[va-richmond-general] More on the Ivory-billed...

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050430/ap_on_sc/woodpecker_found_13

   
  Rare Woodpecker's Home Remote, Dangerous 
  By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 29, 8:31 PM ET 

  DIXIE, Ark. - The Arkansas swamp that's home to the recently rediscovered 
ivory-billed woodpecker is a forbidding place, and visitors searching for birds 
above are wise to scan for snakes below. 

  Some officials believe the remoteness and dangers of the area where the bird 
is believed to live are enough to deter all but the most determined bird 
watchers, but others aren't so sure.
  "This is just a special thing. Thousands of people will want to come right 
here," said Sam Hamilton, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 
Southeast region. "This is the world's greatest woodpecker."

  The strikingly beautiful bird - sometimes called the white-back, pearly bill, 
poule de bois and even Lord God bird - was thought to have been extinct for 
decades when a kayaker found one in February 2004. Cornell University and a 
number of government agencies announced the discovery Thursday, and researchers 
took a handful of outsiders Friday to the site of the find.

  The rare bird - a little larger than a crow, with a wing span of about 19 
inches - can easily fly about undisturbed in swamps like the 800-acre tract 
where researchers focused their search. It's hard for humans to even reach it, 
and once they do, it's hard to focus on bird watching.

  One team that recently searched for the bird counted 17 poisonous cottonmouth 
snakes in 20 minutes, said Doug Zollner, an ecologist on the research project.

  Stopping his motorized canoe on the river to describe the search efforts, 
Dennis Widner, a manager of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, said he 
wasn't worried about an influx of bird watchers possibly disturbing the bird 
because the region is so remote.

  "It's dangerous work to be out in these swamps," Widner said.

  The remoteness could be one reason Gene Sparling became the first person 
known to have seen an ivory-billed woodpecker since 1944.

  To help verify Sparling's find, Cornell students spent part of their winter 
helping researchers sweep the swamp searching for roost holes large enough to 
hold the stately bird. To date, only six people have seen the ivory-billed 
woodpecker since Sparling found it.

  The bird is known for the two-note rap of its bill as it rips into tree bark 
in search of edible grubs and beetle larvae. It became known as the Lord God 
bird because people seeing it would exclaim "Lord God, look at that bird."

  Hamilton said it is too early to discuss whether a captive mating program 
might increase the ivory-billed woodpecker's population. So far, no more than 
one bird has been seen at a time - but the woodpeckers live only to age 15, so 
there was likely a mating pair in the region since 1990. "The best way is to 
let it be for right now," he said.

  Federal agencies are putting up $10 million to help preserve the habitat; the 
800 acres that support the woodpecker is within a 55,000-acre preserve. 
Hamilton said the ivory-billed woodpecker likely survived because channels 
hadn't been cut in the Cache River, which would have sped its flow and altered 
the nature of the land around it.

  "I had known about that bird my entire life," said Arkansas Game and Fish 
officer Mike McCormick. "A lot of people never realized what a treasure this 
place is."


 

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