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December 21, 2005

It's about time I checked my tweeters email again. It has accumulated.

I rejoined the Cornell Ornithology Lab, as a vicarious armchair birder. Actually, I was lured by the promise of receiving their Ivory-billed Woodpecker issue, conditional on them having any copies still available. Apparently I waited too long to take them up on the offer.

One thing seems apparent in the behavior of this super-species is their propensity to wander far and wide when their habitat runs out. Reported evidence near Big Bend National Park on the Mexican side is just one example. So I hope the Imperial Woodpecker discovers the habitat potential on our side of the border in AZ/NM.

When I attended a 12 week army preventive medicine course in San Antonio, TX, early in 1956, and a CDC envenomation short course in Atlanta in 1968, I learned about the deadly scorpions found in the range of the Imperial Woodpecker, centering in Durango state. So any one planning to persue that species should beware. Make sure your guide knows how to get you to the nearest Mexican health clinic stocked with antivenin!

On the surface of it, it seems more desireable to keep one's feet dry in the Mexican mountains, than sloshing around in swamps looking for the Americann version of Ivory-bills.

Well, the days are supposed to start getting longer after today, December 21st. I can't wait!

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA
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