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Tim Avery's first report of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker on
BIRDTALK this morning gave a link to an article by Mary Scott, a longtime seeker
of this bird: http://www.birdingamerica.com/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm.
She claims to have seen this species in Arkansas in the spring of 2003 and
to have reported the sighting to Arkansas wildlife oficials and the Cornell
Ornithology Lab. Unfortunately she provided few details and no solid
documentation.
In the reports released today by Science, The Nature
Conservancy and the U.S. Governnment, there is no mention of her alleged
sighting. The credit for rediscovering the bird is attributed to kayaker
G. Sparling who spotted it in the Cache River NWR in Arkansas on Feb, 11,
2004. What's the story? Is Mary Scott's claim being
discredited?
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