Winter photo

Blue jay eatin a peanut.

We saw an Ivory billed at Tug Hill

Not really, but Kevin just finished the Grail bird book and we have been scratching or heads about what we belive after reading that (the woodpecker we saw in Tug Hill was probably nut hatch). We are, of course, only engineers and have limited comprehension of population dynamics, so I thought I would post here to collect some educated responses. (Bill).

The book basically documents how 3 ornithologists from Cornell Ornithology Lab and other places saw an Ivory Billed Woodpecker, but NO other evidence or sightings has been collected since that happened in 2003.  We think there are only 2 incredulous possible conclusions: either all those trained professionals are wrong, or we have to completely change our understanding of how a species goes extinct, and maybe even some of the basic details about that bird. Does it travel hundreds of miles in a day? Is that why they have not found any more auditory evidence? Can a population survive with 3 or 4 individuals spread out among that much territory? That is a very limited gene pool. Is there perhaps and new subspecies of pileated that for some unknown reason evolved in the absence of the ivory-billed to have very similar characteristics? 

Mind you, since they "re-discovered" this previously extinct bird, there has been a huge effort by many orgs to find more evidence. Heck, they even put 1000's of acres of this swamp into permanent conservation just because of this sighting (maybe that was the lab's end game)? No one has found anything. But these sightings were done by respected professionals, who only had much to lose by claiming they saw the birding world's sasquatch. 

While the book was only mildly entertaining it does document a very peculiar biologic phenomenon.

New Year's2008- 2009

This year's event was the largest gathering yet since we started in 2001-2 - 12 adults and 4 children. The location was excellent, providing the right amount of space for everyone to be comfortable, eat very well, go xc skiing, entertain the babies and other young'ins, and to play Guitar Hero on the wall using an LCD projector. For those who couldn't attend in person, you were there in spirit. Additional photos are located here.