Ivory Billed Woodpecker wish comes true!!

[Stepup2]

snip

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The ivory-billed woodpecker, long feared extinct, has been rediscovered in a remote part of Arkansas some 60 years after the last confirmed U.S. sighting, bird experts said Thursday.

Several people have seen and heard an ivory-billed woodpecker in a protected forest in eastern Arkansas near the last reliable sighting of the bird in 1944, and one was captured on video last year.

"The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), long suspected to be extinct, has been rediscovered in the 'Big Woods' region of eastern Arkansas," researchers wrote in the journal Science in an article hastily prepared for release.

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"Visual encounters during 2004 and 2005, and analysis of a video clip from April 2004, confirm the existence of at least one male."

Drumming sounds made by the birds have also been heard, the researchers said.

"This is huge. Just huge," said Frank Gill, senior ornithologist at the Audubon Society. "It is kind of like finding Elvis."

Gill said there is little doubt the sightings are genuine. The experts were expected to display some of the evidence at a news conference at the Department of the Interior later Thursday.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/28/woodpecker.found.reut/index.html

[Thoth]

1. What amazing news! I remember the first time I saw...

Pileated Woodpeckers, thinking how much more majestic the Ivory-billed must be compared to these great birds. I hope the influx of birders to Arkansas doesn't disturb the small remnant population of Ivory-billeds.

There was a good report on NPR radio this morning about this as well. It sounds pretty convincing.

Wow - a small piece of our wilderness heritage has held on!

[booksenkatz]

4. The first time I saw a pileated...

My husband and I lived in Florida and were out walking in some woods, not really birding especially, just walking and talking. It was the heat of the day with a bright, hot sun... not many birds about. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this enormous red mop through some trees, and I followed it... oh my gosh! I still can't believe it to this day. It was very large, in my opinion, and I couldn't get over its shock of red on top. I could only think of Woody Woodpecker! Later, we saw more, but that first time stays with me. I couldn't imagine anything more fantastic, and the idea of ever seeing an ivory-billed was dismissed entirely. So I'm thrilled about this news!

[BeFree]

2. Well, it's about time!

I knew they weren't extinct, I just knew it. Maybe it is because I knew, deep down, that I would see one before I die?

I thought I saw on near where I live, but everybody tells me I was wrong... gonna have to start looking harder, eh? Heck, I'm only two days flight from where this one was seen....

[Greylyn58]

3. This is such incredible news

and so good to know that this wonderful bird is stll around. I love hearing good news for a change.

:woohoo:

[Goldeneye]

5. This is so cool.

It seems almost unreal. Can you imagine being the first person to see it and know what it was. Must've been wild.

I hope they do a good job protecting them. We really do have a second chance, and it would be horrible if we screwed it up again.

[XemaSab]

6. I heard that

the people who saw it all started bawling like little babies.

[amazona]

10. david kulivan

Pretty sure he didn't baul like a little baby.

Let's just say that hints I'm hearing is that there is more than one bird -- and the area being described in the news is not where the birds are breeding.

(If they are breeding, of course. Official proof is of a single male bird in Arkansas. But let us just say that they aren't taking it off the Louisiana bird list just yet.)

:-)

As the Team Elvis members are saying, if you go into suitable habitat, bring your camera.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[OnionPatch]

7. WOOO HOOO!!!!

:party: :toast: :bounce: :applause:

It gives me hope that nature can survive. I was so excited I burst out a "Woo Hoo" at work today when I read it. My cube-neighbors just didn't understand. :shrug:

I used to live (temporarily) near the Piney Woods in Texas and looked for them all the time.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Here's an interesting link...

http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm

Also:
http://www.birdingamerica.com/moreonivorybills.htm
and
http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/kennduke.htm

[BlackVelvetElvis]

9. Link to the new video

http://birds.cornell.edu/ivory/#

Click on video news release to view (broadband required).