Hi Ian and Tweeters:

I went to the Ivory-billed talk yesterday. It was amazing and put together
very well. They covered the history of the Ivory-bill's decline, talked about
the involvement of Cornell ornithologists and even had footage of a team from
Cornell that went out in the field to record Ivory-bills (in the 40's? I think).
The saddest part is that researchers had located 7 areas in NE Louisiana that
held Ivory-bills and conservationists tried to buy the land from the logging
company but they ignored their pleas. Then Gene Sparling talked about the day
he saw the woodpecker and didn't believe himself at first. It was really
wonderful hearing it straight from him. They are starting to search again (the
season started Nov. 1st) and Gene said they have "a few leads." Let's hope they
find a breeding pair,

This link about the Imperial Woodpecker is very interesting. Has anyone else
heard anything about this? I realize it was just posted today though. Wouldn't
that be amazing if these two woodpeckers were rediscovered within a year of
each other? If anyone has more news about this, please post!

Simone Lupson-Cook
Zingie at aol.com
Seattle/Olympia, WA

"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but what
we refuse to destroy."
-John Sawhill