More Ivory-billed info

["Matthew J. Williams" <mjw22 at comcast dot net>]

James,
    Good question.  I think the news of today says it all.  The fact is 
that the sighting that brought Cornell and TNC on the scene was the 
Kayaker, Gene Sparling.  His report was solid enough to convince and get 
the attention of the 2 birder/ornithologists who subsequently saw it later 
in 2/2004.  I don't see any evidence to suggest anything to the contrary or 
to suggest that those birders were there because of several reliable 
sightings in the area.  On the Lab of Ornithology website, they list seven 
sightings, starting with the 2/11/2004 report.  They make no comment here 
on any prior sightings, including the one from 1999 in the Pearl River area 
of Louisiana that was deemed to be quite convincing, although that led to a 
search of its own, albeit an unsuccessful one.  Also omitted was any 
mention of Mary Scott's report, which, even on her website, lacks an exact 
date (Spring 2003) or even approximate location (Arkansas).  So, there is 
no way of knowing whether or not her report was possibly from the same 
location as the ones that are dominating the press today.  Personally, I 
hope it is credible and that it's a different bird.  That would be great 
but I do have some doubts.   The seven sightings (deemed credible, 
presumably after a "grilling" by John Fitzpatrick) are outlined at: 
http://birds.cornell.edu/ivory/story2.htm (this site has many other great 
and informative links.)
      Regardless of exactly how this came about, I'm certainly happy that 
it was handled, and continues to be handled in a professional and 
responsible way.  I am glad to see that habitat protection and the 
restoration of the great southern forests are being treated with equal 
importance with the flagship species that they are now known to 
harbor.  Truly amazing.  Kudos to Cornell (my alma mater...I'm pretty 
proud, can you blame me?) and to The Nature Conservancy and to the 
strategic alliance that is helping to preserve these amazing places that 
hide incredible beauty and unbelievable mysteries.

In addition to the Cornell Lab of O website, the following links are very 
informative:

Science Magazine's Article (scientific article describing, in detail why 
they are confident that the video footage was an ivory billed)
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1114103

NPR story (containing the above link..Thanks to NPR for that...I could not 
get to the article directly from the Science Website)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4622633

Good Birding,
Matt Williams
Provo, UT



>   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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