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Ivory-billed woodpecker:
Colorized version of a 1935 black and white photo made in Louisiana.
(Enhancement by George M. Sutton/Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Two key figures in the 14-month research into the existence of ivory-billed woodpeckers near Brinkley were Dr. John Fitzpatrick, left, director of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, and Dr. David Luneau of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, whose short video of an ivory-billed was a major factor in the findings
By Joe Mosby
Saturday, May 7, 2005
A few days after the ivory-billed woodpecker brought forth a
tidal wave of excitement, the backwash has begun. Rumors
are rampant, as most anyone could expect. Some may even
turn out to be true. Most won't. To recap, a
secrecy-shrouded research project of 14 months on federal
and state lands, and a little bit of private land just north of
Brinkley confirmed that at least one ivory-billed woodpecker
is living there. The news electrified the bird enthusiasts of the world, the scientific communities and most everyday
Arkansans. There had not been a confirmed - repeat,
confirmed - sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker since
1944, and that was in Louisiana. At this point, the question
of when was the last ivory-billed seen, and confirmed, in
Arkansas is unanswered. Muddled also are the current
ivory-billed statistics on this find in the Bayou DeView
swamps near Brinkley. Research coordinator Dr. John
Fitzpatrick said of the sightings by those involved in the
scientific work, just four were definitely of male ivory-billeds,
the ones with red crests. The other sightings were "unknown
gender," and no females have been confirmed. Total
sightings over the 14 months were about 15. Several were
two-people sightings - same bird seen by two researchers
at the same time. Fitzpatrick is head of Cornell University's
Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., the world's
leading bird knowledge facility. A couple of Arkansans had
key roles, perhaps the two most significant roles, in this
ivory-billed woodpecker find. Gene Sparling of Hot Springs
saw an ivory-billed on Feb. 11, 2004, while kayaking on
Bayou DeView. What was Sparling doing kayaking in the
east Arkansas swamp in the middle of winter? He was
looking for ivory-billeds. About 10 weeks later, Dr. David
Luneau of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, an
engineering technology professor but an expert on birds,
made a short video segment of an ivory-billed. The Cornell
team studied this at length and with all sorts of computer
enhancement work and concluded: "Ivory-billed. "Why the
secrecy about the ivory-billed investigation? The researchers
had to keep their operations under wraps. If word of the
ivory-billed in Bayou DeView had spread, hordes of curious
people thrashing through the swamp would have throttled
the scientific efforts. But the researchers, who were from
nearby areas of Arkansas and as far away as the
Netherlands, worked undisturbed. They had automated
cameras and sound equipment set up, and many of the
people spent 14-hour days in the swamp. Fitzpatrick praised
the work of Martjan Lammertink, the Dutch scientist who is
one of the world's leading woodpecker experts and who
came to Arkansas when Fitzpatrick called him. Lammertink
was on hand most of the 14 months of the search. So what
is next? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has closed the
area of Cache River National Wildlife Refuge around where
the sightings took place. This is about 5,000 acres. The
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has not closed its
Dagmar Wildlife Management Area, where one sighting was
made. Spring squirrel hunting season will be open in a few
days on Dagmar. Cache River NWR does not have spring
squirrel hunting. Brinkley is bracing for an onslaught of
tourists - birders. Some have already arrived. But you can
imagine what the chances of seeing an ivory-billed are. "Slim
and none" is too optimistic. Protect the habitat, buy more
land and save the bottomland hardwoods will be rallying
cries, and they are laudable. Hopefully some of this will
come to reality. But Cache River NWR manager Dennis
Widner said his facility has a long-standing policy of buying
land only from willing sellers. Cache River NWR is a
checkerboard of federal land interspersed with private
land.Some evangelism is needed. More information with
more distribution of it is called for. And we have been
blessed in Arkansas with the ivory-billed woodpecker.
--------Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas' best known
outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas
News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at
jhmosby@cyberback.com.
Copyright � Arkansas News Bureau, 2003 - 2005
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