NOTthePileated!
Active member
johnnydr87 said:
Woa...those are words from a governor? I'll be emailing him soon as well.
Last edited:
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Ivory-billed Woodpecker Re discovered ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter lassa8
- Start date
Woa...those are words from a governor? I'll be emailing him soon as well.
NOTthePileated!
Active member
Tim Allwood said:
Yep...I've been thinking about the Imperial also. Lots of woods and hidden areas in mexico, no doubt that it could be out there too!
Edward woodwood
Member
Merkaba said:
see the link i posted above Merkaba
Merkaba said:
I believe you, but I can't hardly believe you. Doesn't governor know Arkansas is the Natural state. Gee I have seen then drain swampy areas near Marked Tree turn into agriculture and now it is going back to swamp. This find of woodpecker is tremendous. I just hope there is another one or two. I am not even a bird watcher and I am fascinated by this discovery. At any rate, he is small fish in this decision. He won't have any say so about that area now, because it will be highly protected by federal government.
jeeper said:
You can bet I 40 wouldn't be there if they knew about that bird. Gee, I have driven that road many times and to think how close I was to an ivory billed woodpecker. Bird-watching isn't even a hobby to me, but last night when I was going to sleep, I kept thinking of this beautiful bird out there sleeping in a tree not too far from me. I know it is corny, but this is really exciting news.
crispycreme
Well-known member
Before people start jamming the governor's mailbox with letters, it might be helpful if anyone can show that Huckabee actually said those things. That's merely a letter from a reader of a very progressive newspaper. Just because the reader included some comments in "quotes" doesn't mean that the governor actually said them. I can't find any verification of those quotes, and until someone can, it's just the words of a disgruntled reader of a left-leaning newspaper.
(Not that I disagree with the sentiment, and not that I doubt there are people that feel that way, but let's be rational and deliberate about this!)
(Not that I disagree with the sentiment, and not that I doubt there are people that feel that way, but let's be rational and deliberate about this!)
johnnydr87
Active member
You're absolutely right, crispy.
I did some googling, found this from the Sierra club about those comments http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199809/election.asp . I'll do some quick googling about the white river refuge too. With this article in hand, it would probably do more good to reference to his plans for the White river refuge than about these quotes he made 9 years ago (gasp).
THE GREENS MUST BE CRAZY
In December 1996, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) lashed out at "wacko environmentalists" who, he alleged, "want to tell us what deodorant we can use and what kind of gas to put in our car." Last April, Huckabee, a Baptist minister, added a religious gloss to that assessment, telling the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation that "environmentalists are those who worship the things [God] made rather than He who made them." But when 44 public-interest groups accused him by letter of "demagoguery on a scale beyond that normally seen in the course of public debate," Huckabee issued a mea culpa. "It would have been more appropriate," he acknowledged, "if I made a distinction between environmentalists and those who could be considered 'radical' or 'extreme' environmentalists."
For Missouri Republican Kit Bond, alas, that's too fine a distinction. When Bond, running for re-election to the Senate this year, was asked about his recent vote to weaken Superfund toxic-cleanup legislation, he played the loony card. "We've seen the green socialists complain about the Superfund," explained the senator, waving away objections to his party's putative "reform" legislation. "The wackos don't like the bill."
EDIT
Ok, I found more information on his plans to drain the white river area prior to this. Here is the link: http://www.ozarksociety.net/winter.htm . It is called the great prairie project, and it would have diverted the white river drainage to irrigate farm land in Arkansas.
THE UNEASY CHAIR
By John Heuston
Communications Chairman
No question about it, 2001 was a strange year, what with the cowardly terrorist attacks on New York and Washington having a rippling effect far from the anthrax-tainted contaminated federal office buildings.
Take our Bear Creek Dam lawsuit, for example.
It seems that a lot of folks just aren't opening their mail these days. Remember Sen. Blanche Lincoln's plea not to send her letters, but to use e-mail instead? Therefore, our law firm advises that they haven't been able to confirm that all those people who need to be served with various legal notices by process servers have been contacted and have responded. Until that happens, Judge Bill Wilson is not going to set a trial date!
So, at press time, we're in a holding pattern on justice for Bear Creek!
Grand Prairie Rip-off
We continue to be bemused by the antics of Mike Huckabee, our current governor and comedian-in-chief.
Back in December, after being deluged with post cards from the conservation community opposing the hotly controversial and very expensive Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project the governor's office sent all of us who had objected in writing to this latest Army Engineers¹ ³Keep Busy² bonanza a 3-page letter. In Huckabee¹s letter he decried the ³misinformation² conservationists had been given and praised the supposed ³benefits² of the project.
I don't know which aide (or Farm Bureau PR flack) compiled this essay for him, but whoever it was obviously had not read the comprehensive Wildlife Management Institute study which took the Corps¹ own questionable figures and simply tore this irrigation project apart!
The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), an organization of natural resources professionals, is one of America's oldest and most prestigious conservation organizations. It does not grovel before governors and their pet projects as some state agencies are prone to do.
For those not familiar with the GPADP, here's a brief summary: The Corps¹ proposes to spend $319 million of our tax dollars (probably much more) to divert up to 115 BILLION gallons of irrigation water annually from the White River to serve about 900 farmers in the Grand Prairie area * half of whom strongly oppose the project! Why? The opposing farmers believe they can provide their own irrigation water cheaper and more efficiently than the government can do it. Some of them already have built their own on-site farm storage reservoirs to supply their irrigation needs.
By way of contrast, the Wildlife Management Institute recommends a ³sustainable alternative² based on optimizing irrigation efficiency from 60 percent to 80 percent or higher; maximizing on-farm irrigation storage reservoirs; and using public money to convert unsustainable cropland into less-water demanding uses, such as alternative crops, ecosystem restoration, and wildlife recreation.²
This alternative is supported by such organizations as the Arkansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society; Arkansas Chapter of the Wildlife Society; Arkansas Wildlife Federation; National Wildlife Federation; White River Conservancy; and local organizations like the Augusta and Clarendon chambers of commerce and the Augusta Improvement Club. The WMI¹s sustainable alternative is not cheap, at $158 million, but it is a lot less than $319
million!
As the Institute researchers observed:² A $319 million project proposal that does not meet any of its objectives is a failure.²
Also, the Institute's research indicates the Corps has been exaggerating the extent of the problem (surprise!) Using the Corps¹ own studies and analysis, the Institute's staff determined that the actual maximum size of the Grand Prairie's irrigation ³problem² is not 362,662 acres, but no more than 94,692 acres!
The Institute's 36-page report covers all aspects of this issue in detail, but it is too lengthy to repeat here. However, the report concludes that:
³Further the Corps¹ $319 million unsustainable proposal would launch Arkansas into a new era of subsidized, large-scale intensive irrigation projects that would tap, divert and compromise several of the state's publicly-owned rivers. The GPADP, if implemented, would pave the way for at least 12 other irrigation projects across Arkansas that, ultimately, would re-plumb the landscape and the water resources of the state's agricultural regions.
³Such massive engineering projects, at best, provide only short-term remedies for the symptoms of the deeper, larger problems of unsustainable water demand and land use. At worst, such projects solve no identified problems, while creating and compounding other problems, at tremendous costs to taxpayers and natural resources.
³The sustainable alternative provides Arkansas and the nation an opportunity to choose a long-term solution at less than half the cost. It is time for Arkansas to begin aligning agricultural and society uses of the Grand Prairie with the land's inherent capacity to sustain itself.²
Amen to that! Oh brother Huckabee, where art thou?²
I did some googling, found this from the Sierra club about those comments http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199809/election.asp . I'll do some quick googling about the white river refuge too. With this article in hand, it would probably do more good to reference to his plans for the White river refuge than about these quotes he made 9 years ago (gasp).
THE GREENS MUST BE CRAZY
In December 1996, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) lashed out at "wacko environmentalists" who, he alleged, "want to tell us what deodorant we can use and what kind of gas to put in our car." Last April, Huckabee, a Baptist minister, added a religious gloss to that assessment, telling the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation that "environmentalists are those who worship the things [God] made rather than He who made them." But when 44 public-interest groups accused him by letter of "demagoguery on a scale beyond that normally seen in the course of public debate," Huckabee issued a mea culpa. "It would have been more appropriate," he acknowledged, "if I made a distinction between environmentalists and those who could be considered 'radical' or 'extreme' environmentalists."
For Missouri Republican Kit Bond, alas, that's too fine a distinction. When Bond, running for re-election to the Senate this year, was asked about his recent vote to weaken Superfund toxic-cleanup legislation, he played the loony card. "We've seen the green socialists complain about the Superfund," explained the senator, waving away objections to his party's putative "reform" legislation. "The wackos don't like the bill."
EDIT
Ok, I found more information on his plans to drain the white river area prior to this. Here is the link: http://www.ozarksociety.net/winter.htm . It is called the great prairie project, and it would have diverted the white river drainage to irrigate farm land in Arkansas.
THE UNEASY CHAIR
By John Heuston
Communications Chairman
No question about it, 2001 was a strange year, what with the cowardly terrorist attacks on New York and Washington having a rippling effect far from the anthrax-tainted contaminated federal office buildings.
Take our Bear Creek Dam lawsuit, for example.
It seems that a lot of folks just aren't opening their mail these days. Remember Sen. Blanche Lincoln's plea not to send her letters, but to use e-mail instead? Therefore, our law firm advises that they haven't been able to confirm that all those people who need to be served with various legal notices by process servers have been contacted and have responded. Until that happens, Judge Bill Wilson is not going to set a trial date!
So, at press time, we're in a holding pattern on justice for Bear Creek!
Grand Prairie Rip-off
We continue to be bemused by the antics of Mike Huckabee, our current governor and comedian-in-chief.
Back in December, after being deluged with post cards from the conservation community opposing the hotly controversial and very expensive Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project the governor's office sent all of us who had objected in writing to this latest Army Engineers¹ ³Keep Busy² bonanza a 3-page letter. In Huckabee¹s letter he decried the ³misinformation² conservationists had been given and praised the supposed ³benefits² of the project.
I don't know which aide (or Farm Bureau PR flack) compiled this essay for him, but whoever it was obviously had not read the comprehensive Wildlife Management Institute study which took the Corps¹ own questionable figures and simply tore this irrigation project apart!
The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), an organization of natural resources professionals, is one of America's oldest and most prestigious conservation organizations. It does not grovel before governors and their pet projects as some state agencies are prone to do.
For those not familiar with the GPADP, here's a brief summary: The Corps¹ proposes to spend $319 million of our tax dollars (probably much more) to divert up to 115 BILLION gallons of irrigation water annually from the White River to serve about 900 farmers in the Grand Prairie area * half of whom strongly oppose the project! Why? The opposing farmers believe they can provide their own irrigation water cheaper and more efficiently than the government can do it. Some of them already have built their own on-site farm storage reservoirs to supply their irrigation needs.
By way of contrast, the Wildlife Management Institute recommends a ³sustainable alternative² based on optimizing irrigation efficiency from 60 percent to 80 percent or higher; maximizing on-farm irrigation storage reservoirs; and using public money to convert unsustainable cropland into less-water demanding uses, such as alternative crops, ecosystem restoration, and wildlife recreation.²
This alternative is supported by such organizations as the Arkansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society; Arkansas Chapter of the Wildlife Society; Arkansas Wildlife Federation; National Wildlife Federation; White River Conservancy; and local organizations like the Augusta and Clarendon chambers of commerce and the Augusta Improvement Club. The WMI¹s sustainable alternative is not cheap, at $158 million, but it is a lot less than $319
million!
As the Institute researchers observed:² A $319 million project proposal that does not meet any of its objectives is a failure.²
Also, the Institute's research indicates the Corps has been exaggerating the extent of the problem (surprise!) Using the Corps¹ own studies and analysis, the Institute's staff determined that the actual maximum size of the Grand Prairie's irrigation ³problem² is not 362,662 acres, but no more than 94,692 acres!
The Institute's 36-page report covers all aspects of this issue in detail, but it is too lengthy to repeat here. However, the report concludes that:
³Further the Corps¹ $319 million unsustainable proposal would launch Arkansas into a new era of subsidized, large-scale intensive irrigation projects that would tap, divert and compromise several of the state's publicly-owned rivers. The GPADP, if implemented, would pave the way for at least 12 other irrigation projects across Arkansas that, ultimately, would re-plumb the landscape and the water resources of the state's agricultural regions.
³Such massive engineering projects, at best, provide only short-term remedies for the symptoms of the deeper, larger problems of unsustainable water demand and land use. At worst, such projects solve no identified problems, while creating and compounding other problems, at tremendous costs to taxpayers and natural resources.
³The sustainable alternative provides Arkansas and the nation an opportunity to choose a long-term solution at less than half the cost. It is time for Arkansas to begin aligning agricultural and society uses of the Grand Prairie with the land's inherent capacity to sustain itself.²
Amen to that! Oh brother Huckabee, where art thou?²
Last edited:
cuckooroller
Registered User
Johnny,
Looks like good-old "Pork-barrel Politics" at it's very worst...
Looks like good-old "Pork-barrel Politics" at it's very worst...
NOTthePileated!
Active member
yea, i thought i had erased that post, i saw your post a few moments later! I had another account under merkaba from last year, and i wanted to use it, but administration reset my post count so i just kept this one.Tim Allwood said:
NOTthePileated!
Active member
I was thinking the same thing last night! That there is an Ivory bill out there sleeping! Not even caring about its position in our minds. Scared of us when it sees us, not knowing that 99 out of 100 people that see it would like to kiss it!peeoui1 said:
Ok, so I'm emotional like that...but yea...who cares! The Ivory Bill lives!
NOTthePileated!
Active member
Yea, but I'm just mad at you right now for reminding me that I live about 2 minutes from a KrispyKreme doughnut shop! Bcrispycreme said:
Katy Penland
Well-known member
More IBWO info
Thought this was worth repeating from another thread, courtesy of Jaeger01:
Subject: thoughts on Ivory-billed Woodpecker (reformatted)
From: James V Remsen <najames AT LSU.EDU>
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:24:01 -0500
LABIRD: [repeat of earlier message with format problems fixed, hoepfully]
at the urging of my handlers and so I don't have to repeat the same stuff
to everyone, here are some thoughts and comments on Ivory-billed
Woodpecker rediscovery. You can get a lot of details from our website
(www.ivorybill.org) and our Science paper online.
First, apologies to all of you for keeping this a secret, but I know you
will all understand the need for utter secrecy while our little clandestine
team organized an intensive search of the area to determine population size
and so on, organized a land acquisition and protection program, and got the
feds up to speed on our findings to give them lead time to establish a
management and access policy. Trust me, there are lots of immediate family
members, including some spouses, who found out only a few hours before the
rest of the world, and many of us are in high-pressure patch-up mode.
Second, although part of the team (unofficially "Team Elvis"), my role was
minor. The heroes in this are too many to list, but Gene Sparling of Hot
Springs, AR, was the one who first spotted the bird and subsequently worked
tirelessly on land issues in the area. Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison
followed up on Gene's original sighting and confirmed it, and this
catalyzed the "rest of the story." David Luneau, captain of our Pearl
River search a few years ago, had the wherewithal to keep his video-camera
running while canoeing and thus capture the only video footage we obtained.
[This became SOP for rest of search!] John Fitzpatrick had the profound
courage to invest considerable resources in what is likely one of the
best-organized, most thorough, most professional, and most secretive bird
searchers in history; Fitz also used his considerable skills and enviable
energy to raise an unbelievable amount of money, all behind the scenes, for
conducting the search and for land acquisition. Scott Simon of Arkansas
TNC is one of the best leaders I?ve ever worked with; most of us would kill
to have this guy as a boss. Scott and his TNC crew have worked wonders
with land acquisition in the area. Martjan Lammertink (also a Pearl River
search veteran), Ron Rohrbaugh, Elliott Swarthout and Sara Barker, and
Peter Wrege commanded and directed the field teams with remarkable
persistence and devotion. Ken Rosenberg, whom many of you may remember
from his days at LSU, had the thankless and delicate task of liaison with
federal officials. Ken and the audio people at Cornell Lab of O. spent
some unbelievable number of hours going over the digital sound recordings
made by the ARUs (see our web site). Tim Barksdale, a professional
wildlife videographer, spent nearly a year in the area trying to get
footage, with hundreds of hours spent in blinds and atop an 85-foot boom.
See ivorybill.org for bio info on these guys and others on Team Elvis --
these brief capsules inevitably produce omissions. Getting to know this
great group through weekly conference calls was a pleasure.
Some specific thoughts generated by the tidal wave of questions I'm
getting:
1. David would be the first to poke fun at his own UFO-genre video, but
for those who know birds and have seen the original on a good screen, it
sends chills through spines. David maintained an admirably objective view
of his own video evidence throughout.
2. A further paper on the acoustic evidence will be forthcoming; more was
included in the first draft of the Science paper, but was pruned to focus
on the video. Bird people appreciate sound evidence, but those not
familiar with the robust ID evidence in audio-recordings often do not.
3. The sad part of the story is that after all the effort, we have solid
evidence for only one bird, and this bird, Elvis, uses the intensively
searched area only occasionally as far as we can tell. Where it spends its
time, and whether others are out there in White River NWR and elsewhere
remains to be determined. Most of us who have looked for the bird have
never even glimpsed it. There will be some who will whine that it is
futile to invest further resources in what might be a single bird or a
genetically impoverished tiny population. Whether technically right or
wrong, that position is morally indefensible. We as a society botched a
chance in the 1940s to save this species. In spite of that, this species
has somehow survived one of the most irresponsible episodes of habitat
destruction in our history, the near elimination of the biotic splendor of
the Big Woods that were a core part of the natural heritage of our South.
Let's not blow it this time, and ALL of you can help. We have a miraculous
second chance to restore that natural heritage. Anyone who sees Elvis's
last magnificent stronghold without tearful remorse for what we've lost has
no soul.
4. Access. Of course the knee-jerk reaction is to shut off any access to
the region. If we found a breeding pair, then that strategy might be best.
However, our team is unanimous in favoring continued but carefully
controlled access to the region, including hunters and fisherman. If it
weren?t for the economic incentives of hunting and fishing to set aside
places like White River NWR and Cache River NWR, Elvis would not have had a
chance. The last thing this species needs at this point is to have those
outdoorsmen consider Ivory-billed Woodpecker as a threat to their land use.
Here's a chance for all those interested in saving wildlands to
collaborate. Birder pressure and harassment might be a more severe threat.
This is the birding community's chance to show their good side. Don't blow
it. I'm proud to live in a state where birders are exceptionally
well-behaved. A forthcoming issue of North American Birds, with Ned
Brinkley leading the way, will focus on birder responsibilities. Just to
make sure the bad apples don?t mess it up for the rest of us, federal
enforcement of access guidelines will be ferocious and well-funded. As for
your chances, keep in mind that something like 100,000 hrs of field time by
skilled field people has yielded a grant total of probably less than a
minute of cumulative observation time, and that only a handful of those
people ever got a glimpse.
5. Louisiana. A nice benefit of the Arkansas finding is that those who
have reported Ivory-billed Woodpecker here in Louisiana and elsewhere, and
then had their integrity or competency questioned, should be feeling good.
Let's not go the other way -- 99% of the hundreds of "Ivory-billed"
reports I've received are clearly Pileated or worse, but the David Kulivans
and
Fielding Lewis's of the world should get some renewed respect. I am as
certain as I can be in the absence of tangible evidence that Ivory-billed
still exists in Louisiana. Now, it's our turn to prove it. Just keep in
mind that Elvis had parents and grandparents, all successfully reproducing
decades after the species was declared extinct. Yet Ivory-billed
Woodpecker was not included in our newest field guide series, the Sibley
guides.
6. Pearl River. We conducted that search with the cocky attitude that,
regardless of how wary, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers would make enough noise
(calls, double-raps, or bark-scaling) that our black-belt field commandos
would find them just by getting within earshot. That attitude comes from
plenty of experience with other rare and hard-to-find birds. Hard to see,
yes, but nonetheless always revealing themselves by sound to those who tune
in. However, If Arkansas' Elvis is any indication, we could have missed
dozens of birds in the Pearl. Elvis is not only incredibly wary, seldom
allowing more than a glimpse before flying off not to be relocated, but
astoundingly quiet. If our birds behave like this, finding them will
require the stealth skills of a turkey hunter (and remember what Kulivan
was doing when he saw his pair!). It is tempting and perhaps reasonable to
speculate that the last Ivory billeds, under intense hunting pressure from
humans, survived only because of the behavioral changes required to regard
humans as deadly. If ducks and turkeys can develop such behaviors
seasonally, longer-lived and probably smarter big woodpeckers could get
this way fast.
That's all for now,
Van Remsen, LSU Museum of Natural Science
Thought this was worth repeating from another thread, courtesy of Jaeger01:
Subject: thoughts on Ivory-billed Woodpecker (reformatted)
From: James V Remsen <najames AT LSU.EDU>
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:24:01 -0500
LABIRD: [repeat of earlier message with format problems fixed, hoepfully]
at the urging of my handlers and so I don't have to repeat the same stuff
to everyone, here are some thoughts and comments on Ivory-billed
Woodpecker rediscovery. You can get a lot of details from our website
(www.ivorybill.org) and our Science paper online.
First, apologies to all of you for keeping this a secret, but I know you
will all understand the need for utter secrecy while our little clandestine
team organized an intensive search of the area to determine population size
and so on, organized a land acquisition and protection program, and got the
feds up to speed on our findings to give them lead time to establish a
management and access policy. Trust me, there are lots of immediate family
members, including some spouses, who found out only a few hours before the
rest of the world, and many of us are in high-pressure patch-up mode.
Second, although part of the team (unofficially "Team Elvis"), my role was
minor. The heroes in this are too many to list, but Gene Sparling of Hot
Springs, AR, was the one who first spotted the bird and subsequently worked
tirelessly on land issues in the area. Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison
followed up on Gene's original sighting and confirmed it, and this
catalyzed the "rest of the story." David Luneau, captain of our Pearl
River search a few years ago, had the wherewithal to keep his video-camera
running while canoeing and thus capture the only video footage we obtained.
[This became SOP for rest of search!] John Fitzpatrick had the profound
courage to invest considerable resources in what is likely one of the
best-organized, most thorough, most professional, and most secretive bird
searchers in history; Fitz also used his considerable skills and enviable
energy to raise an unbelievable amount of money, all behind the scenes, for
conducting the search and for land acquisition. Scott Simon of Arkansas
TNC is one of the best leaders I?ve ever worked with; most of us would kill
to have this guy as a boss. Scott and his TNC crew have worked wonders
with land acquisition in the area. Martjan Lammertink (also a Pearl River
search veteran), Ron Rohrbaugh, Elliott Swarthout and Sara Barker, and
Peter Wrege commanded and directed the field teams with remarkable
persistence and devotion. Ken Rosenberg, whom many of you may remember
from his days at LSU, had the thankless and delicate task of liaison with
federal officials. Ken and the audio people at Cornell Lab of O. spent
some unbelievable number of hours going over the digital sound recordings
made by the ARUs (see our web site). Tim Barksdale, a professional
wildlife videographer, spent nearly a year in the area trying to get
footage, with hundreds of hours spent in blinds and atop an 85-foot boom.
See ivorybill.org for bio info on these guys and others on Team Elvis --
these brief capsules inevitably produce omissions. Getting to know this
great group through weekly conference calls was a pleasure.
Some specific thoughts generated by the tidal wave of questions I'm
getting:
1. David would be the first to poke fun at his own UFO-genre video, but
for those who know birds and have seen the original on a good screen, it
sends chills through spines. David maintained an admirably objective view
of his own video evidence throughout.
2. A further paper on the acoustic evidence will be forthcoming; more was
included in the first draft of the Science paper, but was pruned to focus
on the video. Bird people appreciate sound evidence, but those not
familiar with the robust ID evidence in audio-recordings often do not.
3. The sad part of the story is that after all the effort, we have solid
evidence for only one bird, and this bird, Elvis, uses the intensively
searched area only occasionally as far as we can tell. Where it spends its
time, and whether others are out there in White River NWR and elsewhere
remains to be determined. Most of us who have looked for the bird have
never even glimpsed it. There will be some who will whine that it is
futile to invest further resources in what might be a single bird or a
genetically impoverished tiny population. Whether technically right or
wrong, that position is morally indefensible. We as a society botched a
chance in the 1940s to save this species. In spite of that, this species
has somehow survived one of the most irresponsible episodes of habitat
destruction in our history, the near elimination of the biotic splendor of
the Big Woods that were a core part of the natural heritage of our South.
Let's not blow it this time, and ALL of you can help. We have a miraculous
second chance to restore that natural heritage. Anyone who sees Elvis's
last magnificent stronghold without tearful remorse for what we've lost has
no soul.
4. Access. Of course the knee-jerk reaction is to shut off any access to
the region. If we found a breeding pair, then that strategy might be best.
However, our team is unanimous in favoring continued but carefully
controlled access to the region, including hunters and fisherman. If it
weren?t for the economic incentives of hunting and fishing to set aside
places like White River NWR and Cache River NWR, Elvis would not have had a
chance. The last thing this species needs at this point is to have those
outdoorsmen consider Ivory-billed Woodpecker as a threat to their land use.
Here's a chance for all those interested in saving wildlands to
collaborate. Birder pressure and harassment might be a more severe threat.
This is the birding community's chance to show their good side. Don't blow
it. I'm proud to live in a state where birders are exceptionally
well-behaved. A forthcoming issue of North American Birds, with Ned
Brinkley leading the way, will focus on birder responsibilities. Just to
make sure the bad apples don?t mess it up for the rest of us, federal
enforcement of access guidelines will be ferocious and well-funded. As for
your chances, keep in mind that something like 100,000 hrs of field time by
skilled field people has yielded a grant total of probably less than a
minute of cumulative observation time, and that only a handful of those
people ever got a glimpse.
5. Louisiana. A nice benefit of the Arkansas finding is that those who
have reported Ivory-billed Woodpecker here in Louisiana and elsewhere, and
then had their integrity or competency questioned, should be feeling good.
Let's not go the other way -- 99% of the hundreds of "Ivory-billed"
reports I've received are clearly Pileated or worse, but the David Kulivans
and
Fielding Lewis's of the world should get some renewed respect. I am as
certain as I can be in the absence of tangible evidence that Ivory-billed
still exists in Louisiana. Now, it's our turn to prove it. Just keep in
mind that Elvis had parents and grandparents, all successfully reproducing
decades after the species was declared extinct. Yet Ivory-billed
Woodpecker was not included in our newest field guide series, the Sibley
guides.
6. Pearl River. We conducted that search with the cocky attitude that,
regardless of how wary, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers would make enough noise
(calls, double-raps, or bark-scaling) that our black-belt field commandos
would find them just by getting within earshot. That attitude comes from
plenty of experience with other rare and hard-to-find birds. Hard to see,
yes, but nonetheless always revealing themselves by sound to those who tune
in. However, If Arkansas' Elvis is any indication, we could have missed
dozens of birds in the Pearl. Elvis is not only incredibly wary, seldom
allowing more than a glimpse before flying off not to be relocated, but
astoundingly quiet. If our birds behave like this, finding them will
require the stealth skills of a turkey hunter (and remember what Kulivan
was doing when he saw his pair!). It is tempting and perhaps reasonable to
speculate that the last Ivory billeds, under intense hunting pressure from
humans, survived only because of the behavioral changes required to regard
humans as deadly. If ducks and turkeys can develop such behaviors
seasonally, longer-lived and probably smarter big woodpeckers could get
this way fast.
That's all for now,
Van Remsen, LSU Museum of Natural Science
sparrowbirder
Well-known member
Thanks for that Katy,very interesting article,ive actually just mentioned something similar on the other IBWP thread, why are the current sightings so "elusive" when it was never really described as being so in the past,seem to remember seeing a picture of one perched on a birders arm, can a species change its behaviour totally after just 60 years,as is mentioned above,this behavioural change could possibly have saved the species, really fascinating stuff!!
GreatHornedOwl
Grumpy Armchair Birder
So I see they named him Elvis. :bounce:
What if they find a female ? Priscilla ? B
What if they find a female ? Priscilla ? B
fangsheath
Well-known member
I had not realized that they had actually named the bird Elvis, but it does seem appropriate, especially considering the site is a mere 70 miles or so from Memphis. It is mind-blowing to think that at this moment the bird is probably about 70 miles from a major city, very close to an interstate highway.
walterb
Active member
I just got back from the Cache River area where the bird was seen. I spent the weekend there on a State owned refuge that somewhat overlaps the federal area. About 2 miles from where the Ivory Bill has been spotted.
Its completely legal to be in this area as there are fishermen running john-boats in and out of the bayou all the time.
There are federal agents posted all around the federal area keeping people out.
I'll post some more of the details tongiht after work if anyone is interested?
thanks.
Its completely legal to be in this area as there are fishermen running john-boats in and out of the bayou all the time.
There are federal agents posted all around the federal area keeping people out.
I'll post some more of the details tongiht after work if anyone is interested?
thanks.
GreatHornedOwl
Grumpy Armchair Birder
... Just wondering ...
Here's a quote from the Birdlife website :
“This extrordinary rediscovery gives cause for optimism for the survival of 18 species classified as Potentially Extinct, such as Jamaican Petrel, Javan Lapwing and Pink-headed Duck” —Dr Michael Rands, BirdLife's Director and Chief Executive
Pink-headed duck WAS probably seen recently in Burma I believe ... :bounce:
... Just wondering, if you allow me, slightly off topic perhaps - now how about the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), which frequented +/- the same habitat as the Ivorybill ? Didn't they give up on that one a bit too soon ? There are reports that several were seen as late as 1944 ! And yet it is officially extinct since 1914 ...
And (I almost dare not ask) the Passenger pigeon ? The labrador duck ?
Seriously, I'd like to hear some opinions of experts on the chances that these species may have survived too ! o
Here's a quote from the Birdlife website :
“This extrordinary rediscovery gives cause for optimism for the survival of 18 species classified as Potentially Extinct, such as Jamaican Petrel, Javan Lapwing and Pink-headed Duck” —Dr Michael Rands, BirdLife's Director and Chief Executive
Pink-headed duck WAS probably seen recently in Burma I believe ... :bounce:
... Just wondering, if you allow me, slightly off topic perhaps - now how about the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), which frequented +/- the same habitat as the Ivorybill ? Didn't they give up on that one a bit too soon ? There are reports that several were seen as late as 1944 ! And yet it is officially extinct since 1914 ...
And (I almost dare not ask) the Passenger pigeon ? The labrador duck ?
Seriously, I'd like to hear some opinions of experts on the chances that these species may have survived too ! o
