I always knew that they had found the bird and were keeping it secret. --=20 Sharon Stiteler Minneapolis, MN www.birdchick.com
on 4/27/05 10:49 PM, Jim Williams at two-j...@att.net wrote: > Text from NPR web site. > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3D4622633 > Jim Williams > Wayzata > =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D > Radio Expeditions > Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Rediscovered > Audio for this story will be available at approx. 10:00 a.m. ET >=20 > Morning Edition, April 28, 2005 =B7 A group of wildlife scientists > believe the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct. They say they have > made seven firm sightings of the bird in central Arkansas. The landmark > find caps a search that began more than 60 years ago, after biologists > said North America=B9s largest woodpecker had become extinct in the > United States. >=20 > The large, showy bird is an American legend -- it disappeared when the > big bottomland forests of North America were logged, and relentless > searches have produced only false alarms. Now, in an intensive > year-long search in the Cache River and White River national wildlife > refuges involving more than 50 experts and field biologists working > together as part of the Big Woods Partnership, an ivory-billed male has > been captured on video. >=20 > "We have solid evidence, there are solid sightings, this bird is here," > says Tim Barksdale, a wildlife photographer and biologist. >=20 > For an NPR/National Geographic Radio Expeditions story, NPR science > correspondent Christopher Joyce joined the search last January along > Arkansas=B9 White River, where a kayaker spotted what he believed to be > an ivory-billed woodpecker more than a year ago. Many other similar > sightings over the last 60 years have raised false hopes. >=20 > But this time, Joyce reports that experts associated with the Cornell > Laboratory of Ornithology in New York and The Nature Conservancy were > able to confirm the sighting. They kept the find a secret for more than > a year, partly to give conservation groups and government agencies time > to protect the bird=B9s habitat. >=20 > The Nature Conservancy has been buying and protecting land along the > White and Cache Rivers for years, along with the state and the federal > Fish and Wildlife Service. Since the discovery, they've bought more > land to protect the bird. > _______________________________________________ > mnbird mailing list > mnb...@lists.mnbird.net > http://www.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird
