Monday, September 25, 2006

One of us?

Well, by-golly, it seems like the person who has had the best "sighting" of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker since the Singer Tract birds is not some delusional self-promoting government scientist, failed magician, or psychic-consulting loon, he's actually....a freakin' birder!!! What are the odds of that?

http://uplandsandpiper1.tripod.com/id25.htm

A birder who participates in bird-banding, leads bird tours, and reports birds to his local RBA.

You can check all of the IBWO-only sites tomorrow for plenty of discussion of the new Florida evidence, the nastiness has begun already...the evidence is not rock-solid, but Geoff Hill et al seem to have learned from some of Cornell's mistakes.

8 comments:

Bill Pulliam said...

I tell ya, if we all pooled our resources we could settle this before another year has passed. We'd get the friggin' photo if the beast is still there. Without non-disclosure agreements.

Birding is NOT a crime!!!! said...

Well, I have spent a lot of time in Florida so it would not be totally unknown territory for me.

But let's wait and see what the access issues are.

Maybe we can get Tim Allwood to join us?

Bill Pulliam said...

Actually I was thinking about a mass assault on a whole lot of areas, since there's truckloads of swamps across the south that are as tasty as the chocktawhatchie (guess I'm gonna have to learn how to spell that). I only singled out about 100 of them, after all... Even just hitting every Panhandle River might accomplish wonders.

Mike's Soap Box said...

Well from what I been researching and looking around on the internet the hot spot seems to be at Roaring Cutoff area of the Choctawhatchee River, which is NE of Red Bay, there is a road that runs to the north of Roaring Cutoff called the "McCaskill RD." which might get you near the area or at least close enough to haul a canoe or kayak to this spot. Birders should also check the river north of Roaring Cutoff al the way to Morris Springs and south of Roaring Cutoff to Red Bay. This area from what others have mention seems to be the spot. On birdforum Fangseth (sp?) was upset that locations were meaning mentioned and he asked birders to keep their big mouths shut. So I went back and looked for locations mentioned and this seems to be the spot that was mentioned. Tom Nelson also posted the same location on his blog where he heard the bird might be found. So if you are serious about searching for the birds, go search this area and then go to the areas the researchers offered to birders to look. I sort of chuckled that they told birders to go check places that have no sightings recorded or sounds recorded but they are keep a area that is on PUBLIC land for themselves!

Birding is NOT a crime!!!! said...

Bill, dude, I don't have that kind of vacation time!

Mike, I thought the same thing you did, was thinking about including it in a post later as well. Doesn't seem fair to leave the area open to hunters and then chase (even politely) birders away.

Wait a minute, why don't we get Bill *and* Mike on this BINAC-sponsored Ivory-billed expedition? If I can't go, I'll sponsor it with all of those leftover prizes I have from the Mr. Guppy contest.

I can think of a few other crazy birder that might want to tag along...

Bill Pulliam said...

Work versus birds? PRIORITIES, man! Next thing you'll be giving me some lame excuse about the impendng birth of your first child or some such nonsense.

Birding is NOT a crime!!!! said...

My first child?

Bill, what have you heard? I might need to hide in the swamps for a few months...

Anonymous said...

Hello Everybody,
If y'all are serious about getting a photo, I'm serious about bringing a kayak (We-no-nah Sea Otter) down there along with a very serious Canon image stabilized "big gun" to help out. I will only do it if someone from the area is willing to set it up properly so time is not wasted.
I also believe there is another location where the IBW can be found in Eastern Kentucky.
Call me at 843-869-2629 or e-mail at bwanadon@earthlink.net or I'll check postings here for the next few days.
P.S. Last October I photographed the Grey-striped francolin...rare and endemic to Angola.