Folks-
Received this from a scientific listserv. This paper apparently is in
press, as it is not posted online yet at The Auk's website. Personally,
after watching the video and seeing the photos, it seems rather
straightforward as a IBWP to me, but then I've never seen one.
Dave Hewitt
Gloucester, VA
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Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalus): Hope, and the Interfaces
of Science, Conservation, and Politics.
Jerome A. Jackson.
The Auk 123 (1): 1-15, 2006.
The issue: Quality of science. What is required to demonstrate the
scientific certainty of an extraordinary bird sighting of international
interest and significance?
The author: The acknowledged expert on this species. Birds of North America
species account author and veteran ornithologist.
The stakes: Public credibility of the scientific process. The appropriate
allocation and dispersion of sorely needed conservation funds.
The outcome: We will have to see, but it is comforting and reassuring to
see these questions and constructive criticisms emerging after a period of
unabashed exhuberance that tended to silence the doubting scientists.
The hope: There is absolutely no doubt that every bird lover and
conservationist, including the author of this paper (I am confident) hopes
that the ivory-billed woodpecker exists alive in nature and that the
existence can be adequately and appropriately and conclusively confirmed.
But let it be noted that the author, the world authority on this species,
states his opinion that recent sightings in Arkansas were of a pileated
woodpecker, not an ivory-billed woodpecker.
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