Jim and Tweeters,

There are a number of reported sightings of Ivory-bills in the U.S. in
the last 50 years, some of them by credible observers who were quite
convinced of what they had seen. For example, in 1967, the U.S.
Secretary of the Interior went so far as to announce that Ivory-bills
had been found in the "Big Thicket" area of eastern Texas. However,
none of these reports has proved verifiable by other observers. The
last unquestioned sightings of Ivory-bills in the U.S. were about 1950
along the Apalachicola River in northwestern Florida.

The Pearl River swamp in southeastern Louisiana (along the border with
Mississippi) was the site of a recent report, hence the planned effort
to survey the area thoroughly. I spent 4 years in Mississippi, and
have birded this area several times. Although it is a large area, much
of which is not road-accessible, nearly all of it has been logged at
one time (as has virtually all other potential Ivory-bill habitat in
the southeastern U.S.)

The Pearl River swamp is a fascinating area for any biologist, and I'm
sure the woodpecker team will find some interesting and maybe
unexpected things. However, in my opinion, their chance of finding an
Ivory-bill is similar to the chance of finding a snowball in Hell.

In my opinion, we should accept the extinction of the Ivory-bill (yes,
the Cuban population is almost certainly extinct as well), stop
wasting money looking for them, and spend the money trying to save
threatened/endangered species that are still with us.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at home.com



----- Original Message -----
From: Jim McCoy <jfmccoy at earthlink.net>
To: 'Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney' <festuca at olywa.net>;
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <obol at mail.orst.edu>
Cc: <JINGOLD at PILOT.LSUS.EDU>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 10:09 PM
Subject: RE: Ivory-Bill Woodpecker Jobs


> Are there any reputable birders that claim to have seen an
> Ivory-billed Woodpecker? Is there *any* evidence beyond
> Sasquatch-and-Nessie-style reports that they might be there?
> Or is this just a somewhat cynical publicity grab by Zeiss?
>
> Jim McCoy
> jfmccoy at earthlink.net
> Redmond, WA
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney [mailto:festuca at olywa.net]
> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:08 PM
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu; obol at mail.orst.edu
> Cc: JINGOLD at PILOT.LSUS.EDU
> Subject: Ivory-Bill Woodpecker Jobs
>
>
> Hi folks -
>
>
> What a job!! Contact Dr. Remsen, not me.
>
> Jon. Anderson
> Olympia, Washington
> festuca at olywa.net
> ******************************************************
> Subject: Zeiss Ivory-billed Search
> JINGOLD <JINGOLD at PILOT.LSUS.EDU>
> Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 15:03:33 -0500
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Van Remsen [mailto:najames at unix1.sncc.lsu.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 2:38 PM
> To: LABIRD-L at listserv.lsu.edu
> Subject: Zeiss Ivory-billed Search
>
> Job announcement (and please forward to other state and national
listservs
> and send me copies of the postings):
> =======
>
> Two experienced birders needed for 30-day intensive search for
Ivory-billed
> Woodpecker in Pearl River area, Louisiana.
>
> Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, a division of Carl Zeiss Optical, Inc.,
will
> sponsor an intensive search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the
bottomland
> forests of the Pearl River area of southeastern Louisiana. Zeiss
will
> sponsor two people ( at $2,000/person) to conduct an organized,
systematic
> search of the area, working as a 2-person team for 30 days. Those
selected
> for the team must be experienced birders able to negotiate
difficult, remote
> terrain on foot, by canoe, and by ORV. This search must be
conducted before
> spring leaf-out, namely completed by early March 2002.
>
> The search will be planned by and coordinated with personnel for the
> Louisiana Dept. Wildlife & Fisheries (which can also provide lodging
at
> Pearl River Wildlife Management Area). The goal will be to determine
whether
> Ivory-bills are present there and to obtain videos for
> documentation.
>
> For further details, contact Dr. J. V. Remsen at
najames at unix1.sncc.LSU.edu.
>
> #######################################
>
> Van Remsen,
> LSU Museum of Natural Science,
> najames at unix1.sncc.lsu.edu
>
> ########### End ######################
>
>