Ivory-Billed Mania!
I was looking around the internet a few weeks ago trying to find out as much as I could about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and its current contested existence. I was pleasantly surprised when the new (Dec. 2006) National Geographic arrived this week with a small article and photos concerning the new search for the rare, possibly non-existent, bird.
There was a photo spread of the sixty-odd specimens at Harvard with the caption that reads, in part, "The birds were doomed in large part by unchecked logging."
Really? What about unchecked museum collecting?
After reading the article, which wasn't exactly informative concerning the bird, but more about the drama of its recent sightings, I went back to the internet and found Cornell's Ornithology web site. I was immediately sucked into the Ivory-billed Soap Opera for the rest of the day.
I don't know what I believe about the bird at this point; I would really like to get out and look around while we are in New Orleans, as several "I-B sightings" have been within a few hours' drive from the city. I have spoken with two friends here who are retired PhDs. One was a birder, and encouraged me to look for the I-B. Another was a paleontologist, who told me to look for the Carrier Pigeon while I was out there, too...ha ha.
Currently, there is a bad video of some bird that was taken in Arkansas. It caused much contention in the ornithology community. I have watched it and watched it...over and over. That is one big bird with a lovely flight path. Ivory-billed? Maybe. Pileated? More likely. The Pileated Woodpecker is more common, more shy, and better adapted at human encroachment. I saw one once in the Ozarks of Missouri on a canoe trip. It was amazing--its beady white eye just looked at me from across the river. It held completely still; it knew I was looking at it. But I was far enough away that it didn't want to fly off. I remember it being HUGE--and that red tuft on its head? Completely amazing. Some birds are very reminiscent of dinosaurs. Turkeys are, and so are big woodpeckers.
So here is a thought I've been having...remembering that sighting on the canoe trip...since I am not a birder and did not have experience looking at birds or even in differentiating between similar birds, WHAT IF I was actually looking at an Ivory-billed and didn't know it? I wouldn't have known it then. I didn't even know about Ivory-billeds until the big announcement after the grainy video in 2005. Southern Missouri is sort of out of its range, but I saw the bird in July, and it's possible that they might range where ever to find the food that they eat, which are bark beetle grubs...
...which brings me to my current interest in the bird that began when I realized I was moving to Ivory-billed country. There have been several tree-killing hurricanes in the Ivory-billed's known habitat over the last three years. If they are simply following the food, so to speak, then there are several places to look around for the big bird, considering that the beetles themselves will have a population boom from the tree damage. It looks hopeful for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker when you think about it from a sustenance point of view. Personally, I have reviewed areas on the map that I think may be strong contenders for the bird's livelihood, and I am going to try to get out hiking and take a look--and listen--around.
I'm bringing my cameras--video, digital, and film. I plan on getting a great picture!
From a metaphysical point of view, I think that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker means something much deeper for Americans. It's a sign of hope that we can reclaim our past. Considering that no "official" sightings of the bird have been made on the mainland since 1944, think about all that has happened to our country since that time, and what it would mean to find that this bird somehow lived through it all...the DDT, the sprawl, the idiots that shot them out of just wanting to shoot something...and on. When something dies, and dies for good, isn't there a part of any grieving person that wants to know that it is still living, still relevant? That there is life after death? Look at the popularity of John Edward, the guy that talks to dead people. Most Americans are looking for confirmation of life after death, and I think that the Ivory-billed search is a scientist's way of coming to terms with the death of something...if it lives, then there IS hope. And not just for the scientists that might find definitive proof of the Ivory-billed, but for all Americans--that miracles do happen, the Phoenix DOES rise from the ashes, and we have not completely squandered our natural resources and there is time to fix problems. We will have been given a "do-over." That would be the real miracle in all of this.
Because if the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker IS found, what next? WHAT will we do?
There was a photo spread of the sixty-odd specimens at Harvard with the caption that reads, in part, "The birds were doomed in large part by unchecked logging."
Really? What about unchecked museum collecting?
After reading the article, which wasn't exactly informative concerning the bird, but more about the drama of its recent sightings, I went back to the internet and found Cornell's Ornithology web site. I was immediately sucked into the Ivory-billed Soap Opera for the rest of the day.
I don't know what I believe about the bird at this point; I would really like to get out and look around while we are in New Orleans, as several "I-B sightings" have been within a few hours' drive from the city. I have spoken with two friends here who are retired PhDs. One was a birder, and encouraged me to look for the I-B. Another was a paleontologist, who told me to look for the Carrier Pigeon while I was out there, too...ha ha.
Currently, there is a bad video of some bird that was taken in Arkansas. It caused much contention in the ornithology community. I have watched it and watched it...over and over. That is one big bird with a lovely flight path. Ivory-billed? Maybe. Pileated? More likely. The Pileated Woodpecker is more common, more shy, and better adapted at human encroachment. I saw one once in the Ozarks of Missouri on a canoe trip. It was amazing--its beady white eye just looked at me from across the river. It held completely still; it knew I was looking at it. But I was far enough away that it didn't want to fly off. I remember it being HUGE--and that red tuft on its head? Completely amazing. Some birds are very reminiscent of dinosaurs. Turkeys are, and so are big woodpeckers.
So here is a thought I've been having...remembering that sighting on the canoe trip...since I am not a birder and did not have experience looking at birds or even in differentiating between similar birds, WHAT IF I was actually looking at an Ivory-billed and didn't know it? I wouldn't have known it then. I didn't even know about Ivory-billeds until the big announcement after the grainy video in 2005. Southern Missouri is sort of out of its range, but I saw the bird in July, and it's possible that they might range where ever to find the food that they eat, which are bark beetle grubs...
...which brings me to my current interest in the bird that began when I realized I was moving to Ivory-billed country. There have been several tree-killing hurricanes in the Ivory-billed's known habitat over the last three years. If they are simply following the food, so to speak, then there are several places to look around for the big bird, considering that the beetles themselves will have a population boom from the tree damage. It looks hopeful for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker when you think about it from a sustenance point of view. Personally, I have reviewed areas on the map that I think may be strong contenders for the bird's livelihood, and I am going to try to get out hiking and take a look--and listen--around.
I'm bringing my cameras--video, digital, and film. I plan on getting a great picture!
From a metaphysical point of view, I think that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker means something much deeper for Americans. It's a sign of hope that we can reclaim our past. Considering that no "official" sightings of the bird have been made on the mainland since 1944, think about all that has happened to our country since that time, and what it would mean to find that this bird somehow lived through it all...the DDT, the sprawl, the idiots that shot them out of just wanting to shoot something...and on. When something dies, and dies for good, isn't there a part of any grieving person that wants to know that it is still living, still relevant? That there is life after death? Look at the popularity of John Edward, the guy that talks to dead people. Most Americans are looking for confirmation of life after death, and I think that the Ivory-billed search is a scientist's way of coming to terms with the death of something...if it lives, then there IS hope. And not just for the scientists that might find definitive proof of the Ivory-billed, but for all Americans--that miracles do happen, the Phoenix DOES rise from the ashes, and we have not completely squandered our natural resources and there is time to fix problems. We will have been given a "do-over." That would be the real miracle in all of this.
Because if the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker IS found, what next? WHAT will we do?
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