By the way, coursers are shorebirds, not songbirds.

Scott R a y



>
> hey tweets,
>
> help can arrive from the most unlikely places, eh? take a peek
> below ...
>
> Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD
> Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow
> Molecular Systematics Laboratories
> Department of Ornithology
> The American Museum of Natural History
> Central Park West at West 79th Street
> New York, NY 10024-5192
> 212.313.7784 (office) 212.313.6962 or 212.313.7773 (lab)
> email:nyneve at amnh.org or nyneve at myUW.net
> work page http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/personnel/bennu.htm
> personal pages http://research.amnh.org/users/nyneve/
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Toymaker in search of animal thought extinct
>
> BY MARY ETHRIDGE
> Knight Ridder Newspapers
>
> AKRON, Ohio - (KRT) - When K&M International, a toy maker from
> Twinsburg, Ohio, decided to expand its business, it turned for
> inspiration to the fastest-growing hobby in America -
> bird-watching.
>
> But people there never imagined themselves as key players in the
> midst of an ornithological mystery.
>
> ``It's been very exciting and satisfying,'' said Manjit Dhillon, a
> marketing manager for K&M.
>
> Bird scientists and hobbyists from across oceans are turning to K&M for
> help luring the Jerdon's courser, a songbird living mainly in
> remote parts of India.
>
> The bird was believed to have been extinct for more than 70 years, until
> a well-respected scientist saw one and noted it in 2000.
>
> Several others made similar findings and noted them.
>
> But just as quickly as the warblers had come, they disappeared
> again.
>
> The question of the sudden escape puzzled even the brightest minds in
> the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the equivalent of the
> National Audubon Society in America). What could they do to
> preserve a bird bordering on extinction?
>
> ``The stakes of major research were hanging on finding this bird
> and following it,'' said Andrew South, a spokesman for RSPB in
> London.
>
> Through word of mouth in bird-loving circles, RSPB learned about
> the work of K&M and began to investigate.
>
> The National Audubon Society first approached K&M in 2002 about
> making a line of true-to-life birds.
>
> The society had seen that a project with long-armed monkeys was a
> great success for K&M, so it knew the company's capabilities.
>
> Audubon officials helped K&M designers pick which birds to
> manufacture and to get the details of them just right, from beak
> length to feather color.
>
> It was during one of these meetings that the Audubon Society
> suggested that K&M consult with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in
> Ithaca, N.Y.
>
> Cornell has a massive audio library of birdsounds taped in the wild by
> scientists and dating back as far as the 1950s.
>
> K&M embedded the recordings in electronic chips and installed them in
> the plush birds designed for cuddling. The chirp is activated by a
> squeeze of the birds.
>
> A tag is attached to each bird explaining its natural environment,
> origin and characteristics as well as where and when the sounds
> were recorded.
>
> At the RSPB's request, K&M took the recording of a Jerdon's courser that
> Cornell had in its file and rerecorded it in one of the boxes similar to
> those they put inside their plush animals. The sound is clear and true.
>
> Armed with these chirping sound boxes from K&M, scientists hope
> they'll be able to lure Jerdon's coursers out from hiding.
>
> And if they reveal themselves, they'll find many open arms.
>
> After all, K&M's motto is ``the hug of the wild.''
>
> ---
> (c) 2004, Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio).
>
> Visit Akron Beacon Journal Online at http://www.ohio.com.
> Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.