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A new historical piece on the Ivory-bill, focusing a bit more on some aspects not always emphasized. By the end though a disappointingly (though not unusual) negative/skeptical view of the species' likelihood of survival:
https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/podcast/the-death-of-the-lord-god-bird
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I keep getting a trickle of inquiries (increasing of late) essentially asking if I’ve seen any compelling IBWO evidence lately or know of any encouraging Ivorybill news forthcoming. So rather than keep answering folks individually let me just say in general “No” have NOT seen any new evidence/claims, either on the Web nor arriving privately via email, that I find convincing of IBWO presence, or at least not indicative of ‘proof’ of such existence. In fact, I’ve lost track of how many years it’s now been since I’ve had a really strongly interesting claim come to my attention (despite several coming in every year).
With that said, efforts remain ongoing in several quarters to search for the species at least on occasion, and of course it will only take one truly good video or photo to alter the landscape. I continue to believe the likelihood of its existence is better than 50/50, but each winter and breeding season that ends with no definitive record for the IBWO is despairing to say the least.
Wish I had more positive or encouraging thoughts/news to share, but the level of evidence needed for this species, and long, long, longtime absence of such, will continue to make most claims inadequate for the bulk of the birding and scientific community.
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This morning CBS Sunday ran this piece on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (and other extinct species), including Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-return-of-extinct-species/#x
They also recently re-ran this nostalgic piece from back in the day:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/from-2005-in-search-of-the-ivory-billed-woodpecker/#x
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Thanks to various Facebookers and others for linking to a story I’d missed… the Black-browed Babbler discovered in Borneo after having gone missing for over 170 years… yeah, you read that right, over 170 friggin’ years!:
https://abcbirds.org/article/rediscover-black-browed-babbler/
http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-missing-172-years-rediscovered-borneo-rainforest
Plenty of reasons not to compare this enigmatic bird or its discovery to the elusive Ivory-bill, but still, in times like these any good news is appreciated!
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Again, unless or until I find something really promising, Ivory-bill matters have been on a backburner for me for quite awhile, but feel I ought do a li'l update for those who keep sending in questions/comments, or who may have missed these bits of news. So….
1) Mark Michaels sent out a note some time ago basically saying what a difficult year 2020 had been for their research (they are still analyzing some of their data), and hoping 2021 would be better. Between weather extremities, ongoing covid concerns, and just the usual difficulties of IBWO searches, I’m not really too encouraged that 2021 will prove much better, but who knows.
https://www.aviary.org/conservation/projects/project-principalis/project-principalis-updates/
2) Matt Courtman, who previously worked with Michaels’ group, and who believes he’s had IBWO encounters, has his own active project up-and-running under the heading “Louisiana Wilds.” In addition to doing fieldwork, he is actively engaging on Facebook with IBWO buffs here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheLouisianaWilds
…and is doing a weekly (Monday nights; yes tonight!) interactive Zoom discussion on various IBWO topics as well:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2871406676430877/
3) For those asking, no I don’t know what is up with the IBWO Researchers Forum, as their “Forum” section seems to be down (other parts of their site operating OK). They recently paid for another year of Web presence, and the Forum had been a very active section in prior years, though much more subdued in recent years. If anyone knows what the problem is, or if it’s being worked on, feel free to inform us.
4) Someone on Facebook recently commented that Birdforum.net (probably the largest, oldest birding discussion site on the Web) was not allowing for discussion of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I’m doubtful that that’s the case, though it’s possible they’re limiting or editing such discussions, as the same points, arguments, ideas, etc. keep coming up redundantly over and over again. Here are some of the more recent postings they’ve had on the Ivory-bill, though in a quick check I could not locate the many looooong threads they had in earlier years (have they indeed been edited out or archived somewhere???):
https://www.birdforum.net/search/438525/?q=ivory-billed+woodpecker&o=relevance
Their original thread, following the Cornell announcement, I believe was the longest thread (by far) in the entire history of the site; so it’s not as if they haven’t covered this topic fully in 1000s of postings done there previously, and I’m sure are open to any new real documentation that arises; but for many long-time members there the constant round-and-round rehash of old, old, old debates becomes well, old....
5) Mike Collins, who was very active in those early BirdForum IBWO back-and-forths (and burned some bridges there), again offered his YouTube take on matters a month ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6OZTDbb5Fw
6) Anyway, while I’m not optimistic about any solid new evidence for IBWO appearing anytime soon, good luck to all carrying on searches, in what may well be another heavily covid-affected year — unlike the pandemic optimism I keep hearing from many others, I actually have far more concern about covid now, with its multiplying variants, than I've had for the entire last year where, with basic precautions taken, vulnerability, I think, was much lower for most individuals. So be careful out there.
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Recent post at the Facebook Ivory-bill group page touts Alabama’s possibly under-emphasized potential for IBWO presence:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/179784035376368/permalink/3729098973778172/
The specific article that is being referenced is here:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-29/mobile-river-biodiversity-extinctions-alabama?fbclid=IwAR1P68xAtSM9g1b-P8w9xUKI0_Uj-ySRckJ78Y5LfENyRBEXXj5teGBSSmM
The article doesn’t really stress how much of the area has been cut over at one time or another, nor how fragmented parts of it are. With that said, over the years I have several times cited Alabama as an overlooked region for IBWO investigation. And Bill Pulliam in his old blog did as well here:
http://bbill.blogspot.com/2006/03/alabama.html
…as I once wrote about part of the area:
“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).”
....As long as I’m posting will mention a couple of other things by way of catch-up for anyone who may have missed them:
1) Matt Courtman, active Louisiana birder and IBWO searcher, was written up in this piece not long ago:
https://www.thehawkeye.com/story/lifestyle/2020/11/16/52-faces-leopold-house-guest-matt-courtman-seeks-near-mythical-woodpecker/6254228002/?fbclid=IwAR0sa-q_gjdRp8VLPFDkhMchbfOJbqFfBhKekEdc2U-MyY8ZvqT4kvy1uwo
2) and indefatigable Mike Collins put out another re-hash of his arguments in this November, 40+ min. video “Debunking the Critics”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIT5Kw_sY0E
Once again, he gains no traction with his critics as shown in 12 pages of discussion/commentary that followed at the BirdForum website:
https://www.birdforum.net/threads/ivory-billed-woodpecker-debunking-the-critics.396701/
So again we approach the winter months, when any Ivory-bills ought be courting, calling out, and seeking nest sites, carrying on amidst bare trees, easier to spot than at any other time of the year (and before they actually go to nest)... but, will anything come of it. Or just deja vu all over again....
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Having grown up in central Illinois I’ve long thought that both southern Illinois and southeast Missouri were actual possibilities for the IBWO, despite low attention paid to such locales (...and Bill Pulliam made us aware of western Tennessee as well).
Louisiana searcher Matt Courtman reports on one of the Facebook IBWO group pages that he will be searching in the S. Illinois area (which is part of the Cache River watershed) on Friday, November 6 (if he’s literally devoting just one day, not sure how extensive a look he'll get, but no doubt a fun area to explore and spend a day, with or without the prize).
He links to this 2010 'technical' paper from Jeff Hoover on the region/habitat:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17081/INHS2010_29.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
In some other side news, someone else at the same FB group has mentioned the 2018 discovery of the Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo (previously assumed long-extinct). Almost every year it seems some believed-extinct creature is re-discovered, and I don’t usually bother mentioning such news, except that in this case it is a relatively large, strictly tree-dwelling animal, confined to small remote areas… hmmmm… sound familiar? I’ve hypothesized in the past that the difficulty of IBWO documentation may be that, over time, the species has become a largely arboreal bird (in remote areas) rarely coming down low or to the ground, and essentially remaining out-of-human-sight most of the time.
A couple of bits on the kangaroo here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wondiwoi_tree-kangaroo
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Sorry, nothing new IBWO-wise, but Dean Hurliman has contacted me with new carvings! Regular readers here will recall that Dean is the Iowa woodcarver who made many incredible life-size replicas of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker… and gave them away for FREE to interested parties some time back.
Well, he has some new offerings…
He writes me in part:
“The story of the great auk is an agonizing one important especially now in this era of impending extinction of sundry species. As you know I've made many an IBW, but also Carolina parakeets and passenger pigeons and now two great auks. I would like to get maximum exposure for these carvings, perhaps in some small maritime museum. Perhaps your followers would find some interest in this.”
As you can see Dean is hoping to find a very special and appropriate home for these ‘specimens’. If you can help out contact him at: deankarenhurliman2 AT a Gmail account.
Thanks for all you do Dean!
Dean’s message reminded me of a wonderful, touching volume (a novel actually) that I loved in my youth, called “The Great Auk” by Allan W. Eckert. If you can find a copy give it a read!
And as he has previously done, Dean penned his own tribute to this bird in the following poem he sent along:
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Padraig’s Ave to the Lost Auk
It shames me now how I pursued
that gentle race of tame pen gwyn,
who hoped vast seas would keep ‘im safe
from long boats of us scramblin’ men.
A thought it struck on midnight watch
(the best they comes a little late):
The auk had worth beyond our need
of blanket fill or oily bait.
Me sainted mother’s blessed book
schooled me in the Holy Word:
of how the seas were filled with cod
and how He marks both man and bird.
I’ve risked Nantucket sleigh rides,
cast many a net with pride
but, o’ this pen gwyn thing has left
unease and bitter gall inside.
‘Afa crown says that ‘e’s got
a mortal soul like you or I
but keep that ave to yourself
if Sister Aine be kneelin’ by.
From these Grand Banks I takes me leave
to raise an extra pint o’ wine
abeggin’ the Great Auk’s pardon.
(How sadly some lives intertwine.)
DSH 2020
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Dean's Notes:
The great auk is not closely related to penguins, but seaman Padraig had no interest in taxonomy. He was a 19th century Irish Catholic -devout, introspective, though somewhat independent in theology. The word “pen gwyn” is not Irish, but Welsh. I could not resist using it. The “sleigh ride” meaning may be researched by the reader.
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