Area Birders: The following message was posted to VA-Birds today by: North American Birds Editor Ned Brinkley: American Birding Association It contains good advice and good insight. Let's go birding....... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN ------------------------------------BEGIN FORWARD ----------------------------------- Hi all - The Nature Conservancy and other organizations will announce in late morning in Washington, DC the discovery of one Ivory-billed Woodpecker near Brinkley, Arkansas. Apparently, they have already posted a good deal of material to their website, in advance of the announcement. However, I'm reading a lot of incorrect information on the listserves about the discovery, and I'd urge people to get the correct information later today, especially anyone thinking about driving westward from VIrginia. While most people involved with this bird for the past 15 months are open to the idea of birders searching for it, most also fear that a mob scene could easily frighten the bird, which is extremely difficult to locate in a habitat that is also extremely challenging - a bottomland wooded swamp, abounding in snakes and insects and requiring a fair amount of equipment and backwoods skills. There is very limited access to the area, and it may in fact be closed temporarily, owing to the premature leak of informa tion about this bird. So it's best to wait to find out what will be permitted, etc., before heading out the door. If this is the last surviving member of its species, it would be unconscionable, not to mention illegal, to harass this bird in any way. It is also imperative that birders visiting the area be on their best behavior with local people; ill will toward birders, for any reason, could become ill will for the bird. The American Birding Association will also certainly weigh in on this bird and the Code of Ethics today or tomorrow, and this is something to be heeded. Virginia is separated from Arkansas by only one state (Tennessee), which takes about 7.5 hrs to cross (much more if you hit rush hour in Knoxville, Nashville, or Memphis, all of which have highway repair projects underway) via I-81 and I-40. It's best to travel during off-peak times. After crossing the river into Arkansas, Brinkley is about another 80 minutes. There are plenty of motels and basic restaurants there. Ned Brinkley Cape Charles, VA ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5 This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****