From the Field: Birding Shawnee Mission Park, Johnson County, Kansas

Well, this falls under the category of "better late than never" I suppose. I found myself in Kansas City over the Labor Day weekend, and, of course, I had my binoculars along and decided to do a bit of birding.

I was staying in Overland Park, a nice suburb of Kansas City, and since my time was rather limited, I decided to stay local and forget about making a trip to one of the great N.W.R.'s that are found further west in Kansas. As a result, I didn;t really have much of a chance to get any western species, and most of the birds I were likely to see could be seen pretty easily in Illinois. After driving around a bit, I found myself at Shawnee Mission Park in Shawnee, Kansas. The Bluebird Capital of Kansas, or so I'm told. (And I can believe it-one flock of Bluebirds I saw contained at least 40 birds!)

Shawnee Mission Park was a very cool park, with a big lake and a bunch of nice walking trails. The lake itself is about 150 acres, while the entire park is about 1,250 acres, I bet this is a heck of a birding spot year-round. Didn't see any other birders there -- I rarely do on any of my U.S. trips except in true hotspots like the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

I basically stuck to car- and parking lot-birding, but that allowed me to cut through a couple of different parts of the park fairly quickly.

I was hoping to find some migrants to pad my (non-existent) Kansas state list. I pretty much struck out on the migrants, but still had a nice morning of birding. About 40 species total, including the flock of Bluebirds, a couple of Wild Turkeys, and a Red-headed Woodpecker. Nothing spectacular, but hey, the worst morning birding is better than the best morning working.


Shawnee Mission Park

From the field: Birding Olive Park

Today I decided to stay close to home, due to the generally crummy/rainy weather and the expected Sunday traffic, with the Bears, Cubs, White Sux, and Blackhawks all playing at home today. (Northerly Island is tough to access on days when the Bears are playing.) The rain wasn't actually too bad, but it looks like it will be raining off and on all day. (Right now it's raining at Soldier Field but not at my place a mile or two north.)

So I decided to hit Olive Park, on the Chicago lakefront near Navy Pier at about Ohio Street. I used to regularly bird Olive Park, but lately much of my free time has been spent at Northerly Island, so this is only the first or second time I have gone to the O.P. this fall. Hopefully I will do a site guide for Olive Park in the next few weeks.

Anyway, the birding was a bit slow, but there were decent numbers of birds, including :Northern Flicker (14), House Wren (2), Sedge Wren (1), Nashville (1), Magnolia (1), Yellow-rumped (11), Palm (1), Blackpoll (2), Wilson's (1), Lincoln's Sparrow (3), White-throated Sparrow (19), and White-crowned Sparow (1).

Area where Ivory-billed sightings occurred now open to the public?

Unless my geography skills are off, it looks like the authorities have now opened at least limited access to the areas where the original Elvis sightings occurred. I wonder if this was something that had been planned all along, or if the powers-that-be have concluded that any bird that may have been moving through that area has now departed.

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Daily access permits now available for managed access area of Cache River National Wildlife Refuge

BRINKLEY - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now has permits available for the managed access area where the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was spotted in 2004. The managed access area on the Cache River NWR was established to regulate public access in light of the recent rediscovery of the bird in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas.

Currently, the managed access area affects only 5,000 of the existing 61,000 acres on the refuge. Daily access permits are now available and will be required for each individual sub-unit within the area on a first come basis.

The permits will be made equally available to consumptive users (anglers/hunters) and non-consumptive users (birdwatchers/nature observers). The number of daily access permits available per sub-unit will be as follows:

Sub-Unit A - 10 total permits (5 each) -- Bayou DeView area from Hwy 38 south to Hwy 17

Sub-Unit B - 6 total permits (3 each) -- Bayou DeView area from Hwy 17 south to Dagmar WMA

Sub-Unit C - 20 total permits (10 each) -- Robe Bayou/Dark Corner area north of Dagmar WMA

Sub-Unit D - 20 total permits (10 each) -- Bull Lake areaSub-Unit E - 20 total permits (10 each) -- SW Brinkley area south of Hwy 70

Permits are available free of charge and may be picked up at the Cache River NWR office (26320 Hwy 33 South of Augusta) Monday thru Friday from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. Permits for Saturday - Monday will be available on the preceding Friday. A holiday schedule is in place for all federal holidays.

The daily access permits are non-transferable and must be picked up in person. A valid hunting or fishing license will be required to obtain a permit for consumptive use permits and the appropriate equipment must be possessed in the field. Consumptive use permits for hunting will only be valid during refuge open seasons and all permit holders must adhere to all applicable state, refuge and federal laws and regulations.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel are not eligible for daily permits for Sub-units A and B. No guiding or commercial fishing will be allowed in the MAA. For more information contact the refuge at 870-347-2614.

Anglers and hunters (consumptive users) and all others (non-consumptive users) on or off the MAA are strongly encouraged to report Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings to 1-800-843-2473 or by email at ivorybill@cornell.edu.

The Chicago Way: Feds root out "cash for trees" bribery scandal in City Forestry Department

So, we know from a past indictment that you can bribe your way into landscaping contracts for natural areas in the City of Chicago. Now, another indictment has been handed down, alleging that the "boss" of the City's Forestry Department took bribes to cut down trees! Here's the scoop:

Did scandal go to trees? City forestry boss charged in extortion

September 22, 2005

Not even trees were spared from the corruption at City Hall, federal authorities alleged Wednesday.When two healthy trees in Lincoln Park got in the way of a home builder, developers were allegedly told that city workers would take care of the problem for $5,000, according to court documents. The alleged scheme was stymied by outraged neighbors who awoke one morning in the summer of 2004 to find city crews lopping off branches.

In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, prosecutors charged Bruno A. Bertucci, a retired boss in the forestry bureau of the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, with obstruction of justice for his role in the failed scheme.

Court records suggest that former city worker John "Quarters" Boyle, a central figure in the city's Hired Truck scandal, also was a go-to man for such mundane favors as tree removal. Boyle pleaded guilty to extorting bribes and was sentenced in August to 7 years in prison. He was not charged Wednesday.

The charges against Bertucci stemmed from conversation in February in which he allegedly told a city employee not to tell federal agents about the scheme, according to court records. Bertucci, 53, of Bridgeview, allegedly told an underling to lie to FBI agents investigating the alleged bribe. "All you do is stick to your story" that an alderman wanted the trees removed, Bertucci allegedly told the worker, according to court records. "You just stick to your story because there ain't no way they could prove anything."

The alderman, Vi Daley (43rd), said in an interview Wednesday that she had opposed cutting down the trees. Bertucci was a member of a political group run by Daniel Katalinic, a retired high-ranking Streets and Sanitation Department official, according to two former department workers. The group was allegedly one of many pro-Mayor Daley political street armies whose members performed campaign work in exchange for city jobs and promotions. Katalinic is cooperating with the federal corruption probe. He secretly recorded a conversation with Robert Sorich, the mayor's patronage chief, who allegedly played a central role in the hiring scheme.

According to court records, developers wanted two trees removed to make room for a driveway between 1905 and 1907 N. Burling St., but they could not obtain city permits. They turned to Boyle, who agreed to pay a $5,000 bribe to a person identified in the complaint only as "a former high-ranking [city] employee."That employee contacted Bertucci, who, for half the $5,000, agreed to contact another city forestry bureau worker to cut down the trees, the records show.

That city worker took a crew out to the property at 7:42 a.m. on July 21, 2004, to cut down the trees. Dr. Alan Buchman, a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said that when he returned home from work late one night, he noticed that Streets and Sanitation workers had posted signs informing neighbors to remove their cars from the block in the morning. Buchman got up early the next morning to find city crews on the street and a tow truck preparing to remove cars. The tow truck driver told Buchman the crews were there to cut down the two trees across the street. Buchman said he called his lawyer, city forestry and then called Ald. Daley. "I said to her, `You know, there's got to be some kind of conspiracy,'" Buchman said. "I was semi-serious. I was not joking."

Another neighbor who complained about the attempted tree removal was Donna Filippo, who lives at 1909 N. Burling. Filippo said she became annoyed when she saw a city crew beginning to cut off the top of one of the trees. When she confronted the workers, one of them told her that the woman who lived in 1907 had asked that the tree be removed because its roots were blocking the storm drain. Filippo said she told the man he was nuts because 1907 was vacant. Filippo went inside her house and called the city's 311 city-services number to complain. The crew left several minutes later, but Filippo said she believes it was Buchman's intervention that halted the work.

John McNaughton, who developed the homes along with Tinkers Development president Pamela Hostert, said Wednesday that he had done nothing wrong. He said he was unaware of allegations that someone offered a $5,000 bribe to city workers to get the job done."I don't know anything about that," McNaughton said. "We have been going through the regular process with the city to get the trees removed."

Bertucci is the 33rd person charged in the City Hall corruption probe. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was released on his promise to appear in court. He is due back in court on Oct. 3.

Run, run Rita!!!

Well, a number of my friends in Houston have already evacuated (some of whom live in the *western* subrubs), and Rita looks like she will be at least a Category 4 hurricane by the time she (it?) makes landfall on Friday.

While this is not good for folks living on the UTC, the current projected post-landfall track is almost perfect for blowing storm birds into Illinois. And, for once, we might get some storm birds on a weekend. Of course, a lot could change between now and the weekend, but we will be watching this storm very closely here at the BINAC World Headquarters.

This is, coincidentally, the weekend of the annual IOS "pelagic" trip to Carlyle Lake. So while that trip (if it is not washed out) has a great chance of providing a Rita-blown pelagic rarity, it also means that many of the better birders in the southern portion of the state will be concentrated in one place, meaning that some other large southern Illinois lakes may be under-birded.

Lunatic fringe "Anti-Birders" crawl out of their holes!!!

The lunatic fringe has made an appearance on the Wisconsin birding list, lead by people who should know better.

Here is one of the suggestions, made by somoene who masquerades as a birder regularly:

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"I suspect there's no way on earth birders would go along with it, but I personally believe that the "sport" of birding, with published lists that look like scores, should be limited to the American Birding Association, and that state ornithological societies should not be fostering competitive birding at all."

***

Well, I don't usually spend my time telling other people to do things that I *know* they won't do, but I guess some people have more time on their hands than I do.

The moronic idea excerpted above is yet another example of why "Birding is NOT a crime!!!!" exists. There is a small minority -- a vocal minority, though -- of birders that seem to want to consistently tell other birders how to run their lives. Well, those Anti-Birders can kiss my ass. No one has a right to tell me what lists I should or shouldn't keep. No one has the right to tell me how much gas I should or shouldn't use on a birding trip. And, most importantly, no one has the right to complain to me about how I enjoy my life. I like birding. I think it's fun. And I do keep a few lists, but not as many as most hard-core listers. But NO ONE has a right to make me feel guilty about it.

There are so many real environmental tragedies out there in the world today...rain forests being levelled, oil spills, pollution, toxic waste...that I cannot fathom why anyone with the intelligence of a snail would think that the small number of really competitive birders (maybe a thousand or two in the entire U.S.?) makes any difference at all.

You can have my binoculars when you pry them out of my cold, dead figners.

Lesser Sand Plover in Florida

Just got back from a quick birding adventure in Florida. DEtails to follow. There is a bird being seen at St. Marks NWR that is being considered as a Lesser Sand Plover. Not sure how many (if any) Gulf or East Coast records there are for this species.

Coming soon: Reports from Florida and South America.

We have been busy birding, but hopefully we will have some reports from Florida and Brazil/Argentina posted in a few days.

What happened to the North American Fall Migration Count??????

Is anybody out there still doing a fall count?

In Illinois, the Spring Bird Count is still pretty popular, but the fall count is virtually nonexistent.
Is anyone in Illinois doing the North American Migration Count this Fall? I have not heard anything about a "fall count" here in Illinois for several years.

I know that some states, including Florida, do have county coordinators and are attempting to hold their fall count this Saturday, September 17. I found some info on the web but it all seems to be local, I couldn't find any national group or organization that seemed to be in charge of things.

So, what's the deal?

UPDATE: The deal is, apparently, that there used to be some coordination through someone in Maryland (through the MOS?), but areas that are continuing the fall count are pretty much on their own. Some states seem to be pretty active (Alabama was one I noticed), and there are quite a few states (including California, Florida, and Maryland) that are making an effort as well.

Counts like this are, I think, exactly the kind of thing that readers of this site would be interested in. So I propose that we try to resurrect the fall count. Let's start on a small scale first: here in Illinois, everyone try to keep track of what they see this weekend, and just hold on to those results for right now.

I would envision that the IOS or some other group would be the umbrella organization for the count. Maybe it would be possible to use the system that is already in place for the Spring Count...use the same county compilers, etc.

Article on Magnificent Frigatebird in DuPage County--how the media works.

The first person that called me this morning told me to check the Chicago Sun-Times for an article on the Mag Frigatebird seen a few days ago by Bob Fisher. The short story is prominently featured on the Sun-Times website:

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Magnificent: Gulf Coast bird sighted here
September 16, 2005
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter

The bird's long, narrow wings and its lazy, effortless glide caught Bob Fisher's eye as he drove near his Downers Grove home.

An avid birder for more than 15 years, Fisher said he quickly recognized it as a magnificent frigatebird, which boasts a 7-foot wingspan and is almost never seen in Illinois.

Fisher, 63, has spotted such birds before, but usually in the Florida Keys or along the Gulf Coast -- their usual habitat.

He and other avian enthusiasts say the lone bird he spotted late last week likely is a straggler that rode the dying winds of Hurricane Katrina all the way to the Chicago area. "This is not a bird you'd at all expect to see in this area, except when they're pushed out of their usual environment by hurricanes,'' he said.

A Field Museum ornithologist agreed, saying the last accepted frigatebird sighting in Illinois was in 1988 after Hurricane Gilbert.

Fisher said he saw the bird for only 30 to 40 seconds and didn't get a picture of it, but is confident it was a frigatebird -- in part because it glided so smoothly.

***

So, how does a story like this get into the paper? Well, here's how: Last week I got a call from a reporter I know at WBBM 780 radio. That reporter talked to me about West Nile, and the story aired last week. I gave him a tip about the Mag Frigatebird sighting, and gave him Bob Fisher's phone number. So the WBBM reporter called Bob and put the story on the radio.

I have been surprised to learn how many print reporters get their stories or leads from WBBM. The Sun-Times reporter must have heard the story, and then called Bob to talk to him. One time I talked to WBBM and the Sun-Times picked up the story, including a reference to things I had said, without even talking to me!

So, this is a lesson for birders out there that are trying to get publicity for their efforts...conservation, birding clubs, whatever...if you place the first story in the right media outlets, other media will pick up on it.

Snipe hunt/rail stomp scheduled for Saturday!

Well, I have regained (nearly) full control of my faculties, thanks to about 12 hours of sleep last night.

And we are happy to announce that there will be an impromptu field trip to Northerly Island this Saturday. Josh Engel came up with the idea (whichI think is a great one), and it came together pretty quickly.

We will meet at the terminal building at 6:30 am on Saturday morning.

Our focus will be on rails, snipe, and sparrows. This is right in the middle of the migration window for Yellow Rails in the fall, so we do have a slim chance of seeing one. The more people we get on the trip, the more territory we'll be able to cover, and we'll have a better chance of seeing rails. Not quite the rail buggy I rode in on a Texas CBC a few years ago, but still pretty cool.

This is the first organized birding trip to N.I., and will be a good dry run for trip I am leading there in early October for the DuPage Birding Club.

So join us for a chance to see Yellow Rail in Illinois.

From the Field: Birding Northerly Island.

When I first arrived at N.I., very few birds were present except for large flocks of migrating cormorants. However, when I reached the far eastern edge of the Island, there were birds all over. I did not see a single thrush, but there were dozens and dozens of warblers.

The large majority of the warblers were Palm Warbler, with a few Yellow-rumps and American Redstarts thrown in. I also saw small numbers of Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Blackpoll, and Ovenbird.

Other interesting birds included one cuckoo sp., a handful of Wilson's Snipe, at least six rails (1 Virginia, 2 Sora, 1 additional probable Sora, 1 additional probable Virginia, and a "sixth rail", which was not seen well as it scurried underfoot but it appeared to be smaller than a Sora or Virginia and my undocumentable guess would be Yellow Rail), 3 Lincoln's Sparrows, and one Nelson's Sharp-Tailed Sparrow.

I think Steve Huggins had a Yellow Rail at NI a while back so this may be a bit of a spot for them.

The first bird I actually saw was a Virginia Rail huddled against the terminal building. No one was available to try to check out the bird so, as instructed, I gently tried to nudge it away from the corner. The bird had been walking around when I first saw it. It would not budge, however, not even as I approached within an inch or two. So I gently tapped it with my foot. Still nothing. Another very gentle tap, and it scooted (the wrong way) towards the parking lot. I outflanked it and got between it and the parking lot, trying to convince it to turn around and head back to the safety of the tall grass. It stopped, looked at me, then ran right between my legs into the parking lot. I tried to head it off again but somehow it finally got the right idea on its own, did a 360 and darted into the grass.

Heavy nocturnal migration underway. UPDATES

I just got back from my roof top (about 43 stories high in downtown Chicago) and there is a fairly heavy nocturnal migration underway. The skies are clear, winds are moderate, and most of the downtown lights are off, so most of the birds seem to be making their way south quickly and safely. This is certainly not the heaviest migration I have heard from my roof, but its still pretty early, and is probably the heaviest I have heard this year. The birds sound like they are a bit low but probably not low enough for a significant fallout unless a storm arises. It will be interesting to see tomorrrow morning if a lot of birds come down in the lakefront parks, or if most of them just fly over the City without stopping.

I will post throughout the night if I see or hear anything interesting happening.

12:05 UPDATE: Just took a walk around the neighborhood. Migration is audible (barely) above the traffic noise at street level. Still hot and muggy out, so the front hasn't hit here yet. Winds are starting to pick up a bit, though. No downed birds around the John Hancock Building, no birds trapped or circling anywhere. Back up to the roof.

12:20 UPDATE: Back from the roof. Getting a bit windy. Migration still underway, a bit heavier than before. My hearing is not that great, so I can't really pick out species, but it seems lick there were a few more thrushes flying overhead. Radar is still pretty clear, but I could see heavy lightning to the south, some lightning to the north, yet only a few sporadic drops of rain on the roof. I meant clear weather-wise, but I'm wondering how hard it is to distinguish bird images from very light rain on nights like tonight.

Might get interesting if I can stay awake!

12:40 UPDATE: Very heavy audible migration still underway. I actually saw one bird migrating (that happens someimes--so cool!!!!) from the roof. Most of the calls seem to be pretty high in the sky, but a few sounded like they were below the height of my roof. Weather seems to have cleared a bit.

I did a timed count: in two minutes, I heard 190 flight call notes. Obviously, I'm hearing some birds more than once as they fly over, and some are probably circling, there's no wya for me to sort that out, especially with all the ancillary noise (Lake Shore Drive, generators, etc.). But that at least gives you an idea of how constant the flow of birds is.

12:45 UPDATE: I just checked the radar again. Looks like the flow of birds headed south from N. Illinois and Wisconsin are headed straight towards a line of thunderstorms that is moving (roughly) northeast through Central Illinois. Someone is going to have a big fallout tomorrow morning, but probably south/southwest of Chicago proper, so will anyone see it? Palos might be a good place to be tomorrow morning?

1:30-2:50 UPDATE: Dark side of migration. NEED SLEEP! Went for a cruise around the Loop. Minute-by-minute account later. Large fallout occurring in the Loop. 80% warblers, some thrushes, a few flycatchers. Birds caught in lights at AON Building, Blue Cross Blue Shield Building, Bank One, Hyatt Center. Roll down your car window in the Loop and you hear chip notes everywhere. 50+ birds grounded at Hyatt Center. Bucket full o' dead birds in car. Back to the roof, more details later. Hope the lightning is kind to me.

2:40 Steady rain starts, lightning increases.

3:05 UPDATE: Migration has noticably slowed on rooftop. 125 chip notes in two minutes. Steady rain and lightning. Did the migrants "ride" in front of the front? How long can they stay aloft in a medium steady rain, with periodic lightning? Where are all the thrushes? And sparrows? Weather conditions make further rooftop observtaions unlikely. Choice: Sleep or stand on roof of tall building in thunderstorm? Sleep!

Sick day tomorrow?

More later.

3:15 Can't sleep. Fill in some gaps:

1:15 Checked Lakeshore East and Randolph Street. I hereby declare myself the first person to proclaim that the new private park at the Lakeshore East will be a fantastic migrant trap! Check it out! No kills here or on Randolph. Can hear many birds circling near Grant Park/Blue Cross Building.

1:30 1 dead and 1 alive at Blue Cross

1 dead at Two Prudential

1:45 two more dead at Blue Cross

Important to note that kills are occurring as early as 1:30 am.

1:48 No kills at Daley Plaza.

1:52 No kills at Bank One, but birds heard circling the building.

1:56 Slight drizzle begins. 1 dead at Madison & Wacker.

1:58 birds heard circling at Sears Tower. Birds heard circling at AT&T Building

2:00 Major fallout underway at Hyatt Center, 71 S. Wacker. First count, 18 dead or injured. One full circuit of building: 30+ dead, about as many injured, most of the injured fly off quickly when appraoched.

Chip notes heard everywhere on way to Randolph Street, especially along Chicago River, but no dead birds seen.

2:41 Still nothing at Illinois Center. Six dead at Blue Cross Building. Couple more at AON and Two Pru.

7:15 UPDATE: Sleep is overrated! Mini-fallout at Northerly Island. Rails rails rails! More later!

From the field:Birding Northerly Island

I took a nice walk around Northerly Island on Chicago's lakefont this morning.

The birding was pretty slow. The only obvious migrants were four Palm Warblers and 1 Lincoln's Sparrow. Still a few Song and Savannah Sparrows, along with a Kestrel, a large flock of about 60 Red-winged Blackbirds and 32 Killdeer. Still nice to see these birds right in teh heart of the City.

There were also thousands of butterflies (mostly Monarchs, I think, and those little white moths, with a few other species mixed in), probably the most I have ever seen at one location in Illinois. I counted over 300 perched on a single tree, and there were many more in flight.

Also had an Ovenbird near Seneca Park in Streeterville.

The most inpressive sight of the day, though, was probably the dozen or more buses for the Rolling Stones crew that were parked near the Field Museum. That is probably the largest road crew I've ever seen, the production for tonight's show must be huge.

Mike Hendrickson's Blog and a Minnesota story.

Some of you may know Mike Hendrickson, a well-known MN birder who has been leading tours in Duluth and surrounding areas for many years. A couple of us hired Mike for a day a few years ago and he was a real hoot! The thing I remember most is that it was like twenty degrees out and everyone is bundled up and Mike is wearing short pants! Classic. We had a pretty crappy day and didn't see too much, but it was still a fun birding day.

That whle trip was pretty entertaining. At one point (not when Mike was with us) our group was at the north end of County Road 2 (I think that's the name) looking (unsuccessfully, as usual) for Spruce Grouse. Anyway, there is a port-o-john there, and since we had been out all morning, and this is pretty much the middle of nowhere without any bathrooms, the group took the opportunity to line up to use the restroom. A car comes screeching up to the intersection, a guy jumps out and runs towards the outhouse, stops when he sees all of us, and says to me: "I didn't think there would be a line here." Before I could say anything, he sprinted back into his car and took off.

Anyway, I guess Mike has a blog now (or he re-started one) and it is, as you would expect, a lot of fun. He slams the author of the BirdChick Blog in one of his posts. Now, I love the Bird Chick, but smack talking is cool, so props to Mike for telling it how he sees it and speaking his mind. There is some important stuff in there about conservations in the Sax-Zim area as well, so anyone who has birded in that area and cares about what happens to it should see what Mike has to say.

So check out Mike's site and blog: http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/

End of an Era: "King of the Hill" to enter last season.

It is with great sadness that I note that the best show currently on television, Fox's Tex-centric "King of the Hill," will apparently end after completing the 2005-06 season, which will be its tenth season.

I always tried to figure out what town KOTH's fictional "Arlen, Texas" was modeled after, and although I could never pin it down exactly, I always thought that Harlingen was a strong possibility. (Arlen always had a rivalry with "McMaynerberry" -- McAllen, perhaps?)

The show had a few episodes actually involving birds, the gang even did the Backyard Bird Count in season 7 and hey, what other show on television makes Whataburger references?

BINAC on the radio.

Listen for yours truly on WBBM 780 Radio today discussing the impact of West Nile on Blue Jays. I always think I sound like an idiot when I give interviews like this, because you don't really have time to prepare yourself, or look up the precise facts and figures you need. But any minor factual or grammatical errors in a story about birds are probably outweighed by the benefit derived from having people think about birds and how to help them.

Also, WBBM may be doing a story on storm birds as well, so keep your ears open for that.

Canoeman River Guide Services offers Ivory-billed Woodpecker Tours.

So, I stumbled onto another site offering Ivory-billed Woodpecker tours: http://canoeman.com/CRGS/docs/birdwatching.html At least he's quite a bit cheaper than the Mallard Pointe tours.

I am sure that more of these operators will be popping up on the web as we get closer to fall. I have heard that Wildlife Farms will also be offering tours this year, but there is nothing on their web site about woodpecker tours yet. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone who takes any of the IBWO tours being offered in Arkansas this fall. Anyone who has hired a birding guide before knows that it is kinda hit-and-miss, so it would be nice to be able to "rate" the tours and guides in Arkansas.

Frigatebird in Iowa.

There has also been a recent sighting of a Mag. Frigatebird in Iowa. Check out a great photo at: www.icbirds.org

UPDATE: There has also been a Frigatebird seen in Ohio. So we've got birds in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Epitaph for a Blue Birdmobile

I was very pleasantly surprised to open up the new issue of Birding and see an article (p. 528) by DuPage County's own Bob Fisher (no, not the Missouri Bob Fisher!) lamenting the demise of what was perhaps the most recognizable birding vehicle in the State of Illinois: The Fishers' Blue Birdmobile!

I remember the first time I ever saw the Blue Birdmobile, on a windy fall day at the Palos West slough. You could also count on the presence of the Blue Birdmobile when a rarity was around, often sharing a parking lot with cars bearing license plates like Falcon or Avocet. Oh, the birds that Suburban has seen; I bet it had a longer life list than most of the birders in Illinois!

Volunteer to help Cornell search for the IBWO -- and sign away all of your rights!

So, Cornell is seeking volunteers now to search for the IBWO. Check out the waiver they want birders to sign. In my view, the most egregious provision of this "volunteer agreement" is that Cornell is asking you to sign over your intellectual property rights if you take a photo of the bird! This means that if you volunteer and are lucky enough to take "the" photo of the bird, Cornell can put that photo on t-shirts and coffee mugs and thongs, and you'll get nothing!!!

I have no problem with Cornell requiring that searchers keep the location of any sightings confidential, but why would they need to keep photos or field notes or sound recordings confidential? (If you read it carefully, I think that in paragraph 6 they also ask you to sign over your first-born to Cornell.) I personally would never even consider signing such a release, and I would strongly advise any "volunteer" searcher to consult with their own personal attorney before signing such a draconian "agreement." You have been warned.

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Volunteer Agreement

Ivory-billed Woodpecker SearchDecember 5, 2005- April 23, 2006

I, __________ (name), agree to the following terms and conditions governing my participation as a Volunteer in the Ivory Billed Woodpecker Search Project (hereinafter “Search Project”) in the Cache River and White River National Wildlife Refuges:

1. I agree that as a Cornell University Volunteer, my participation in the Search Project is without pay or other compensation. Any data, drawings, field notes, audio or visual recordings (including, without limitation, photographs and motion picture video) that I may generate or assist in creating during my participation in the Search Project will be the sole property of Cornell University, and I hereby assign any and all rights that I might assert in the same (including copyright) to Cornell University. I may not distribute, copy, release or disclose any such data, drawings, notes or recordings personally or through any form of media to any third party without the prior written consent of an authorized representative of Cornell University. In addition, I agree to keep confidential any information I learn as a direct result of my participation in the Search Project that is identified by Cornell as sensitive information, including (without limitation) information on the location of Ivory-Billed Woodpecker roosting or nesting sites.

2. I understand that Cornell University may, in its sole discretion, terminate my participation in the Search Project without prior notice. I understand that I am not a University employee and that I do not have a formal work appointment for any services I may render as a participant in the Search Project. Notwithstanding the above, I agree to abide by all applicable University policies during my participation in the Search Project.

3. I understand that as a University Volunteer, Cornell does not provide me with accident or medical insurance and is therefore not responsible for any accident or medical expenses incurred by me. Further, I understand that I am neither covered by Worker’s Compensation nor entitled to employee benefits as a result of my participation in the Search Project.

4. Cornell University agrees to provide me with third party liability insurance to protect me from any third-party claims filed against me related to my good faith performance of any activities described in the attached Cornell University Description of Volunteer Duties. In exchange, I, on behalf of myself, my heirs and my representatives, do hereby release, indemnify, and hold harmless Cornell University or any of its officers, agents, or employees from any and all liability, damages, or claims of any nature arising out of or related to my volunteer activities.

5. I understand the terms and conditions of this agreement and I am signing this agreement of my own free will. Further, by signing this agreement I attest to the fact that I am eighteen years of age or older.

6. This agreement will be valid from [date] to [date]. The insurance and indemnity provision in paragraph 4 will survive the termination of this Agreement. This agreement may only be modified in writing with the consent of both Cornell University and the above-named Volunteer.

This agreement shall be construed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflicts of laws principles.

Signature of Volunteer: Date: Home Address of Volunteer: Telephone: Emergency Contact:

***

P.S. OK, this is BINAC again...here is a great law-school hypothetical: If the federal goverment closes access to a particular piece of federal land, without *any* public input or comment, and grants access to that land to one or two favored groups, to the exclusion of all others, and that favored group makes money off of their activities in that area...for example, in selling photos taken on that land...has any federal law or regulation been violated? Interesting, eh?

MAG FRIGATEBIRD SIGHTED IN DUPAGE COUNTY!

SIX-STAR UPADTE******: Bob Fisher just reported a Frigatebird soaring near his house in DuPage County, Illinois!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FRIGATEBIRD IN INDIANAPOLIS!

There has just been a frigatebird reported from Eagle Creek near Indianapolis!

This almost guarantees that something good will show up at Miller Beach or the Chicago Lakefront this weekend when I am gone!!!!

Swallow-tailed Kites in Northern Indiana!

There have been two Swallow-tailed Kites reported from Northern Indiana today.

Be on the lookout for this species to appear in Illinois, possibly even in the Chicago area, over the next few days. I am out of town for the holiday so expect them to show up along the lakefront on Saturday morning!

FIVE-STAR UPDATE*****: FRIGATEBIRD SEEN AT EAGLE CREEK NEAR INDIANAPLOIS!!!!!

Storm birds.

An incomplete list of some of the interesting storm birds pushed inland (mostly KY and TN)would include Mag Frigatebirds (TN), Band-rumped Storm Petrel (KY and TN), Greater Shearwater (!) (TN), and an unidentified large skua (?) (TN).

If anyone has any further info on these or other extraordinary storm birds (especially the skua), please let us know at birdingisnotacrime@yahoo.com .

FIVE-STAR UPDATE::: FRIGATEBIRD REPORTED FROM EAGLE CREEK NEAR INDIANAPOLIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mo' money, mo' money...distributor of "Kill the Ivory-billed Woodpecker" t-shirts now sells "IBWO Found" merch...plus IBWO thongs!!!

So, here are a bunch of IBWO items you can buy: http://www.cafepress.com/dutchguard

Funny, though...cafe press is the same outfit that caused a furor when it sold "Kill the IBWO" merchadise a month or two ago. Playing both sides of the coin, pretty sweet deal for cafe press.

And hey, ladies, you can even buy "intimate apparel"--get your IBWO thong while they're still in stock! And no, I am *not* making this up!

Are Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings being suppressed for profit?

Question based on the preceding post: If there has been a sighting of the IBWO on the Mallard Pointe property, has this sighting been reported to the proper authorities? If so, why has it not been publicized? Has the sighting been kept secret to allow Mallard Pointe to milk more money from us po' old birders?

And can someone clarify another point for us: Will these Mallard Pointe tours have access to any areas that are off-limits to the general public?

Oh yeah, one more question: I think it's great that Mallard Pointe and Little Rock tours are apparently giving some of the tour money to TNC; the question is, are they getting anything in return?

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Tours: The Fleecing Becomes More Organized!

We here at BINAC were the first blog to highlight the "deluxe" $2300 tours from Mallard Pointe Lodge. Tom Nelson just pointed out on his web site www.tomnelson.blogspot.com a very interesting post from the "always-entertaining" Missouri birding list:

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I received a solicitation in my mailbox today from a well-known birding tour company. It offers a 4-day, $1550 "Ivory-billed Woodpecker Tour." Persons who take the tour will stay in "an extremely nice hunting lodge (which normally charges $500 per night)" near Brinkley, Arkansas.

They will be fed "high quality, basic food." (Does that mean the bread will be fresh?).

The lodge's land holding is said to be "the only private land adjoining the Restricted Zone. In fact, the lodge's lands are bordered by the Bayou de View, very near the point from which the bird was first seen."

The solicitation goes on to say, "THE BIRD has been seen once on this property since the announcement." (The solicitation does not make it clear that "THE BIRD" is an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, but why should anyone think otherwise?)

Notwithstanding the high end lodge accommodations, the solicitation goes on to say, "Participants will be taken each day before dawn using 4 wheel-drive vehicle to one of our new blinds or to one of the boats built especially for this tour and will be returned around dark. "Each participant gets two trips in the boats and two in the blinds.

A day in a boat will not be too different from a day in a blind. The boats will go northeast as far as allowed on the Bayou de View and then "hold position for the day." The blinds are said to be "rain resistant." The boats are "completely camouflaged and weather protected." "Rough sanitation facilities" will be provided with the blinds. "Crude sanitation set-ups" are available on each boat. The 19-foot long, 5-foot wide boats are "mounted with swivel chairs having back rests."

The solicitation contains reassurance that those who tick IBWO right away will not waste the rest of the tour. It says, "Should you see Ivory-billed Woodpecker early in the tour there will be opportunities to bird the 2500 acres of private land or take a guided tour down steam on the Bayou de View."

The solicitation, which altogether is 7 pages long, contains a page each from US Fish & Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Also included is an "Enrollment Form." One page consists entirely of "Special Rules and Regulations."

These require participants to:1. Swear to keep the location secret.2. Not take GPS equipment outside the lodge.3. Drink and smoke only in designated areas of the lodge.4. Use cameras only after all members have seen the bird and then "only without extending lenses beyond the shelter or using flash."5. "Each group will have a captain to enforce stealthy movement within the blinds, soft voices and restriction to the interior of the shelter."

Persons who disobey the rules after warning can lose their payments and not be allowed to return to the field.From the special rules and regulations page, I also learned the following:1. The group will be divided into teams of up to 12 persons with each team having a specific site for the day. The accommodations inside each blind are described as "tight quarters."2. The well-known tour company, which sent the solicitation is not the entity actually conducting the tour. That entity is named "Little Rock Tours, Inc." (I have not heard that name before).3. Some of the rooms for which the lodge "normally charges $500 per night" are evidently "'dorm' type accommodations." Every attempt will be made to put married couples in a room together, but this cannot be guaranteed.

In contrast to the $1550 package, designated an "Ivory-billed focus trip," the solicitation also offers an "Ivory-billed and other birds" package at the reduced rate of $1295. I'm not sure what the difference is.I do not quite know how to evaluate the following additional paragraph of the solicitation:"

We definitely hope that you will try to raise some money for The Nature Conservancy beyond that which is included in the trip price. Conversion of the successful hunting lodge into a birding lodge is very much desired. Further, there are needs for additional hunting lands to relieve pressure from the local population to replace areas of the Refuge which are now restricted.

Further, we urge you to purchase a Federal Duck Stamp and to bring it with you as an aid in the political struggles."(How does one handle political struggles while huddling from dawn to dark with 12 people in the tight quarters of a blind? Will there be bubbas with shotguns wandering the 2500 acres who need reassurance that the blind contains NRA-certified good 'ole boys and good 'ole gals who have bought duck stamps?)

I must say this solicitation is very tempting, but I probably won't do it for the following three reasons:1. I really don't want to bird 2500 acres of Arkansas swampland for three days after I tick IBWO on the first day.2. In view of the difficulties a Cornell team of 60, spending 14 months in the field, has had getting a satisfactory photo of IBWO, I really don't want to hold off getting a good picture of the bird until all 12 people in my blind say they've seen it. I mean, what do you do if someone keeps saying he/she has not had a good enough look yet?3. I guess I'm a selfish SOB, but when I pay 1550 bucks to see an IBWO, I want to drink my champagne right away! Making me wait until we get back to the dorm is too much delayed gratification for me!

Bob Fisher
Independence, Missouri

***

BINAC here again...actually, I think Bob's post may have been to BirdChat and not the Missouri list, I got that part wrong...but still pretty entertaining. There is an entertaining thread on the Missouri list right now entitled "Chasers are scum."

Tragic accident in New Mexico involving Rosy-finch researchers

Unfortunately, two young birders who were heavily involved in studying the Rosy-finches at Sandia Crest in N.M. were in an auto accident, and one of the young birders, Ryan Beaulieu, was killed. I visited Sandia Crest House this year and was incredibly impressed with the setup they had there, and these two young men were a big part of that. More info can be found at:

http://www.rosyfinch.com/RyanBeaulieu.html

Northerly Island to BINAC: Birders Go Home!

A BINAC crew was keen to discover if the strong warbler migration on the lakefront over the last few days was also occurring at Northerly Island. So, we showed up at about 7:30 this morning to check it out, but we were turned away by the Chicago Police Department, who told us that the whole area east of the Shedd was closed!!!!!

Of course, the large semi-trailer carrying concert equipment to the sold-out Jack Johnson concert (who the hell is that????) was let through.

The score is now Clear Channel Northerly Island Pavilion 2, Birders 0!

Hurricane Katrina set to blow pelagic species into interior U.S.

Hurricane Katrina has grown into a potentially devastating Category 5 storm, and will likely be one of the strongest storms to ever hit the Gulf Coast.

Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with the folks in the path of this storm, and everyone in the path of Katrina should take the precautions recommended by their local authorities.

When the storm passes, however, it will inevitably dump hundreds and possibly even thousands of pelagc birds into the interior of the continent. Based on the current projected path of Katrina, there will possibilities for incredible seabirding in a number of landlocked states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and possibly Southeastern Indiana. The projected track is probably a bit too far east of Illinois to deposit much into Southern Illinois, but places like Carlyle Lake still offer some potential late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. Every large body of water in the path of Katrina should be birded as soon after the storm passes as is safely possible. Always make your personal safety your top priority.

Many of these seabirds will never make it back to the ocean, and any specimens should be collected and brought to the nearest museum with a bird collection.

Please report any and all rarities to your local RBA or Interet mailing list AS SOON AS POSSIBLE; even if you're not sure exactly what you have seen, post the possiblities so others know what spots are "hot" and what species they should be looking for.

As always, we would be interested in getting any reports from the field from birders searching for "storm birds" this week.

UPDATE 1: There has already been a report of a bunch (flock?) of about 150 Mag. Frigatebirds flying over I-10 near New Orleans.

ALL Ivory-bills, ALL the time.

Here is a nice IBWO blog that I have somehow missed until now: http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/

What is most interesting to me about that blog is that the author is a strong believer in the Arkansas birds but discounts the recent audio evidence presented by Cornell.

AOU IBWO update.

Laura Erickson has a nice update on the IBWO evidence presented at the AOU meeting on her site: http://www.birderblog.com/

Also, I am getting spammed in the comments to some posts so I have had to shut a few of them down...I guess this is a consequence of all the traffic we've had in the last few days...hopefully the spammer computers will sniff elsewhere and everything will go back to normal.

Cornell audio evidence.

Here is a link to some of the Cornell IBWO audio evidence and analysis:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/listening/

Some other good stuff is at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/aou2005

I think this shows what Cornell could/should have done at the time of the initial announcement. I get the impression that everything in April was pretty rushed, but they have had the whole summer to play "catch-up" a bit.

Fall warbler migration has -- finally ! -- begun.

Well, I finally saw my first two migrant warblers of the fall at lunchtime. It has been frustrating seeing people report warblers from all over the Chicago area -- and points further south -- for days without seeing any myself. I have not gone out to any real habitat lately but I have been checking some of the downtown traps daily but things have been real quiet.

Hopefully I will be able to hit a few of the lakefront traps and maybe even the Palos area this weekend.

Contact info for Birding is NOT A Crime!!!

Hey, I just forgot that I took any contact info off of the blog. The mind really goes when you hit your 30's.

You can contact us at:

birdingisnotacrime@yahoo.com

AOU meeting schedule/Ivory-billed Woodpecker presentations.

Here are a couple of IBWO-related presentations scheduled for the AOU meeting in Santa Barbara. Hey, I *know* people at the AOU meeting in Santa Barbara are checking out this blog, come on, send me your comments after you see (hear?) the Cornell presentations--signed or anonymous, I'll post any comments unedited as I receive them.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24, 2005

10:15 Video evidence and sightings of Ivory-billed Woodpecker in eastern Arkansas in 2004 -2005.

KENNETH V. ROSENBERG, JOHN W. FITZPATRICK, MARTJAN LAMMERTINK
and RONALD W. ROHRBAUGH, Lab. Ornithol., Cornell Univ., Ithaca NY.

10:30 Status of recent acoustic search for Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the U.S.

R. A. CHARIF, K. A. CORTOPASSI, K. M. FRISTRUP, H. K. FIGUEROA, K. V. ROSENBERG and J. W . FITZPATRICK, Lab. Ornithol., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY.

10:45 When standard techniques fall short – novel and adapted survey methods for finding the
Ivory-billed Woodpecker and other ultra rare species.

R. W . ROHRBAUGH, M. LAMMERTINK, E. C. H. SWARTHOUT, P. H. WREGE, K. V. ROSENBERG, S. BARKER SWARTHOUT and J. W . FITZPATRICK, Lab. Ornithol., Cornell, Univ., Ithaca, NY.

11:00 What do we know about the effects of current management practices in the Mississippi
Alluvial Valley on Ivory-billed Woodpeckers?

ROBERT J. COOPER, Warnell School For. Res., Univ. Georgia, Athens, GA.

Thursday, 25 August

Plenary 2

20:00 Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and its conservation
implications.

JOHN W. FITZPATRICK, Lab. Ornithol., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY.

AOU meeting updates wanted.

I am not going to the AOU meeting because...well, because I am not a member of the AOU, am not an ornithologist, and in fact, some would say that I barely qualify as a birder.

Anyway, I haven't asked anyone to send me updates (on the IBWO or any other interesting presentations) from the meeting, but if anyone out there is at the meeting and wants to send in updates or comments, fire away and I'll post them. We can make it an anonymous report if you'd like.

Harvard astrophysicist performs calculations: IBWO in Arkansas will never be found!

So, there is plenty of new info on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the newest issue of North American Birds, including additional details on some of the sightings. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in this subject. Anyway, I will be commenting on a few other interesting things in that issue later.

In the meantime, I thought this was fun: The folks at apparently Cornell invited Tim Spahr, a Harvard astrophysicist who specializes in asteroid movements and the calcucation of rare events, to help with the search in Arkansas. Tim created an algorithm based on Tanner's observations and on the habitat at Bayou de View in Arkansas. His conclusion:

"By [Spahr's] calculcations, a single Ivory-billed Woodpecker occupying that area
could manage to avoid detection by 20 observers indefinitely!"

That's pretty cool, we've got a Harvard astrophysicist calculating the probability of rare bird sightings! Hey Tim, if you're reading this, what are the chances that I will see White-eared Hummingbird in Illinois before I die?

Tours to Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- $325 per person (let the fleecing begin)!!!!!!!!

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. An outfit just started a new web site for tours to see the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. Check out the prices: www.ivorybilledexpeditions.com the cheapest option is $325.00 per person!!!!!!

Oh yeah, you can also buy *deluxe* packages for $1300 or $2300. For that price, Gene Sparling will be your guide!

Now we know why access into the best areas has been restricted...not to save habitat, but so that the local Razorbacks can make some money!

There is quite a bit on the IBWO in the latest edition of North American Birds, and I think that some of the information in that issue will create a firestorm of controversy...at least, it will here at BINAC.

Cedar Waxwing R.I.P.

Today I found my first window-kills of the fall migration, two Cedar Waxwings. One was fresh, the other was pancaked and had been there for a while, both in the same alley. There was a nice big pane of glass that these birds probably ran into, but it was odd that they found their way into that particular alley in the first place.

For more info on the subject of window-kills in Chicago, check out the link at the right for the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

It's Almost Labor Day -- Time to Start Planning for this Year's Christmas Bird Counts!!!

Well, the tick-filled summer breeding season is almost over, and shorebird migration is starting to slow down a bit as well. (At least there *was* a shorebird migration in Chicago this year, and it was a pretty good one.)

As temperatures hover in the mid-80's, a young man's fancy turns to the more important things in life...like the fast-approaching Christmas Bird Counts! It is never too early to begin scouting or doing a dry-run of your routes, and we at BINAC have been scouting since, well, I guess about February.

OK, this might sound a bit extreme, but as the weather gets colder and the holiday season approaches (and daylight decreases), most people find it hard to spend a lot of time walknig their CBC routes. So we get the grunt work done early, that way we know exactly what the habitat is like this year, work out any new routes or areas, and see what is accessible this year that was not last year. This means that we can concentrate on seeding and actual birding in the last few weekends before the count. This is really critical in most northern Illinois CBCs, because there is almost always a hard freeze right around the first or second weekend in December.

It is crucial to know where your "deep water" is before December; you have to know which ponds have ducks on them, and where the ducks will go if their ponds freeze up.

For example, in the COS/Lisle/Morton Arboretum CBC, Area 6 (aka the "best" area) has a lto of little ponds that will hold puddle ducks if there has not been a freeze. If there has been a light freeze, most puddle ducks will leave, but there will still be at least some waterfowl on the deeper ponds and quarry lakes. If there is a really hard freeze, we have one or two really deep quarries that will usually not freeze until January, and we also have some spots on the Des Plaines River that don't typically freeze (if at all) until after the count.

Field Trip to Northerly Island on October 1.

There will be a DuPage Birding Club field trip to Northerly Island at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 1, 2005.

Those in attendance will be lucky enough to hear the wisdom of BINAC in its full glory, as the head honcho himself will be leading this trip, and a bunch of other BINAC underlings and hangers-on will also be in attendance. This is partially to ensure that if the head honcho gets pushed in front of a bus (or oversleeps), the show will still go on. This trip will be quite entertaining, and we might even see a few birds. More details (including expected species lists) as the date approaches.

NOTE: There will be no poetry on this field trip. That's a totally different Northerly Island trip. All BINAC trips are 100% certified to be poetry-free.

Little Gulls in Indiana

Little Gulls continue this week at Miller Beach in Indiana. Two hearty BINAC correspondents made the trip to Miller Beach last Saturday, August 13, and were rewarded with the sighting of one Little Gull. It was windy and raining very hard and even our rain gear didn't keep us dry, but at least we got one of our target birds. Missed on the Arctic Tern, though, even though it was seen both before and after our visit.

My record keeping is not very good, but I'm pretty sure that the Little Gull was a lifer for yours truly, and there ain't too many lifers that I can get these days and be able to wake up in my own bed and return to it at night.

OK, this report is, like, eight days late, but hey, it's been real busy around here. Things are getting better, though...much better.

White-eared Hummingbird in Michigan!

A bird in Michigan thought originally to have been a Broad-billed Hummingbird has now been identified as a White-eared Hummingbird. This is a pretty spectacular record for Michigan, but makes me wonder why we don't often get these type of hummingbird rarities in Illinois. I would be willing to bet that, solely because of population density, there are more hummingbird feeders in Illinois than in any surrounding state, so why aren't more rarities being reported?

Cornell wants you to help search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Cornell has posted several IBWO job openings on its web site. Pretty interesting, they apparently need a "volunteer coordinator" to wrangle volunteer searchers:

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Bioacoustics Team Leader – 04330

Job Description

Description

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a motivated Bioacoustics Team Leader to aid in the search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Cache River and White River, National Wildlife Refuge (NWRs), Arkansas from October 17th, 2005 through April 30th, 2006. The position will be tasked with leadership responsibility for one technician, deploying, retrieving, and harvesting data from acoustic autonomous recording units (ARUs). Applicants must have demonstrated experience with maintaining and basic troubleshooting of electronic equipment (preferably under field conditions). Assist with the coordination of logistics, assign tasks, and follow-through to assure tasks are completed on a daily basis. The incumbent will receive supervision from the Field Supervisor. Ensure that all field protocols and procedures adhere to safety requirements. Position will require living in eastern Arkansas with housing and some meals provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This position is a rare opportunity for a top-quality person to apply their technical and birding skills toward the conservation of North America’s most critically endangered bird. Incumbent is responsible for providing their own travel to and from Arkansas.

This is a temporary appointment for approximately 6.5 months.

Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Resources or Electrical Engineering; 1-2 years of experience or equivalent combination.

Must have demonstrated leadership experience. Experience in troubleshooting electronic circuitry. Experience in acoustical analysis. Strong auditory and visual bird identification skills; excellent navigation skills; boat/canoe experience. Excellent organizational skills, record-keeping skills, and meticulous attention to detail is a must. Must have a valid driver’s license.

Moderate physical work is required, as well as the ability to lift 50+ pounds. Must be willing to work under varying climatic conditions (heat, cold, dust, etc.) and capable of enduring difficult field conditions. Work hours will vary and may be lengthy during this field season.

Knowledge of bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems and/or woodpecker ecology helpful. Experience using GPS technology, GIS databases, and general field and laboratory data management desired.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, August 30, 2005.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

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Lead Volunteer Coordinator – 04334

Job Description

Description

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a motivated Lead Volunteer Coordinator to train and direct volunteer birders in the search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Cache River and White River, National Wildlife Refuge (NWRs), Arkansas from October 17th, 2005 through April 30th, 2006. Provide leadership for a small team of volunteer searchers in 2-week cohorts, who will be tasked with using a variety of protocols to conduct systematic and adaptive surveys for Ivory-bills. Assist with the coordination of logistics, assign tasks, and follow-through to assure tasks are completed on a daily basis. The incumbent will receive supervision from the Field Supervisor and make routine decisions within the parameters outlined by the Field Supervisor. Ensure that all field protocols and procedures adhere to safety requirements. Position will require living in eastern Arkansas with housing and some meals provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This rare opportunity is for a top-quality person to apply their field and birding skills toward the conservation of North America’s most critically endangered bird. Incumbent is responsible for providing their own travel to and from Arkansas.

This is a temporary appointment for approximately 6.5 months.

Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in biology/natural resources or related field; 1-2 years of experience or equivalent combination.

Must have demonstrated leadership experience; excellent auditory and visual bird identification skills; previous professional experience conducting bird surveys; excellent navigation skills; boat/canoe experience. Must have an outgoing and engaging personality to effectively deal with dozens of birders volunteering for our effort. Must have a valid driver’s license.

Moderate physical work is required, as well as the ability to lift 50+ pounds. Must be willing to work under varying climatic conditions (heat, cold, dust, etc.) and capable of enduring difficult field conditions. Work hours will vary and may be lengthy during this field season.

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Field Team Leader – 04337

Job Description

Description
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a motivated Field Team Leader to aid in the search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the Cache River and White River NWRs, Arkansas from October 17th, 2005 through April 30th, 2006. Provide leadership for a small team of searchers who will be tasked with using a variety of protocols to conduct systematic and adaptive surveys for Ivory-bills. Assist with the coordination of logistics, assign tasks, and follow-through to assure tasks are completed on a daily basis. The incumbent will receive supervision from the Field Supervisor and is responsible for making routine decisions with in the parameters outlined by the Field Supervisor. Ensure that all field protocols and procedures adhere to safety requirements. Position will require living in eastern Arkansas with housing and some meals provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This position is a rare opportunity for a top-quality person to apply their field and birding skills toward the conservation of North America’s most critically endangered bird. Incumbent is responsible for providing their own travel to and from Arkansas.

This is a temporary appointment for approximately 6.5 months.

Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in biology/natural resources or related field; 1-2 years of experience or equivalent combination. Must have demonstrated leadership experience; excellent auditory and visual bird identification skills; previous professional experience conducting bird surveys; excellent navigation skills; boat/canoe experience. Must have a valid driver’s license.

Moderate physical work is required, as well as the ability to lift 50+ pounds. Must be willing to work under varying climatic conditions (heat, cold, dust, etc.) and capable of enduring difficult field conditions. Work hours will vary during this field season.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, August 30, 2005.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

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Field Researcher – 04340

Job Description

Description

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking 12 motivated Field Researchers to search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Cache River and White River, National Wildlife Refuge (NWRs), Arkansas from October 31st, 2005 through April 30th, 2006. Incumbents will be required to work independently, under general supervision, using a variety of systematic and adaptive sampling protocols to search for ivory-bills in the bottomland hardwood forests of east-central Arkansas. Required to follow and adhere to all safety and field protocols and procedures. Position will require living in eastern Arkansas with housing and some meals provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This rare opportunity is for a top-quality person to apply their field and birding skills toward the conservation of North America’s most critically endangered bird. Incumbent is responsible for providing their own travel to and from Arkansas.

This appointment is for approximately 6 months.

Qualifications
High School Diploma and training in field research techniques required. Bachelor’s degree in biology/natural resources or related field and 1 year of experience, or equivalent, preferred. Minimum of two years experience in field research required. Must have excellent auditory and visual bird identification skills; excellent navigation skills; boat/canoe experience.

Moderate physical work is required, as well as the ability to lift 50+ pounds. Must be willing to work under varying climatic conditions (heat, cold, dust, etc.) and capable of enduring difficult field conditions. Work hours will vary and may be lengthy during this field season.

Knowledge of bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems and/or woodpecker ecology helpful. Experience using GPS, GIS databases, and basic data entry is a plus. A valid driver’s license is preferred.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, August 30, 2005.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

CRESCENT-CHESTED WARBLER in SE Arizona

A CRESCENT-CHESTED WARBLER has been reported at Miller Canyon near Sierra Vista in SE Arizona. I think there are less than ten North American records for this species, but I'd have to check to be sure.

UPDATE: The Crescent-chested Warbler was still being seen as of August 15. No reports yet for Aug. 16...I'm sure people looked for the bird...I don't understand why people don't post when they see (or miss?) a great rarity such as this!!!

Also, what's up with the Aztec Thrush in Arizona? Is it still being seen?

Arctic Tern in Gary, Indiana!

Apparently, Ken Brock has found an adult-plumaged Arctic Tern at the Lake Street Beach in Gary, Indiana, not too far from Chicago.

This reminds me of the Arctic Tern that was at Great Lakes in Illinois a few years back. I tried several times and never saw it, just bad luck on my part, I guess; one time I was there for a few hours and a number of birders came by and ticked a tern as an Arctic Tern that was clearly nothing more than your average Common Tern. Sometimes people see what they want to see.

UPDATE: The Arctic Tern was apparently still present at 2:30. A Little Gull was also seen at Miller Beach today.

UPDATE: Today (Saturday) the Arctic Tern and a Little Gull have both been relocated.

Recent sightings of IBWO in Arkansas?

Mike Miller pointed out to me that I missed a pretty interesting post on the Arkansas list from an out-of-town birder who may have recently seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker:

***

In response to Bill Shepherd's message about the Ivory-billed Woodpeckerthat I am fairly confident that I saw at Pine Bluff on 7/28/05, here aremy details (Cornell's form plus additional), sent to Cornell Laboratoryof Ornithology and to Max Parker. I should add, I had no doubt at allthat I was viewing a large woodpecker, resembling a Pileated Woodpecker.

1. Name/Address/State/ZipWilliam D. Ellis, PhD 6012 Snowdens Run Road, EldersburgMaryland 21784-6737443-520-8809 (secondary)billellis AT ellislist.com (primary)

2. Date07/28/05

3. Time1745 hours

4. State Arkansas

5. CountyJefferson

6. CoordinatesEstimated from DeLorme Arkansas book map, page 50, index G3: 34 deg 14 min 10 sec N91 deg 59 min 30 sec W

7. General LocationSE of Black Dog Lake, Delta Rivers Nature Center, Pine Bluff RegionalPark, 1400 Black Dog Road, Pine Bluff

8. Specific LocationFlying East overhead about 75 to 100 feet high, above trees that wereabout 50 ft in front of me. I was on the boardwalk on the SouthEastside of Black Dog Lake (which I believe is a wide area of a bayou).(Note: This report was prepared from written notes that were preparedabout 3 hrs after the sighting.)

9. Weather & Lighting Mid-80s (F), calm, clear sky, sun behind me and to my right, about 2.5hours before sunset.

10. My EncounterWhile I was birding, I saw a large bird flying ESE above the trees,which were about 25-50 ft tall. I was facing S. My initial bare-eyedimpression was of a cormorant, based on shape and level flight. Afterviewing the bird through binoculars, I thought that the bird was aPileated Woodpecker (PIWO). After consulting a Sibley - East guide, Irealized that it could not be a PIWO (see item #18). My initialbare-eyed view was forward of lateral, and all views were ventral. Mybinocular view was just rear of lateral, then from the rear as the birdflew further away.I have extensive experience viewing PIWOs, but aerial views have mostlybeen without binoculars, of birds gaining elevation or coming down. Idid not remember where the white on a PIWO underwing is; all I have seenis a flash of white and red from a mostly black bird. After consultingthe Sibley PIWO supplementary page to his large guide, I realized thatthe bird had to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (IBWO), because of theunderwing pattern (see item #18).

11. HabitatMoist bottomland woods along a bayou - cottonwoods, sycamores, willows,and hickories were dominant; also baldcypress, sugarberry and dogwood.Vernal pools (dried up) were present. (Note: I am not sure that thishabitat is relevant, since the bird appeared to be overflying the site.Its trajectory was toward an extensive area of forest on an "island"surrounded by Lake Langhoffer, and lacking roads or human disturbance.Some of the north end of this area (about 1 mile E), that I did access,appeared to be bottomland forest with ponds and dried vernal pools - agood potential home base for an IBWO.)

12. How long observed?View of bird was about 15 to 20 seconds total - 5 sec w/o binoculars, 5sec with binocs and near-lateral view, and 5-10 sec with binocs and rearview.

13. Distance to birdAbout 90 to 110 ft (simple trig from data given).

14. Using Binocs?Yes

15. Brand/Model/PowerNikon LXI 10x42

16. Supporting evidence?No

17. If so ...n/a

18. PlumageRear half of underwing was white (my most significant field markobserved); balance of bird appeared dark. No white was seen on fronthalf of wing.

19. Body sizeAbout the size of a PIWO; no objects were nearby to base a size estimateon).

20. Body shapeBill, head, and body forward of wings was about the same length as thebody and tail rearward of the wings - that is, the the bird looked aboutsymmetrical about the wings. I do not remember seeing a crest. Tailwas pointed, not fanned.

21. Bill LengthLong, stocky, pointed bill that merged smoothly with head.

22. Bill colorNo bill color was noticed; no impression of a white bill was perceived.(Note: background was blue sky.)

23. Length of neckBill, head, and body were continuous; no separate proportions werenoticed.

24. Length of tailTail was not distinguished from body; no length was discerned.

25. Flight patternFlight was straight, direct, without any undulations such as seen withPIWO and other woodpeckers. Bird did not change altitude or direction.Wing flapping was slow and steady; a rough estimate of flapping speedwould be similar to a Turkey Vulture, and slower than a Black Vulture.(NB - no white existed on primaries forward of midline of the wing, aswould be seen on a TUVU)

26.Behaviorn/aFinal Note - I having been a serious birder for the past 4 years, andalso during 1978 to 1990. Of course, I have never seen an IBWO! I alsodid not expect to find one in Pine Bluff, although I have searchedDagmar State Park (within the Cache River NWR) for one.

Supplement #1I returned to the general area tonight where my sighting of 28 Jul 2005 occurred. In the woodlot, there were at least 4 to 5 trees that appeared to havebeen stripped of their bark. All were topped - the trunks appeared tohave been broken off, although they were all about 6 inches or more in diameter (lightning? tornado?). I understand that Tanner reported IBWOs to be disaster area opportunists (per William Shepherd, Little Rock). The most convincing tree was about 20 ft high, 10-12 inches in diameter,with a section of bark missing from the top down about 3-4 ft; the stripped area was about 4-6 inches wide at the bottom, and squared off in shape, and about 10-12 inches wide at the top. There was at least one large hole in the middle of this bare area, about 2-3 inches in diameter. (There were Red-headed (adult & immature) and DownyWoodpeckers present in the woodlot during my visit.) Another tree, still alive with (willow?) leaves on the branches, wasabout 6-8 inch dia., but completely denuded of bark the top 1 to 1.5 ft.(Also "topped".) Another tree with bark missing, about 8-10 inch dia., appeared to be missing bark along crack lines also apparent in the barkstill present. That is, the bark may have fallen off as the dead treeaged. Unusual, however, was the large hole in the middle of this de-barked area. A shallow conical hole about 5-6 in dia. with a centerhole about 2 inch dia. that went through the tree, letting lightthrough.

Supplement #2 will follow (more stripped trees)

Bill Ellis
Back in Eldersburg, MD (Baltimore area)

Possible Blue-footed Booby in Texas?

A FOBINAC ("Friend Of Birding Is Not A Crime") discovered an interesting sulid, possibly a Blue-footed Booby, along the Texas coast this morning. Here at BINAC, we pride ourselves on having more interest in boobies than any other birding blog in the entire world. Our obsession with boobies may be immature, childish, and even insulting, but it is genuine. I haven't seen the photos of this particular booby yet, but it goes without saying that Blue-footed Booby is a pretty good bird for Texas.

UPDATE: I still haven't looked at the photos, but the consensus now appears to be that the bird is a Northern Gannet.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Why all the secrecy?

So, at some point I will try to crystalize my thoughts on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker saga. The "controversy" is not yet over, as some have claimed, and there are still plenty of skeptics (try www.tomnelson.blogspot.com) who are not yet concinved.

And while I have tons of respect for everyone at Cornell (especially John Fitzpatrick, a former denizen of the Windy City), I have to say that they have not handled the post-announcement publicity very well. Cornell's failure to timely disseminate information has only fueled the rumors that have been spreading through the birding community for months.

I do still believe that there is at least one IBWO currently living in the swamps in Arkansas. But I am less certain of that than I was in the days immediately following the announcement. And that, in itself, is a testament to Cornell's failure to offer current and relevant information about the ongoing search, the audio evidence, additional bark scaling, etc. And, by the way, I'm still trying to understand why the audio evidence was not made public at the time of the announcement. How can Cornell justify supportingt the conclusions reached in the Science article by using evidence (the audio recordings, for example) that was not presented in that paper?

BREAKING NEWS: Nothing interesting happened today in the world of birds.

Nobody published a paper on the IBWO today, no great rarity was found anywhere that we care about, and nobody did anything stupid enough to tick me off. Bird-wise, at least.

Actually, that's probably not true, I'm sure there were plenty of cool things happening over the past few days, I've just been too busy (birding, front row at the Cubs game, big project at work, etc.) to notice.

But hopefully things will get back on track in the next day or two.

We'll have a report from the BINAC branch office in Florida, maybe some long-delayed shorebirding reports from the Chicago area, another report on the wonderful new concert arena at Northerly Island, and we will insult...ah, why give it away, but some feathers will fly.

Did I mention that I was too busy being in the front row at Wrigley Field? Behind home plate, did I mention that?

City Hall Scandals Strike the Chicago Park District: Federal Indictment Alleges Bribes Paid to Chicago's Former Director of Natural Resources

At a press confernce this afternoon, the federal government announced the indictment of Shirley McMayon, former Director of Natural Resources for the Park District. McMayon is charged with pocketing more than $137,000 in financial benefits in the 4½-year kickback scheme.

According to the FBI, the individuals who allegedly bribed McMayon are cooperating, and the FBI is "aggressively" pursuing leads that have arisen out of this case.

I know many Chicago-area birders might not want to acknowledge the rampant corruption at City Hall, but that corruption is creeping closer and closer to things that we hold dear. As a taxpayer, I'm offended, and as a birder, I'm nervous. Today's indictment essentially alleges that maintenance contracts were awarded not on merit, but were instead awarded to companies that were willing to bribe Park District employees. Even worse, some of the "bribes" were actually paid for by the City itself, because the contractors billed the City for products or services that were never delivered, then kicked back the money for those phony contracts to a Park Distrct employee. Something to think about the next time you go birding in one of the lakefront parks and see maintenance that has been neglected, eh?

I have not been able to determine whether any of the contracts involved were for birding spots like Montrose or Jackson Park; if I hear anything else, I will post it. But this indictment does offer a warning to any birding group that aligns itself too closely to City Hall: the person you talk to today at the Park District may be in jail tomorrow.

More from David Luneau clarifying the sound recordings and the "existence" of two Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.

David Luneau recently posted a further clarification on his web site, www.ibwo.org . I think it is a fair and reasonable statement, and I think that a lot of people who really want to believe in the IBWO sightings have gotten ahead of the evidence a bit. Remember, just because it's in the New York Times doesn't mean it's true. I hope that they get a decent photo of the bird soon, but until they do, doubts will linger. Also, we still haven't really heard from Jerome Jackson on this issue, hopefully he will comment soon.

Here is David's statement:

***
Clarification of the latest confusion

The press has recently covered events related to a paper written, but not published, by Richard Prum, Mark Robbins, Brett Benz, and Jerry Jackson. In response to the many emails and comments I have received, I will attempt to clarify the confusion with the facts.

Fitzpatrick et al wrote a paper that was published in the journal Science on June 3, 2005 (I was one of the authors of this paper). Prum et al wrote a rebuttal to that paper and submitted it to the online journal PLoS in England. We were shown their manuscript and given the opportunity to write a rebuttal to their rebuttal - it's the way science works.

On Friday, July 29, 2005, we submitted our rebuttal to PLoS. On seeing our rebuttal, Prum et al requested samples of acoustic recordings (recorded by Cornell's autonomous recording units) that we referred to in our paper. Upon hearing these recordings, they pulled their paper from publication and announced that they were now convinced that there was not just one IBWO in Arkansas, but at least two.

Interestingly, our team of authors does not agree on the origin of these sounds, which is why we didn't put them in our paper in the first place. We maintain that the acoustic information, while quite interesting, does not reach the level we require for "proof".

We have not found more than one IBWO (yet)!

The misinformation that more than one IBWO has been confirmed is based on statements by Rick Prum and Mark Robbins to that effect, based on their listening to three sound recordings one day. We have listened to thousands of sounds over many months and are not ready to make that conclusion. We would like to, but careful science prevents us from doing so.

Also note that Nature.com states, "Prum says he still thinks that the video is of a pileated woodpecker." Maybe someday they will publish their manuscript and our response so you can decide for yourself.

I hope you better understand the timeline and facts.

***

Tom Nelson, a Minnesota birder, has a different take on the whole situation, check out his blog at: http://www.tomnelson.blogspot.com/ I do believe that there is at least one IBWO in Arkansas, but Tom raises some good points. Remember, as someone (can't remember who) said, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.

If you think *your* state birding list is entertaining, check out the Missouri list.

In my opinion, most of the better state birding listserves (Texas, Indiana, Illinois, California, etc.) have a moderator or administrator who keeps a pretty close eye on things. The Missouri list, however, is a bit more free-wheeling, and almost always provides some interesting gossip, rumors, flames, whatever. There is some real news on that list right now (photographs of the Royal Tern that had been reported earlier this summer have been reviewed, and most of the original observers no longer believe that the bird in question was a Royal Tern), but the IBWO discussion is pretty entertaining, too. This is the kind of trash talking we want on BINAC!!!!!!!Check it out:

http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/MOBD.html

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker debate continues: Are the sound recordings conclusive or not???

So, David Luneau just posted to the Arkansas list that the "astounding" and "conclusive" sound recordings referred to in recent news articles may not be recordings of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers! This is starting to get interesting again:

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The sound recordings that have been referred to in recent news reports are still being analyzed. It is premature to assume that they are recordings of IBWOs as reported in the press, as that conclusion has not been reached by everyone involved. There will be a presentation on the results (to date) of the acoustic data given by Russ Charif of Cornell at the AOU meeting in late August. As of now, none of the recordings are available to the public.
***

The Selasphorus are on their way!

As "fall" shorebird migration begins to heat up, so does the annual dispersal of wandering/wintering Selasphorus hummingbirds. For most of the year, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only hummingbird that is found in most of the eastern United States.

However, birders and ornithologists have slowly but surely established (especially through banding) in the last few years that many hummingbirds (Selasphorus and others, especially Rufous, Allen's, Broad-Tailed and Black-chinned) tend to wander in late summer/early fall.

Some of these birds just wander around, but some of them try to winter in places you would not expect. Banding returns have shown that not all of tehse wanderes freeze to death, because in some locations the same bird returns for two or three years in a row.

I don't know why Illinois seems to have fewer records of Selasphorus and other wandering hummingbirds than do the surrounding states. I haven't added up all of the recent records, but it seems like Illinois gets fewer birds every year. I find bird migration in general -- and vagrancy in particular -- to be a fascinating subject, so this is something we'll talk about more if any unusual hummingbirds show up in the Midwest this year.

Anyway, if you see a strange hummingbird in your yard, contact a local birder so he or she can check it out. And don't hesitate to keep your feeders up even if your local hummingbirds have already departed. You never know what might turn up...

One more Ivory-billed Woodpecker story.

OK, here is one more story on the IBWO, from the Washington Post and other papers, looks like it was an AP story. I'm posting it because it has a few different quotes than the NYT story, but the substance is the same.

***
Hearing is believing for woodpecker doubters
Skeptics accept claims about ivory-billed bird after listening to audio

Updated: 10:43 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2005
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Researchers who last month questioned the existence of the ivory-billed woodpecker, saying blurry videotape of a bird in flight wasn’t enough evidence, have changed their minds after hearing recordings from the wild.

The doubters had prepared an article for a scientific journal questioning whether the bird, once thought extinct, had really been found in an Arkansas swamp. They now plan to withdraw the article.

“We were very skeptical of the first published reports,” Richard Prum, an ornithologist at Yale University, said in a statement. “But the thrilling new sound recordings provide clear and convincing evidence that the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct.”

The audiotape evidence also seems to indicate more than one ivory-billed woodpecker in the area.

“The bird that we saw had to have a mommy and a daddy,” said Scott Simon, director of the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas. “We have solid evidence for one. We believe there are more.”

Ornithologists announced in April that an ivory-billed woodpecker — a bird believed to have been extinct since 1944 — was living in a swamp in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas. A kayaker had reported seeing the bird a year earlier.

Bird experts at Yale, Kansas and Florida Gulf Coast universities last month questioned the evidence, saying it was only strong enough only to suggest the presence of an ivory bill, not proof.

Then the recordings were provided to them by the Cornell ornithology lab.

“We sent them some sounds this summer from the Arkansas woods,” said lab director John W. Fitzpatrick, who initially helped confirm the claim. “We appreciate their ability to say they are now believers.”

Using audio equipment set out in various places near the Cache and White rivers in Arkansas last winter, the Cornell ornithologists made 17,000 hours of recordings. “Some sounds were explainable only by being an ivory-billed woodpecker,” Fitzpatrick said.

One portion of the tape includes the bird’s distinctive double raps on a tree — one echoing from the distance, the other very close.

“It’s communication typical of the ivory-billed. It’s one of the more exciting cuts from the tape,” and indicates there is likely more than one bird, Fitzpatrick said.

He said the audio had only recently been discovered on the tapes, which are being analyzed with computer assistance.

The Cornell researchers plan to release the audio publicly at the American Ornithologists Union meeting in Santa Barbara, Calif., Aug. 23-27.

The ornithologists went to the site where the audio was made but were unable to find the birds.
“We’re definitely on the trail,” Fitzpatrick said.

In the Cache River area, 320,000 acres of public land has been set aside in an effort to protect the rare bird’s habitat, and Simon says his group hopes to expand the area to 600,000 acres — a region about half the size of Delaware.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker DVD now available.

David Luneau, the long-time IBWO searcher who captured the now-(in)famous video of "Elvis," has just made a dvd of his Ivory-billed footage available. This dvd aparently includes the entire video clip, stills from the clip, some magnified versions of the clip, narration by David, and stills from the Ivory-billed/Pileated recreations performed by the Cornell search team. I'm not sure if any of this footage is "new" or not, but check out David's web site if you're interested: www.ibwo.org

More on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker controversy: Controversy no more? "Astounding" audio recordings of two IBWOs convince skeptics???

From the New York Times (America's Birding Newspaper?):

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Recordings Convince Skeptics That Ivory Bills Are Not Extinct

By JAMES GORMANand ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: August 1, 2005

The phoenix had nothing on the ivory-billed woodpecker.
It is hard to keep track of how many times this near-mythic bird, the largest American woodpecker and a poignant symbol of extinction and disappearing forests, has been lost and then found. Now it is found again.

Even the most skeptical ornithologists now agree. More important, even the skeptics now say that newly presented recordings shows that at least two of the birds are living in Arkansas.

Richard Prum, an ornithologist at Yale University, one of several scientists who had challenged evidence in the most recent rediscovery of the ivory bill, said in an interview that he was now "strongly convinced that there is at least a pair of ivory bills out there."

Mark Robbins, an ornithologist at the University of Kansas, and also a critic, listened to the same recordings with a graduate student and said, "We were absolutely stunned."

He said the recordings, provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, were "astounding."

Of a critical paper that he and Dr. Prum and another scientist had submitted to the Public Library of Science, he said, "It's all moot at this point; the bird's here."

That was what the Cornell lab said last April, when it announced that an ivory bill had been sighted in February 2004 in the Cache River Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas.

In May 2005, a group of scientists published a paper in the journal Science on the rediscovery, with a heavily analyzed but blurry video. After widespread euphoria, three skeptics - Dr. Prum, Dr. Robbins and Jeremy Jackson, a zoologist at Florida Gulf Coast University - prepared their criticism. Prominent experts like David Sibley and Kenn Kaufman, both authors of bird guides, agreed that the evidence in the Science paper was not conclusive.

But while the skeptics' paper was still in the works, the Cornell team provided several audio recordings to Dr. Prum and Dr. Robbins. Dr. Jackson, who was out of the country, had not had a chance to listen to the recordings, Dr. Prum said.

The evidence was so convincing - the characteristic nasal "kent" call and double raps on a tree - that Dr. Prum and Dr. Robbins withdrew their critical challenge.

"The thrilling new sound recordings provide clear and convincing evidence that the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct," Dr. Prum said in a statement.

The snippet of videotape that until now was the strongest individual piece of evidence showed only one bird. But the sound recordings, made over many months in the White River refuge, just south of Cache River, provided vital signs that a potential breeding population persisted, according to experts and officials involved with the search.

"We felt all along that the White River was probably the core of the bird's habitat and it was dispersing out," said Sam Hamilton, the Southeast region director of the federal Fish and Wildlife Service and the chairman of a panel that is overseeing drafting of the federal recovery plan for the bird.

The scientific consensus on the strength of the sound recordings from that region was "very, very exciting," he said. "It gives you chill bumps to think about that vast bottomland hardwood being certainly home to more than one bird."

Dr. Prum said the double raps appeared to be from a pair of ivory bills communicating with each other, one close and one far away. He continued, "I'm thinking about when I should head down to Arkansas."

John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a primary author of the Science paper that announced the bird's survival, said, "The birds are there, which we knew." But he said he was happy that a scientific battle in print had been avoided.

"We sent them the sounds. I wish we'd done that earlier," he said. But he noted that the process was "science in action at its messy best."

The manager of the 160,000-acre White River refuge, Larry E. Mallard, said the boggy woodlands there have been actively logged for generations in a way that takes care to protect areas friendly to wildlife. As a result, Mr. Mallard said, one rare species after another has returned, including bald eagles and swallow-tailed kites.

The ivory bill topped it all, he said, adding, "Now Elvis has come along and said: 'I'm the rock star. Look at me.' "

Scott Simon, head of the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas, said: "The work is not done. we still need to save another 200,000 acres at least, for the ducks the bears and the ivory-billed woodpeckers."

In a telephone interview today, Bobby Harrison of Huntsville, Ala., one of the first people to see the ivory bill in the Cache River, said he was never worried about the criticism. He added that he figured that the bird had come north to the Cache River only because there was no room in the White River refuge.

"It's already got ivory bills in it," he said.

***

Birding with the goats.

Yesterday yours truly went shorebirding in the Lake Calumet area, a sort-of industrial wasteland that still has some good marsh/wetland habitat if the water levels are right. The most shocking sight of the day (well, probably second most shocking) was the large herd of...well, goats, that were munching away on top of one of the closed landfills along Stony Island. There have been dozens of birders in that area this summer, and I can't believe no one has mentioned a herd of goats! (Note to our foreign readers: There ain't no goats in Chicago.)

Finally, someone mentioned these goats on IBET (the Illinois birding listserve) yesterday, and I actually stumbled onto an explanation in a story about the southeast side in this morning's Chicago Tribune:


***

Other wildlife spotted by the tourists included coyote, deer, geese and, most improbably, a herd of goats at the Paxton Landfill, a 170-foot mountain of debris that closed in the early 1990s.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had been trying to restore the area by maintaining vegetation, but the steepness of the slopes made it impossible to bring in equipment to cultivate.Enter Mary Stowe of Wilmington.

Since May, Stowe has been hired to see if goats could do the job of lawnmowers. So far, the herd has shown no appetite for the native prairie grasses, preferring instead to munch on weeds and thistles.

The observers delighted in the sight of 64 critters descending over the landfill. After a day of some grimness, it was the perfect finale.

***

So there you have it. The mystery of the Lake Calumet goats has been solved. I feel like Scooby-Doo.