Friday, June 30, 2006

"The Leak" About the IBWO

Well, there has been some discussion on Tom Nelson's site about the infamous leak that either did or didn't (depending on what random story Cornell decides to tell on any particular day) rush the original Science story into publication.

At the time, people associated with the Cornell team stated that the leak came from someone in the federal government, which is simply false. While I wasn't privy to the "rediscovery" story until a day or two before the press conference, I know several birders -- some on other continents -- who were not associated with the search but knew about it weeks before the official announcement.

Having said that, I think the first public leak on the story came from the little-known "New River Valley Birds" listserve in southwestern Virginia and Tennessee. That list has now moved from Yahoo to Google and the archives from April 2005 are no longer available, but in April 2005 I checked out this angle and that is indeed where the story first broke. My recollection is that someone involved with the search team talked to someone who posted the info, but if anyone has saved that thread from NRV Birds, please send it to me and I will post it.

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