Posted on 08/01/2005 6:28:32 PM PDT by Altair333
Published: August 2, 2005 The phoenix had nothing on the ivory-billed woodpecker. It is hard to keep track of how many times this near-mythic bird, the largest American woodpecker and a poignant symbol of extinction and disappearing forests, has been lost and then found. Now it is found again. Even the most skeptical ornithologists now agree. They say that newly presented evidence shows that at least two of the birds are living in Arkansas.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Do they taste like spotted owl?
I'd love to hear the tapes. I hope during their investigations this winter that they get incontrovertable proof, minutes long video preferably, to lay this whole thing to rest. It's been my unprofessional opinion since it broke that the most likely (in my mind) reason for the reappearance is the population getting to the point where they have had to spread out for territories. I so hope that's true.
Hooray! I just love a good love story...two of them, huh?
Back from extinction! Hooray!
Wonder what Mr. Sibley has to say about this?
My amateur birder remembrance is that the Pileated Woodpecker bears a resemblance but is smaller. I sure want to believe this. Passenger Pigeon next, then we start on the Dodo.
Let's hope there is gender diversity between the two of them or they'll be extinct...again.
I think that woodpecker is smaller but from the pictures I have seen it is not that much smaller and from a distance it might be thought to be the other mythic woodpecker.
Oh fer Pete's sake.
If they had been carrying a shotgun instead of a camera, they'd have proved it a long time ago.
No offense, but the whole scientific community, even the hardcore skeptics are convinced. That's enough for me, on this topic, to rely on their opinions.
By all means, the Moa it is. How would you like to be out in the field with the binoculars and see that? Well if we're going all out, let's just bring back the archaeopteryx (almost no chance I spelled that right.)
Did it go "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hahahahahahahaha!"
That thing had some pair of drumsticks.
The people who spotted this are real experts. One of them spoke at a bird club I belong to. If you're referring to the pileated woodpecker as a similar bird, experienced birders can distinguish between the two birds in an instant. And, experienced birders can identify distinctive calls and rapping. It's partly a process of elimination.
This is tremendously good news. A bird thought to be extinct for more than sixty years has been found again. The ivory-billed has been referred to as the "Lord God" bird because of its spectacular, awe-inspiring appearance. People who've seen it in the past were stunned into the exclamation, "Lord God Almighty, what a bird!" It's one of the Creator's most magnificient creatures.
The guy I heard describe his experience in the Arkansas woods was choked with emotion. Arkansans should do everything in their power to preserve habitat in their state for this bird. This is just a tremendous, wonderful, reaffirmation that there are parts of this country that remain wild and free enough to sustain a magnificent creature like this.
Do you doubt because of your great expertise or is it because you live in Arkansas? This paper coming out was written, I think, before the sound recordings. If I'm not mistaken, many people who were going to write papers or had written papers doubting the sightings were convinced by the audio.
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