PBS Discussions

NOVA scienceNOW1 · Moderator Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 64

The ivory-billed woodpecker, a creature long thought to be extinct, may have returned. The last confirmed sighting of the bird occurred in 1944, until recent claims of the bird being captured on video in an Arkansas cypress swamp emerged in 2005. Do you think the ivory-billed is making a comeback, or do you side with the skeptics, who say the idea that it’s back from the brink is just wishful thinking?

hgr389 · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Minnesota

I don't claim to know for sure whether the Ivory-bill lives, but I'm very skeptical. I think the Luneau video most likely shows an ordinary Pileated Woodpecker; I think it's likely that many of the Cache River sightings were abnormal Pileated Woodpeckers; and I think the recorded kent calls were very likely produced by Blue Jays.

I've written very extensively about these issues on my blog:
http://tinyurl.com/dd7hk

Recently, some good, civil Ivory-bill debate has been conducted via comments at the link above.

Tom Nelson

Anubis · Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 2

My wife and I have maintained a feeding station for years now. We have heard Blue Jay calls of various types but NEVER like that attributed to the IBWP as recorded on the Cache River. A shame the video wasn't clearer.

hgr389 · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Minnesota

As noted at the first link below, Cornell has a Blue Jay recording in their own collection that is a good match for the ARU recordings. As far as I know, this recording is not available on the Internet, but you can get a CD from Cornell and hear it for yourself.

Please also note what Russ Charif of Cornell said at the second link below : "...several observers from our field teams have reported hearing and seeing blue jays making sounds very much like this in this area."

http://tinyurl.com/9n8ml
http://tinyurl.com/bg68a

lwsexson · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

I could not help but notice while watching the video that the two expert ornitologists would be hard to distinguish in a clip as blurry as the disputed woodpecker clip. Smile

One of the best news I got in the last few months was the possibilty that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker might still be around. I am very hopeful that soon there will be enough evidence to prove that the Ivory Billed still exists.

JonZ · Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

I thought people might be interested in the following web-site if you have not been there already. I am glad that I found it - makes me feel a little less guilty about my doubts regarding the ivory-billed WP sightings. Confused

Ivory Bill Skeptics

The possibility that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is not truly an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker could be damaging to ornithology and citizen science in respect to relationships involving future conservation efforts. However, a possible negative situation like this could be used to improve ornithology, citizen science and maybe government. There has definitely been some reckless use of poor intelligence information, hopefully it was not for the purpose of any monetary gain. The entire ivory-billed woodpecker project should be investigated by the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the same way they are investigating the Bush administration's influence on scientific studies. I sincerely hope that there is truly an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker population in Arkansas, but I doubt it. Sad

I have attached some pictures that are from a video of grouse on a Greater Prairie Chicken lek (booming ground) in north central Wisconsin. Please note the WI Dept. of Natural Resources manages a Sharptail Grouse population within 45miles of this Greater Prairie Chicken lek (booming ground). The pictures, at end of this paragraph, are good "food for thought" with regards to this Ivory-Billed Woodpecker situation in Arkansas. Consider these points: the North American range of Pileated Woodpecker, professionals in need of money/projects, endangered habitat in Arkansas and the contagious excitement of talk about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker - "LORD GOD BIRD". Question

pictures from north central Wisconsin Greater Prairie Chicken lek

Pileated Range Map

Ivory-billed Range Maps
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Jonathan Zellmer

Adrian Trott · Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Chicago..U.S.A.

I truly believe this specific woodpecker is on the comeback trail.
Adrian Trott.
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Adrian Trott...
Monty Python are the finest writers of humour I have ever seen.Their imagination's pose the question to their levels of sanity...very strange...but definitely in a good way!

ginab · Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 2

Hunt over, at least for 2006:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060518/sc_nm/environment_woodpecker_dc

jrmalatesta · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 18

In the interest of fairness, I decided to tune in Nova Science Now with the hopes that the program would be much more suited for an adult audience with at least a modicum of intelligence than the episode I saw two months ago. I must say I was more disappointed with this presentation than the Nova Science Now episode I saw some two months ago and I am even more disappointed with the current episode.

I hate being redundant, however this program would be much better suited for a Saturday A.M. broadcast when young viewers are watching. I believe the adult audience you draw at 8:00 P.M. on Tuesdays' can do without the cartoons and Neil deGrasse's poor acting.

Please, I have nothing against humor, but if you think people tuning in to recieve new scientific information need to have it presented with humor, make it humor that is more suited for adults rather than 1st and 2nd grade school children.

I believe Alan Alda is a far better host for this program than Neil deGrasse and also would add enough of the appropriate humor, and also would cut development costs by eliminating all the graphic effects.

As you most likely have shot the entire season of Nova Science Now in this format, I beg you to consider going back to a more adult format next year.

jrmalatesta
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John R Malatesta