Greetings All

I am going to be purposefully evasive about people's names, as I am not sure
how much they'd want put out on the net.

I was talking to one of the continent's best birders about a month ago. He
said that he and several others have had a chance to review the video, sound
recordings, and some of the other evidence carefully. Everyone felt that if they
were on a bird records committee, and this evidence was presented, they'd
vote "no."

Everyone.

Some of this may be personal jealousy or being overly cautious. But I gather
the video had to be somewhat manipulated to make anything of value apparent.
Furthermore, one excellent Cornell ornithologist went through the tape archives
and found audiotapes of Pileated Woodpeckers giving the double tap that is
supposed to be unique to IVWO. So, some of this is hearsay, but there may be
real reason to have some doubt.

Time will likely tell.

By the way, juv peeps barnstorming through today.

Cheers
Steven Mlodinow
Everett WA