What the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the Big Woods means to birdwatchers
From the Editor -- August 2006
Published:
June 22, 2006
Prove It
That Ivory-bill. What is it about it that enables it to claim so much of our attention? Why have arguments about its rediscovery provoked such emotion? And why was it so disappointing in May when it was finally announced that the searchers who scoured the Big Woods this past winter had failed to turn up additional evidence of the bird's presence?
The answer must have to do with a wish that parts of America just might still be wild, that even today it might be possible to see animals that awed and inspired Audubon, Catesby, and other early explorers.
But there might be another reason, and I think Pete Dunne touches on it in this issue. (See "The Ivory Standard," page 16.) Describing the art of birdwatching, he writes: "My discipline is predicated upon an article of faith: that birds are identifiable in the field" - that is, that birds are identifiable by people like you and me, people who go into the field equipped with nothing more high-tech than our binoculars and ears.
Think about it: If the world we lived in lacked video cameras and autonomous recording units (and shotguns), what standards would we use to judge reports of birds seen out of place or out of season or both, and how would you feel if someone asked you to prove what you saw?
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