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Ivory-billed Woodpecker




C' Birders,

The plight of the Ivory-billed made the editorial page of today's NY
Times. Under the heading, 'A Woodpecker's Revenge', the commentary
lamented the disappointing results reported by the Cornell Lab which
were announced yesterday. However, the piece went on to make another
interesting observation. I quote: 
" One other point must be made about the ivory-bill: dead or alive, it
has done a lot for the environment. Thirty years ago a report from an
Audubon official that he had merely "heard" the bird in South Carolina's
Santee swamp prompted the state to spare 10,000 acres of bottomland from
clearcutting,generated a strong statewide environmental movement and led
to the creation of the Congaree Swamp National Monument. More recently,
the unauthenticated Pearl River sighting persuaded Louisiana to declare
a two-year moratorium on logging in the bird's presumed habitat.  
      There is sweet justice here. The reason the bird is/may be extinct
is that loggers and developers destroyed the tall pines and old-growth
cypresses that formed its woodland habitat, which once stretched from
Indiana to the Caribbean. Now the bird is thwarting the very forces that
caused it to disappear from view. Wherever it is, one likes to think it
is enjoying its notoriety".

As a ten year resident of NC, I can't vouch for the accuracy of these
statements, but I imagine that Robin Carter etal, would have a better
handle on whether this is a true statement of events.

Tom Joyce
Brevard, NC