Originally published August 7 2005
Good news for woodpeckers and their fans
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Newly presented recordings show that at least two of the birds thought to be extinct are living in Arkansas.
Recordings of the ivory-billed woodpecker's distinctive double-rap sounds have convinced doubting researchers that the large bird once thought extinct is still living in an east Arkansas swamp.
Last month, a group of ornithologists had questioned the announcement made in April of the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, last sighted in 1944.
They said blurry videotape of a bird in flight wasn't enough evidence.
So a Cornell University researcher who was part of the team that announced the bird's rediscovery last spring says his group sent the doubters more evidence.
"We sent them some sounds this summer from the Arkansas woods," said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell ornithology lab.
Prum said Tuesday he was particularly convinced by the Cornell researchers' two recordings of a series of nasally sounds that the ivory bills make and an exchange of double-rap sounds between two birds.
"It's really on the basis of the new evidence that we've become convinced that the ivory-billed woodpecker exists," Prum said in a telephone interview.
Ornithologists announced in late April that an ivory-billed woodpecker was living in a swamp in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas.
A Hot Springs kayaker had seen the bird a year earlier.
But Prum and fellow bird experts at Kansas and Florida Gulf Coast universities last month questioned the evidence, saying it was only strong enough only to suggest the possibility that the bird was present, not proof.
He said the audio had only recently been discovered on the tapes, which are being analyzed with computer assistance.
When the ornithologists announced in April that the bird had been found, the audio had not been reviewed closely enough, Fitzpatrick said.
The Cornell researchers plan to release the audio publicly at the American Ornithologists' Union in Santa Barbara, Calif., Aug. 23-27.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml