Comments on: A Close Encounter With the Rarest Bird

By: Swampman

Swampman — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:35:53 +0000

No one has ever questioned the authenticity of the Tanner-Kuhn photos and they are well-known to ivorybill students and searchers. They are the only photographs of a young ivorybill known to exist. Seeing the full series of photos published in Smithsonian is a treat and, if you look carefully, you can see how the position of the bird’s legs changed from photo to photo as it climbed around on Kuhn’s back and head. According to their account, it was calling non-stop, which explains the position of the bill – partially opened and upwardly turned – and the baby bird’s rather wild eyed look. It was not happy.

Jeez, talk about the bar being set high, now we’ve got people questioning photos we know are authentic photos of a living bird!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:16:26 +0000

I agree with MountDesertIslander. The bird looks kinda stiff and Mr. Tanner seems to be balancing the bird with his body. Just observe his unnatural body position when the bird is on him. Or maybe the bird was high judging by its blank stare into space.

By: JM

JM — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 04:57:44 +0000

Way on back in the day, maybe 15 or 18 years ago, before all the fuss about ivory-bills, I said something to an old-timer in north-central Arkansas about seeing crow-sized woodpeckers while hunting (a common pileated woodpecker, in all likelihood). “Oh, yeah, those are called ‘Good Gods,’” he said.

I didn’t know until reading this (thanks, Craig, by the way) that the ivory-bill was known colloquially as a “Lord God,” or “Good God” or whathaveyou.

Now, I’m not trying to say that I had an ivory-bill sighting, but this would seem to imply — given of course that a “Good God” bird was indeed an ivory-bill in the old-timer’s mind and not a catch-all term for any big woodpecker — that the species was alive insomuch as it was known as an existing, living bird in rural Arkansas into the late 20th Century, and in north central Arkansas at that, well away from the more recent sightings in eastern Arkansas.

By: Craig Woolheater

Craig Woolheater — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:56:20 +0000

MountDesertIslander, The additional photos are available on the Smithsonian.com website here.

By: MountDesertIslander

MountDesertIslander — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:51:55 +0000

Why does that bird look like a taxidermy mount to me?

I’d sure like to see some other photographs.