ASTOUNDING! This bird is not extinct after all! woodpecker Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
bump.
Is nobody even going to say WOW?
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
WOW
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
I think the all-caps is turning people off.
It's cool and all, but I just can't get that excited about it. Sad, since at one point I was pretty confident I wanted to be an ornithologist when I grew up.
--Pop
Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
Didn't mean to offend with the caps, but I was actually shouting when I heard about this. I got EXCITED. Maybe most people don't realize how huge it really is. The only two things that I can think of that might trump it in the ornithological world is if a Passenger Pigeon or a Dodo were found.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
I saw the news story; this is very, very, very cool. I don't even like birds all that much, and this is cool.
Posted by Mr.Funny (Member # 4467) on :
My former biology teacher at my high school was incredibly excited about this when I passed her in the hallway.
Posted by Gryphonesse (Member # 6651) on :
super super cool -
there's hope after all, hrm??
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
It is wonderful news. I'd heard about sightings over the last year or so though, so although I was pleased with the news I wasn't surprised... It would be awesome to see one, in real life.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
My husband talked about this all day yesterday. Apparently searching for this bird was a hobby of his when he was a kid, plus his parents own land now in Arkansas, so he's really excited about it. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
This is so awesome! All woodpeckers are beautiful birds, but their cousins the Pileated Woodpeckers are simply breathtaking. Sadly, over the last 30 years we've gone from seeing the Pilated ones often to seeing them never, in the woods behind our house. There are still many in the deeper woods of Alabama, though.
We've been hoping to see Ivory Billed woodpeckers, who are reported to be even more gorgeous, for all that time, and thought they were extinct. Perhaps one day with good conservation efforts we may see some here after all. What a beautiful morning of the world that would be! I would feel as though I had been transported from this world back into Middle Earth, or the land of the rainbow goblins, or into Eden.
May the human species take this as a sign from Nature that we are granted a reprieve, and could even someday be forgiven of our terrible crimes, if we can find a path toward a change of heart, and learn a better way to be.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I thought it was pretty cool and I'm not even an environmentalist.
I wonder if they're still officially labled "Extinct" or if they're on the Endangered Species list yet.
If they're "Extinct" then it's not illegal to shoot 'em.
Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :
I danced in my chair when I read this story yesterday. I just hope not too many people go down there to try to see it, and end up distrupting them and causing harm. I'm sure the population is fragile.
Oh, I wish I was still in biology, though, or could somehow get a job in conservation. This has got to be some of the most exciting news to have come up in quite some time.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Pixiest, you're a hoot.
This is cool - but the article only had renderings - I wanna see a picture of a real one.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I was disappointed by that too, Belle. If they're alive again why can't we see a picture instead of a painting? Maybe one sitting on a fence post or something so we could get an idea of how big it is and everything...
Pix
Posted by Portabello (Member # 7710) on :
This is the first time I've seen a picture of a woodpecker that looked anything like Woody the Woodpecker.
Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
For those who wanted to see a picture. If you go to the link, there is a video that accompanies it. It is on the right side of the page. Click on it. You have to sit through a commercial, but the video segment is pretty cool. They got comments from the guys who videotaped it and then the actual footage. It's not a closeup or a still, but you can see the bird flying away from the camera. Maybe three or four seconds of actual bird footage. Like I said, though, no stills as of yet, so it might be some time before we get a quality picture.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The video also contains some old footage of one close up.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
quote:If they're "Extinct" then it's not illegal to shoot 'em.
This made me laugh out loud, Pix. I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
We have Piliateds, I think two mating pairs within our property, and MPH they do look like Woody, though never as much as I wanted when i was a little kid.
When I got home last night, the first thing my dad said was about the Ivory Billed, apparently they'd shown a video on the news, which was like the only video taken of them ever.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
Holy crap, that's awesome, I've seriously dreamed of seeing this bird since I was a little boy.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Isn't this the same bird that played a tiny but key role in Piers Anthony's In the Shade of the Tree?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Anyone else think Ivory Bill Woodpeckers sounds like a pirate?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Or a pirate's nemesis, perhaps?
This is wonderful news!
Or a sign of the apocalypse.
I'll let you know.
Posted by Chipmunk (Member # 7975) on :
CBS' 60 Minutes is scheduled to do a segment on this today (16-Oct-2005):
quote:The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker hadn’t been seen in 60 years until it turned up on the front pages of newspapers when birdwatchers claimed to have spotted it. Ed Bradley talks to the team searching for the bird long thought to be extinct.
I first read this thread (yup, been lurking for half a year) right after our local bird club's first post announcement trip, and this was the #1 topic of (very happy) discussion. For those of you worried about a stampede of birders, fear not! The consensus was the site was too remote and dangerous for any but the most, um, let's call them "focused" birders.
When I saw this thread that evening, the all caps didn't even register. Instead my first thought was something along the lines "let me get this straight: pretty much everyone here reads books, are fans of one of my favorite authors, and a bunch of them are birdwatchers?!? definitely my kind of people!". Posted by Samarkand (Member # 8379) on :
Well . . . this information has been out long enough that they have published books about it. So it is exciting, but a little belated.
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