May 01, 2005
"I saw that bird!"
Hundreds tell Cornell: I saw that 'extinct' bird!
The ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct until scientists announced its rediscovery this week. But on Friday, people reported seeing it everywhere - in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, even in Jeanne Bottrill's Syracuse back yard. Bottrill was almost positive the massive bird in her tree was the ivory-billed she had seen in Friday's Post-Standard.
But here comes the letdown: It's not. And the hundreds of others seen by people across the Northeast aren't, either."I've created a canned response for people who think they've seen it," said Anne Hobbs, who works at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. She tells the ones from the Northeast that they've probably seen the similar looking pileated woodpecker.
Researchers from the Cornell lab found the ivory-billed, thought to be extinct for the past 50 years, in Arkansas last year. They announced their find Thursday. And it's Hobbs' job for the foreseeable future to tell excited people like Bottrill that they have not seen one of the rarest birds in the world. The lab has received dozens of phone calls and close to 200 e-mails from people who think they've seen the ivory-bill.
Most of them live in areas where the ivory-billed woodpecker simply wouldn't be. The bird comes from the swamps and old-growth forests of the Southeast. Many of the calls and e-mails have been coming from Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. ... Bottrill didn't quite seem convinced that she hadn't seen the rare ivory-billed bird.
"I'll take a picture next time," she said.
Heh. Indeed.
Posted by Stephen at May 1, 2005 03:55 PM | TraktorBack (0)
I thought I saw one, but it was just Elvis.
Extracted from: Improbulus Maximus at May 2, 2005 09:22 AMUmm, just asking (cause I have to)... what are the odds that these two birds are actually genetically identical (i.e. the same bird)?
I just wonder because in Colorado we had a really endangered field mouse very specific to our area (holding up construction, etc)... except it was 100% genetically identical to a non-endangered mouse (i.e. it was a made-up mouse classification).
I'm not saying that they'd be dumb enough to do this again, except I've already seen it happen once.
Extracted from: Gekkobear at May 2, 2005 11:05 PMOk, after reading the comments of the amateur ornitholigists on the first posting of this I'm convinced there is a visibile and noticable (and therefore tangible) difference.
Sorry, but the CO incident seemed so stupid it makes other stories suspect by association...
Now for a slightly different question. Can they cross-breed? As similar as they are, I'd think there is at least a possibility for this.
Gekkobear,
Can Pileateds and Ivory-Bills cross-breed? No.
While they resemble each other (from a distance, in the woods, while flying away from you) they really aren't as similar as, for example, a Black Duck and a Mallard, which do cross-breed.
Even if the two species could cross-breed, we've only spotted one male Ivory-bill. We certainly haven't caught it. And if we could catch it (and supposing that it could cross-breed), I'm not at all certain even then that that would be the best way to preserve it.
Extracted from: The Commissar at May 3, 2005 08:49 AMTwo days after the news about the ivory-billed woodpecker being found in Arkansas I was sitting in the long line at the Revenue office in Bryant Arkansas. Being bored out of my mind, I decided to go to my car and make a phone call. I was parked faceing a telephone pole. Suddenly a large woodpecker appeared on the pole and of course I took notice because it was very large and beautiful and it was a woodpecker! Everyone likes woodpeckers! I was only about 20 feet away from it. I had only heard about this ivory-billed woodpecker but had never seen what it looked like. When I watched the news that night I saw the picture of it and could not believe it!! But I thought the bird I saw had yellow instead of white on its back. Is there a woodpecker that looks just like the ivory-billed woodpecker but has yellow on it? I am really not a nut making this stuff up! I would really like to know. Please help if you can. Thank you.
Extracted from: Katrina at May 5, 2005 12:38 AMTwo days after the news about the ivory-billed woodpecker being found in Arkansas I was sitting in the long line at the Revenue office in Bryant Arkansas. Being bored out of my mind, I decided to go to my car and make a phone call. I was parked faceing a telephone pole. Suddenly a large woodpecker appeared on the pole and of course I took notice because it was very large and beautiful and it was a woodpecker! Everyone likes woodpeckers! I was only about 20 feet away from it. I had only heard about this ivory-billed woodpecker but had never seen what it looked like. When I watched the news that night I saw the picture of it and could not believe it!! But I thought the bird I saw had yellow instead of white on its back. Is there a woodpecker that looks just like the ivory-billed woodpecker but has yellow on it? I am really not a nut making this stuff up! I would really like to know. Please help if you can. Thank you.
Extracted from: Katrina at May 5, 2005 12:38 AMKatrina,
The odds are approximately 999,999 to 1 that you saw a Pileated Woodpecker, which resembles the Ivory-Billed.
Oh, come now, Commissar. A stock-item pileated does not have yellow on its back. Now, I don't know what Katrina saw. And I don't know what the habitat is like in the area of the revenue office in Bryant, Arkansas. But either ivory-bills are extinct or they're not. Katrina's report, like those from Cache River, does not have the level of supporting documentation generally required by we hobbyist bird-watchers to "officially" accept sightings of even normal rare birds. These documentation standards are high because bird mis-identification is rampant. I happen to believe, based on the evidence presented, that ivory-bills are STILL extinct :-) That would make her chances about zero. But if ivory-bills aren't extinct, then the odds that a large woodpecker in Arkansas with a yellow back is an ivory-bill suddenly become quite good, don't you see.
-- A birder in Boston
Extracted from: bittern at May 5, 2005 12:13 PM
