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Posted by Georgiana on 14:00:29 01/23/07
In Reply to: Re: purported Ivory billed Woodpecker purportedly photographed posted by Bill Pranty
Thanks for setting the record straight. I looked at the website listed by Larry Berk and was somewhat upset to see such a website so strongly devoted to "ivory bill skepticism".
As a scientist( of the physics-astronomy type), I support the efforts of both the Cornell group and the Geoff Hill group ( also referred to as "The other guys" in a Birders' World article). It seems that one of the uphill battles that these scientists face is the declaration back in 1944 that the ivory bill was indeed extinct.
Given the nature of these elusive woodpeckers, it is certainly very possible that some have continued to exist in their naturally remote and undesirable ( to us at least) habitats. We must continue to keep that idea in our minds and be open to the possibility that at least some of the reports both recent and since 1944 have been legitimate.
I have taught astronomy for years and this issue almost reminds me of the infamous question often asked by today"s college student( most were born after 1980) about the Lunar ( Apollo) missions. So many of the students now look for evidence that we in fact did NOT actually visit the moon ( there are numerous websites) that the real fascination and evidence that we most certainly did is somewhat clouded over.
Scientists are certainly questioned about many things, but as birders I feel that we must make every effort to support and hope that sooner or later the evidence will speak for itself.
Cheers everyone!
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