Lord God Bird RETURNS! Back from extinction

[CyberDyneSystems]

Serious and casual birders may know of the search for the Lord God Bird,. the Ivory Billed Woodecker last heard in recordings made by Paul Kellogg in 1937 in the Singer Tract.

Today the news wires and bird forums are alive with news...

News that Some recent video taken in Arkansas is indeed fo the Ivory Billed Woodpecker!

More here;
http://news.google.com/news?q=ivory+billed+woodpecker+found&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=nn&oi=newsr

This is the best news I've heard in a decade!

[neil_r]

To celebrate this amazing news let us make it the subject for a one off POTN Photography Competition.

1st prize is a shed-full of kudos to our first American cousin to capture this bird’s image. (lets face it you won’t need a cash prize as the picture should earn you enough for a couple of 1DS MkIIs if you market it right).

Good news, and good luck;)

N

[CyberDyneSystems]

This has been taken very seriously by the powers that be...
It's existance has been kept secret for over a year while the Nature Conservancy and local government authorites have been buying up tracts of land and passing laws retricting access to surrounding areas...

[Skip Souza]

The government is getting involved? The poor little pecker is doomed.

The scariest phrase: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

:lol: :rolleyes: :lol: :rolleyes: :p

[Belmondo]

I came across one of those birds recently. Tasted a lot like chicken. :rolleyes:

[neil_r]

I came across one of those birds recently. Tasted a lot like chicken. :rolleyes:

I thought it tasted more like a cross between a golden eagle and a dodo :confused:

N

[jaypie77]

I'm planning a vacation as we speak. Sometime in July I hope to spend a few days in Arkansas trying to get a shot at one of these. POTN meetup anyone?

[CyberDyneSystems]

er....

Not to insult anyone,. but I think the worst thing that could happen would be a mass parade of photographers and bird watchers trekking into to this otherwise pritine habitat...

No .. get that out of your minds right away.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Bloo,. I think the book you refer to about the extinction of the Ivory Billed is,.

"The Race to save the Lord God Bird" so titled due to the references where on sighting one would say "Lord God what a woodpecker".... apperently back in the early 1900's people said,. "lord god" as opposed to "Holy *&%"

The books existance and the subject matter addresses part of the reason for the hoopla, this one bird has become symbolic of both humanities carelessness,. and it's desire to make amends. You see,. as this bird was becoming extinct,. people knew,. there were poeple desperately trying to save this bird as they saw it's habitat being destroyed,. (google ivory billed AND singer tract) ...but it was the 1930's and not enough people or the government cared enough or had the power to save it.

This bird truly became a symbol for mankinds lack of concern for the environment

Another apsect is because the rumors and sightings of this bird have never ceased,. it has there for allways been kept in the forfront of our minds,. and many many individuals as well as organizations have undertaken ardous steps to "find" this bird. It literally has been given the title of "The Holy Grail" because of the efforts that have been invested in the quest to find it and the inherent research involved.

If you really want to know,. just google it,....

It is important to note that things have changed.
In the year since it's "re-discovery" the news has been kept from the rest of the world as the Nature Connservancy has being buying up vast tracts of land,. and the local and Federal governments have taken action with laws and restrictions.

[FlyingPete]

OK, why is it so often the 'cool' stuff that becomes extinct, such as Dodo's, Mammoths, and our local Moa (think a huge emu like bird, not the Masportus forstrokus I found under our house when I moved in).

Sounds like these birds fall into that category as well!

It is not the first time I have heard of things being ‘covered up’ to protect them from people, often with good or neutral intentions. There is rumoured to be a huge Kauri tree in the Coramandel ranges in our North Island, considerably larger than the official largest tree here (whilst these Kauri’s are not the tallest tree’s in the world, they do have the greatest mass, as their trunks do not taper off like Red Woods). As their feeding roots are close to the surface, they can be damages just by walking around them. Most were felled in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s for timber, they live to be thousands of years old,

[CyberDyneSystems]

'cause it's all cool Pete,.

...we just don't realize it till it's gone:(

Moa,. yeah,. and a ton of other great stuff in NZ... wasn't the Thylazine there too?

[FlyingPete]

'cause it's all cool Pete,.

...we just don't realize it till it's gone:(

Moa,. yeah,. and a ton of other great stuff in NZ... wasn't the Thylazine there too?

I think that critter was Australian, more specifically Tasmanian. The only native mammals NZ has is bats, probably the main reason we have (or had) so many flightless birds (the Kiwi being the most famous).Rats were introduced before Europeans arrived dealing to a large proportion of that population.

We do have sanitary islands now with no rats or possums (they compete for food sources with the birds) that they are recovering populations of certain species. You are not allowed on these islands without a permit and a very good reason, i.e. some snap shots for the photo collection wouldn’t do it!

[Harry Settle]

I came across one of those birds recently. Tasted a lot like chicken. :rolleyes:

If it tastes like chicken. . . I'll have chicken.

[RockOne]

The only native mammals NZ has is bats
And seals ?

The thylacine used to be found all over Australia.A few years ago a mummified one was found in a cave on the Nullarbor.

Its good to see something has come back from 'extinction' !

[FlyingPete]

And seals ?

Yep we got seals and their relatives, had a big sealion that used yo park itself a couple of doors down on the riverbank from time to time where I used to live (Christchurch), should have stuck to the standard quote which is no native land mammals! (are bats sky mammals???)

[robertwgross]

POTN meetup anyone?

Arkansas, in July?

You've got to be kidding!

---Bob Gross---

[robertwgross]

Its good to see something has come back from 'extinction' !

About two weeks ago, I was able to photograph my first free California Condor. They were very close to extinction 25 years ago when the feds stepped in to save the species.

---Bob Gross---

[Citizensmith]

I came across one of those birds recently. Tasted a lot like chicken. :rolleyes:

That was funny. I almost choked on my burrowing owl burger from laughing.

[Belmondo]

That was funny. I almost choked on my burrowing owl burger from laughing.

Oh yum. Makes me hungry for a bowl of Snail Darter Bisque.

All kidding aside, I can see why some people are pretty excited about this. Every once in a while, I guess governments get it right.

[Citizensmith]

Oh yum. Makes me hungry for a bowl of Snail Darter Bisque.

All kidding aside, I can see why some people are pretty excited about this. Every once in a while, I guess governments get it right.

Yeah, I've got an uncle who is very into bird watching. We'll often go birdwatching together. I'll teach him some about photography and he'll teach me to recognise bird calls and the like. Good fun.

Oh and every friday morning I work at a site where we are actively protecting burrowing owls to keep them away from some construction activities. So I do get to see them fairly often. Great little things.

Very nice with a cheese sauce. :)

[robertwgross]

That was funny. I almost choked on my burrowing owl burger from laughing.

Note my avatar. That happens to be a Burrowing Owl.

---Bob Gross---

[neil_r]

Burrowing Owl.

---Bob Gross---

mmmmmmmmmmm Burrowing Owl.

N

[D Boone]

I really like the idea of this bird being there, but I just can't help but not be convinced yet. That video is terrible... and if this place has been combed by people searching for this bird for a year, and only 7 sightings, and 1 bad video, then I don't know that it has a chance. I can't help but want to go try my luck at finding it too, Arkansas in July ain't any different than the Gallberry in July. I might sling the canoe on top of the truck and grab a friend and go. I don't think the mad rush will be that bad, as the vast majority have no knowledge of swamps, and the first time that little birder from the city with a big lens sees a cottonmouth the size of his thigh he'll be tired of it. By this time said person would have already felt the effects of being drained of a pint of his own blood by mosquitos so large he will probalbly be mistaking them for the woodpecker anyway. The people who carry on know what they are doing and i don't think will impact the swamp environment negativly...

[D Boone]

I will add, I can't remember what the book/movie name was, but its the one about the guy who stole ghost orchids... This bird is in perhaps the precarious situation of being loved to death, or oblivion, whichever the case may be... Lets hope not. I know I would really love to see one in the cypress swamps of NC one day.

[dewmuw]

Abotu 12 months ago there was a great fuss made locally when someone spotted a White Chested Sparrow in the neighbourhood. It must have been blown WAY off course by heavy winds. People from all over the country rushed to the site to see it and sacred the thing from the woods and into the gardens of local houses. Guess what - while all the twitchers were chasing it a cat pounced and ate it! :(

[hickory]

Oh yum. Makes me hungry for a bowl of Snail Darter Bisque.



belmondo, you have to be Bob Hope's reincarnation :-)

[Belmondo]

belmondo, you have to be Bob Hope's reincarnation :-)

Hardly. Bob Hope was funny.

But thanks. :lol:

[condyk]

Yep we got seals and their relatives, had a big sealion that used yo park itself a couple of doors down on the riverbank from time to time where I used to live (Christchurch), should have stuck to the standard quote which is no native land mammals! (are bats sky mammals???)

Are people native land mammals? When do you start counting ... boy! After all, the Bats just arrived one day I guess, same as people :lol: :lol:

[FlyingPete]

Are people native land mammals? When do you start counting ... boy! After all, the Bats just arrived one day I guess, same as people :lol: :lol:

That is a good point, and what point to you define 'native'? I thing generally you go from what was there before the first people.

[CyberDyneSystems]

If it got there before people,. it got there on it's own.. thus "naturally"

99% of the time if it got there after people.. then it was imported or introduced,.. either intentionally , or accidentally,. by the "unnatural" comings and goings of Mankind ;)

[billsh]

Go to arkansas to photograph? Not me I've seen "Deliverance."

Just kidding

[jfrancho]

That is a good point, and what point to you define 'native'? I thing generally you go from what was there before the first people.Endemic is a better word to describe an animal's range. "Mbuna, or Rockfish are endemic to Lake Malawi, one of The Great Rift Lakes of Africa."

[CyberDyneSystems]

"indigenous"

[jfrancho]

"indigenous"CDS, that is a better word. Endemic suggests it only exists in the indicated range. Whereas indigenous is that it normally occurs in a given range.

[FlyingPete]

"indigenous"

That could be said about some members and local camera shops ;)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Endemic too,. meaning (roughly) never seen outside a Camerea Shop... :lol: