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Ivorybills...again





S. Shultz wrote:
>  Does anyone know if there is
>support for a similar search for the bird in Cuba?  My understanding is 
>that there were much more recent records of the birds (1980's?) from 
>central and southern parts of the island.

  IBWs were found definitively in eastern Cuba in the late 80's by a team 
headed by Lester Short (technically a subspecies of the N. Amer. IBW) -- I 
don't think it ever amounted to more than a single pair (Jerry Jackson got a 
glimpse at one of them). By the 1996 the birds had not been seen for several 
yrs. and were officially re-declared
extinct by the Cuban Gov't. In 1999 fresh evidence of their presence
was found again and searchers have been looking ever since -- things are 
fairly hush-hush and if they have been found no one is revealing it. 
Official sources say there has been no sight confirmation.

  Regarding Pearl River, I think folks need to realize that area was on no 
one's top-ten list for IBWs before D. Kulivan's sighting. Were they to be be 
found there it would open the door to searching many other
previously-unconsidered locales; not finding them there is a largely 
meaningless outcome, still leaving the main areas of interest in need
of a similarly-styled searches.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rob Gluck
Chapel Hill
thrush@hotmail.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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