Doubts cast on superstar woodpecker's return

newscientist ^ | 13 March 2006 | Bob Holmes

[GreenFreeper]

I was being sarcastic by the way :)

[Jaysun]

Life without the ivory-billed woodpecker has been miserable at best. Then, just when there seems to be a glimmer of hope for mankind, we get kicked in the groin. What will I tell my kids, my wife?

[Oztrich Boy]

Woodpeckers have teeth?

[Cold Heat]

Dam??? Farmers???

I don't think you have a clue what you are talking about.

This was no BS...

The video was shot by some Arkansas forestry people. many sightings have been reported but this was the first evidence.

The only reason for the interests is that the bird was thought to be extinct, in spite of reported sightings by fishermen and hunters. The location is North Central Arkansas on a refuge. There is no political goat roapin going on. This is not Washington State or Klamath. There is no money or what ever you have dreamed up. It was reported to gain public interest and get more information out in the public on bird.

Sightings are often confused with other varieties of woodpeckers because the public does not know what to look for.

Any BS that ever develops out of it is unintended consequences of a effort by the Arkansas Forestry Dept. They wanted people to look at the footage and invited comment.

[midwyf]

I was wrong about it being a dam, it is a canal to send water to farmers raising rice. Twice the TNC went to court to get that water stopped, twice they were refused. They immediately announced they were doing it again. The Cornell ornithologists and TNC formed their own corporation or whatever in April 2004. They got 10 million bucks, one of the authors had a book released the same week as the info. That is a lot of money and perks involved.
If the bird was around what about piles of feces, nests, the one hole they found was probably too small for IBWP, more like the pileated woodpecker, the same with the one litttle strip of bark peeled off, not enough to be conclusive by any means. Wehn biologists go out looking for rare or endangered species that have been sighted, the look for signs of their presence before the look for the species. They had more than a year to do this, and didn't.