Comments on: Florida’s Ivory-Bills Photographed

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:40:11 +0000

dogu, I agree pretty much. This kind of thing shows us how incomplete our knowledge of the natural world still is, and how premature it can be to make grand pronouncements about any species.

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:17:12 +0000

Funny that this topic from last year should be reactivated now that spring has sprung all over. Haven’t heard anything yet from the past winter’s search and so I wonder if news is being withheld for some calendared presentation event or if there is simply no news., but the question about specialized needs leaves me wondering if concluding that isn’t more a result of our limited understanding, observation and interpretation using modern perspectives since it would have essentially vanished before modern techniques could come to bear. I’ve read that in some instances the IBW had been seen eating crawfish out of muddy banks whether from a scarcity of its preferred beetle grub or some other anecdotal or altogether apocryphal reason, that wasn’t answered, along with quite a lot of just plain “i don’t know”.
It’s more than a little ironic that the habitat that would have served ideally as a refuge is just now entering a stage of maturity after years of commercial harvest and “slow-to-be-realized” protection. Keepin’ my fingers crossed at any rate.

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:56:48 +0000

Well, the accepted wisdom about this bird in particular was that it had/has such specialized needs that it could/can only live in a very limited range of environments. Therefore, if that kind of environment was being reduced at the same time as sightings of the critter seemed to have stopped for decades, they made the assumption that the species itself was gone. Many people still maintained hope, however, that this assumption was wrong, and that it may have been hanging on in some previously unacknowledged corner, which indeed seems to possibly be the case.

By: ht3

ht3 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:24:07 +0000

I find it hard to believe that well educated people believe that some things go extinct. Animals don’t follow the same rules as humans,if the habitat is destroyed
they move on to new habitat where they can live unmolested by our interference.

By: YourPTR!

YourPTR! — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:23:33 +0000

Very encouraging news! Great to hear more evidence for the Ivory Woodpecker’s continuing existance has been gathererd and I look forward to the day the evidence reaches the standard required for proof so their habitat can be further protected.

By: Valen

Valen — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:17:46 +0000

I’m right there with you corrick. No one would be happier than me to concrete evidence that the IBW is still out there. I believe it is, but still, we have to convince the skeptics.

And Joe, there are many people out there that treat the sightings of ivory-bills the same way skeptics treat the reports of bigfoot and other cryptids. Some blogs are down right nasty and ridicule people who claim an IBW sighting. So Joe, not everyone treats the reports as factual.

By: corrick

corrick — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:13:38 +0000

Don’t mean to rain on the parade, but haven’t we heard this same thing two years ago out of Arkansas? Where the supposedly slam-dunk video has largely been met with skepticism by top American ornithologists after viewing and examining the footage.

As such, I am very concerned by this Geoffrey Hill quote, “We just haven’t gotten a really good break yet in getting photos of this bird, but it does exist.” Unfortunately, it sounds like just more debatable photographic evidence. I hope not.

Understand, I have a framed reproduction of Audubon’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker hanging in my house. I’d love for everything Hill states to be proven correct.

But I’m not holding my breath.

By: joe levit

joe levit — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:47:03 +0000

I know this is a bird, and one that has been known before, but I find it interesting nonetheless that comments such as this would be taken seriously by many colleagues, yet a similar statement about bigfoot is seen as a pathetic dream.

We just haven’t gotten a really good break yet in getting photos of this bird, but it does exist. I believe this is the sunrise on a new age of Ivory-bills, and once they’re proven to exist, we can go about preserving the habitat they live in.Professor Geoffrey Hill

Picture this: We just haven’t gotten a really good break yet in getting photos of this hominid/pongid, but it does exist. I believ this is the sunrise on a new age of sasquatch, and once they’re proven to exist, we can go about preserving the habitat they live in.

By: planettom

planettom — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:24:57 +0000

This is tremendous news! I knew this day would come. Exciting! Can’t wait to view the evidence.

By: cutrer

cutrer — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:17:13 +0000

War Eagle!