In a message dated 4/27/2005 7:28:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
lpatters at ix.netcom.com writes:

>>I will not book my SWA flight to Little Rock just yet, but sure want to
know more.
I grew up in south Louisiana and was well aware of the story of the
Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I even recall hearing that James Tanner was a relative on my
Dad's side of the family -- sort of a "claim-to-fame" for my Dad and my Uncle
Joe. I spent an inordinate amount of time paddling and poling around the
greater Atchafalaya Basin and other river/bayou swamps. I enjoyed a great variety of
birds in that wild country but in the back of my mind, I was always waiting
for an Ivory-bill to find me.

To think that they're still out there (even if it is in Arkansas!) would
confirm a belief that I've always held -- that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has
just been hiding out all this time. I always believed that the Ivory-bill didn't
want to have anything to do with humans, and just decided to "disappear."

I have similar thoughts every time I visit my home state, and I realize that
there are still many places where it could happen! I will definitely look
into this recent posting.

Joe Meche
Bellingham