CNN/Reuters: NASA joins search for elusive ivory-billed woodpecker

[DeepModem Mom]

NASA joins search for elusive woodpecker
Friday, August 4, 2006


There had been no confirmed sightings of the endangered ivory-billed woodpecker for half a century.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- NASA scientists have joined the search for the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct but recently sighted in Arkansas.

NASA used a laser-equipped research aircraft to fly over the Big Woods area of the Mississippi Delta to learn more about the big woodpecker's potential habitat, the U.S. space agency said on Thursday.

Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland used an instrument that sends pulses of energy to Earth's surface, where light particles from the lasers bounce off leaves, branches and the ground and reflect back to the instrument....

***

In 2005, researchers published a report in the journal Science that at least one male ivory-bill still survived, but this finding has been challenged.

The NASA-University of Maryland project aims to give detailed information about the bird's habitat to searchers on the ground, who can use it starting this fall to look for new evidence of the ivory-billed woodpecker's possible survival.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/04/nasa.woodpecker.reut/index.html

[TheFarseer]

1. I've recently become interested in Cryptozoology

There are too many animals in the category of "probably extinct" We have a sad history on this continent of killing off bird species. It has been said we could bring some animals back with cloning, but until we address the causes of why they go extinct, that would be in many ways pointless. A species of Rhino was just declared extinct last year. By the end of the century, think how few animal species there could be on the planet. I just don't don't see how it will get better. With so many people on the planet, where will the animals live?

[shireen]

3. crypto is cool!

my friends could not understand why I was bouncing off the walls when the Japanese researchers recently caught a live Architeuthis (giant squid) on tape! I was so excited, they thought I was soooo nuts! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

What's next to be discovered? I'm betting on the giant sloth in South America!

[megatherium]

4. You mean, a megatherium!?

Oh my God!!


megatherium

[eppur_se_muova]

15. You've seen this?

[mainer]

16. I assume you know this website -- it's fun!

I know Loren Coleman -- great guy.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/

[xchrom]

2. the siting of the bird was a good one -- the conflict

about more info is arising because a developer wants a piece of the action where the bird lives.

which is old growth forrest.

notice a corporate dispute brings nasa in on the action.

hmmmph

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. My thoughts exactly...

More than ever we need someone to find and photograph these birds close up...

[pitohui]

9. the bird was videotaped and we all saw it on the news last year

unfortunately there is a shortage of decent lumber in the world so suddenly this is forgotten and they are again claiming no "verified" sighting since the 40s which is quite simply horseshit

in olden times they had movie film of the birds at singer tract but as the lumber company told mr. tanner -- "we are money grubbers" -- and the forest was chopped down

a million photos and videotapes will not stand aga. the power of greed, i'm afraid

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. What's happened to the videotape?

Was it of high quality, or could it be dismissed as a "Bigfoot" type of movie?

[pitohui]

13. confirmed by cornell university

it is not dismissed as a "bigfoot" type of movie, it was scientifically analyzed and confirmed prior to public release

it's pretty indisputable what it shows

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Then it needs to be reintroduced

It seems to me that the Cornell group had heard Ivory bill distinctive calls before they actually saw them...That sshould be pointed out as well.

[mcscajun]

5. Search for woodpeckers, but keep your mitts off planet Earth

NASA's already had the "to understand and protect our home planet" language stripped from their mission statement; they're not to get involved in anything that smacks of "global warming" or "climate change", but by all means, let them look for a bird.

Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to see this story decided one way or another, and I hope the ivory-billed woodpecker is indeed a survivor, but NASA's involvement seems just silly, window dressing, and an incredible overcommitment of financial resources.

[LuckyChoice]

6. I hope those birds

continue to hide themselves well.

Firing energy pulses at an endangered species to "find" them. . . What a way to protect them.

Like another poster said, it's really only about land development and money. I bet someone is hoping they don't find the bird--too much money to be made.

[pitohui]

11. if they hide themselves too well...

their habitat will be cut down and they will be utterly destroyed

it is unfortunate for them that they are so timid as compared to other woodpecker species, there is really very little suitable habitat left -- and unfortunately the large old trees involved are of great financial value

as far as i know, the ivory-billed woodpeckers found in cuba in the 1980s are now considered extinct since their forest was logged

[morningglory]

7. Why don't they use that technology to prove to the other conspiracy nuts

that Bigfoot does not exist. (or does, whatever)

[pitohui]

10. because they have a real job

isaac asimov once had an essay explaining why, since humans have a limited lifespan, scientists try to spend their life's work doing something that is at least somewhat likely to have a result, as opposed to wasting their time chasing bigfoot and reincarnation

the woodpecker is real, bigfoot is not real, should NASA also spend time proving that santa don't exist, i mean lots of us have seen santa