behind, and unfortunately was taken by a snake that gained entry into the pen. Here's a pic of the other bird after "fledging" to give some indication of the size of the bird victimized (it was a big snake!):
One of the mysteries of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers has long been their possible low reproductive success --- and so I can't help but wonder how much snake predation was a significant factor.
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Awhile back I mentioned a rehabber friend having two young orphaned Pileated Woodpeckers she was caring for. There's good news and bad news... The li'l tykes progressed well and when close to fledging were moved into a large pen. One quickly left their "box" nest for higher environs, but the other stayed behind, and unfortunately was taken by a snake that gained entry into the pen. Here's a pic of the other bird after "fledging" to give some indication of the size of the bird victimized (it was a big snake!):
One of the mysteries of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers has long been their possible low reproductive success --- and so I can't help but wonder how much snake predation was a significant factor.
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Saturday, May 21, 2011
-- Times (and Prices) Change --
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Just a li'l story (I think I've told before), for those who have some spare cash to burn in this economy...:
I noticed this weekend there is a copy of James Tanner's original 1942 Ivory-billed Woodpecker monograph selling over at eBay for a coool $500+ (original copies come up for sale on eBay from time-to-time, and usually around that price).
Anyway, about 25 years ago I came across an original copy in a used bookstore where I live, but was unwilling to pay the exorbitant $60 they were asking at the time! I knew that Dover Press had a republished version for much less, and besides, it was also available at a nearby academic library.
So it wasn't until sometime after David Kulivan's 1999 sighting in La. that I decided I should own a copy and wrote to Dover asking how to order it. They wrote back that it had been out-of-print for many years at that point and there were no copies remaining in stock, NOR any prospect of it being reprinted since there was "no longer any interest in the topic." I thought to myself, 'are you guys NUTS!' :-o
Anyway, eventually they came to their senses and reprinted it again, and it's been available ever since (but with interest waning again, who knows for how much longer...). ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a li'l story (I think I've told before), for those who have some spare cash to burn in this economy...:
I noticed this weekend there is a copy of James Tanner's original 1942 Ivory-billed Woodpecker monograph selling over at eBay for a coool $500+ (original copies come up for sale on eBay from time-to-time, and usually around that price).
Anyway, about 25 years ago I came across an original copy in a used bookstore where I live, but was unwilling to pay the exorbitant $60 they were asking at the time! I knew that Dover Press had a republished version for much less, and besides, it was also available at a nearby academic library.
So it wasn't until sometime after David Kulivan's 1999 sighting in La. that I decided I should own a copy and wrote to Dover asking how to order it. They wrote back that it had been out-of-print for many years at that point and there were no copies remaining in stock, NOR any prospect of it being reprinted since there was "no longer any interest in the topic." I thought to myself, 'are you guys NUTS!' :-o
Anyway, eventually they came to their senses and reprinted it again, and it's been available ever since (but with interest waning again, who knows for how much longer...). ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, May 19, 2011
-- Upcoming --
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Dr. Geoff Hill will be speaking on the search for the Ivory-bill at Auburn's Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve at 6pm tomorrow, Friday 5/20, followed by a showing of Crocker's "Ghost Bird" film. (If anyone happens to hear Dr. Hill's talk let us know how it goes.) And a reminder that "Ghost Bird" is also showing again on the 'Documentary Channel' at both 8:30pm and 11:30pm tomorrow night as well.
BTW, with all the attention to Scott Crocker's film, I'd be curious to learn if anyone knows whatever happened to George Butler's "The Lord God Bird" documentary? --- as far as I'm aware it was never completed (maybe for obvious reasons) even though it was shown in unfinished form many times... perhaps someone can clarify its fate and availability. (John Trapp's old review of it here: http://tinyurl.com/yepxj9g )
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Dr. Geoff Hill will be speaking on the search for the Ivory-bill at Auburn's Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve at 6pm tomorrow, Friday 5/20, followed by a showing of Crocker's "Ghost Bird" film. (If anyone happens to hear Dr. Hill's talk let us know how it goes.) And a reminder that "Ghost Bird" is also showing again on the 'Documentary Channel' at both 8:30pm and 11:30pm tomorrow night as well.
BTW, with all the attention to Scott Crocker's film, I'd be curious to learn if anyone knows whatever happened to George Butler's "The Lord God Bird" documentary? --- as far as I'm aware it was never completed (maybe for obvious reasons) even though it was shown in unfinished form many times... perhaps someone can clarify its fate and availability. (John Trapp's old review of it here: http://tinyurl.com/yepxj9g )
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
-- "Why Most.... " --
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http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
...and, a little more here: http://tinyurl.com/ygmupbc
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" There is increasing concern that in modern research, false findings may be the majority or even the vast majority of published research claims." -- Dr. John P.A. IoannidisI've had a link to this famous, often-cited JPA Ioannidis article in the left-hand column for about 5 years running, but perhaps it's worthwhile to draw more attention to it now --- Ioannidis's concerns are sometimes focused primarily on medical/clinical research (see this The Atlantic article), though much of what he details applies across the life sciences more generally, and on occasion, the physical sciences as well:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
...and, a little more here: http://tinyurl.com/ygmupbc
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Monday, May 16, 2011
"Huhh, what? ...did I just hear an Ivory-billed Woodpecker"
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^
^...The New Yorker cartoon contest caption that SHOULDA been:
http://tinyurl.com/3nkfrzs
Also, this recent older (long) New Yorker piece by John McPhee on the Atchafalaya River may interest some:
http://tinyurl.com/8jqukp
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^
^...The New Yorker cartoon contest caption that SHOULDA been:
http://tinyurl.com/3nkfrzs
Also, this
http://tinyurl.com/8jqukp
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-- Just a Couple of Paradoxes --
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A classic old paradox from mathematics:
Suppose you glue a dime to the very middle of a half-dollar (creating two attached concentric coins), and then roll th
e half-dollar along a tabletop to make one complete turn. At that point the half-dollar (back at its starting point) will have covered a distance equal to its own circumference, AND the inner dime will also have completed one full turn, seemingly having moved ITS circumference in length... except of course the dime and quarter don't have equal circumferences.
Or, for a different, more geometric paradox see this old chestnut proving that the two sides of any right triangle, when added together, equal the hypotenuse:
http://tinyurl.com/5szrqbj
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A classic old paradox from mathematics:
e half-dollar along a tabletop to make one complete turn. At that point the half-dollar (back at its starting point) will have covered a distance equal to its own circumference, AND the inner dime will also have completed one full turn, seemingly having moved ITS circumference in length... except of course the dime and quarter don't have equal circumferences.Or, for a different, more geometric paradox see this old chestnut proving that the two sides of any right triangle, when added together, equal the hypotenuse:
http://tinyurl.com/5szrqbj
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
-- "Ghost Bird" on TV --
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Sorry for the late notice, but received emails this morning that apparently Scott Crocker's "Ghost Bird" film made its debut on television last night on the "Documentary Channel;" a good opportunity for those who haven't had a chance to see it at an indie festival to take it in. I don't own a TV myself and don't know if the Documentary Channel replays its offerings or this was a one-time showing(?), nor if it will be on the Web anytime in near-future?
Addendum: in a comment below Christopher notes that the next scheduled showing of Ghost Bird on Documentary Channel appears to be this coming Friday, May 20.
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Sorry for the late notice, but received emails this morning that apparently Scott Crocker's "Ghost Bird" film made its debut on television last night on the "Documentary Channel;" a good opportunity for those who haven't had a chance to see it at an indie festival to take it in. I don't own a TV myself and don't know if the Documentary Channel replays its offerings or this was a one-time showing(?), nor if it will be on the Web anytime in near-future?
Addendum: in a comment below Christopher notes that the next scheduled showing of Ghost Bird on Documentary Channel appears to be this coming Friday, May 20.
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