Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
Just finished a paw paw I harvested from near my office. It was beyond wonderful. It might be a little late in the year for those of you tramping through the woods of the potential IBWO, but remember there are other things of note in the woods beside the birds.
Rip, if you remember me asking you about a tree/bush with dark orange/brown flowers, that's what turned out to be paw paw. Didn't figure it out until they fruited. I've been scoping the patch near my office for over a month now, waiting for them to ripen, but last week I saw that someone was beating me to the punch, so I took one in spite that I'm pretty sure was still green. Today it had gotten a soft spot, so I cut it open. It was crazy delicious. Tomorrow I'm going to pull in whatever my rival has missed, ripe or not. And I located another patch in a completely different area that I'll go after sometime this week, too.
Anyway, things to look for in the woods: dark orange-brown flowers, facing down, on very broad-leafed bush-trees (I'll post a picture of the distinctive leaf clusters); zebra swallow-tail butterflies (like tiger swallow-tails, except distinctly black-and-white rather than yellow-and-white), which feed exclusively on paw paw leaves. Paw paw do not fruit very reliably, which is probably why they've never been extensively cultivated, and their ripening time probably varies by latitude and altitude; right about now seems to be the time for the upper Mid Atlantic.
Just a little levity to break the silence (I will understand if this post gets deleted):
A man is caught sitting at a make-shift campfire by a forest ranger, and to the ranger's horror, the man is eating a bald eagle. The man is consequently put in jail for the crime. On the day of his trial, the conversation went something like this:
JUDGE: "Do you know that eating a bald eagle is a federal offense?"
MAN: "Yes I do. But if you let me argue my case, I'll explain what happened."
JUDGE: "Proceed."
MAN: "I got lost in the woods. I hadn't had anything to eat for two weeks. I was so hungry. Next thing I see is a Bald Eagle swooping down at the lake for some fish. I knew that if I followed the Eagle I could maybe steal the fish. I caught up with the eagle who landed on a tree stump to eat the fish. I threw a stone toward the eagle hoping he would drop the fish and fly away. Unfortunately, in my weakened condition, my aim was off, and the rock hit the eagle squarely on his poor little head, and killed it. I thought long and hard about what had happened, but figured that since I killed it I might as well eat it since it would be more disgraceful to let it rot on the ground."
JUDGE: "The court will take a recess while I consider your testimony."
(15 minutes goes by and the judge returns.)
JUDGE: "Due to the extreme circumstance you were under and because you didn't intend to kill the eagle, the court will dismiss the charges."
The Judge then leans over the bench and whispers: "If you don't mind my asking, what does a bald eagle taste like?"
MAN: "Well your honor, it is hard to explain. The best I can describe it is somewhere between a California Condor and a Spotted Owl."
Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
Just found this site. I am certainly an amateur at this, but have been studying the IBWO in depth since I chose it as my biology term paper topic. (my choice) My prof. is thrilled and may even accompany me in the field. I am currently in Texas but may make a trip to Eastern Arkansas in search of this majestic bird.
Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
Quote from our member rbw5611: "Any way, I have been quiet lately, and haven't posted much...I've mentioned work , but more so it's because my wife is 31 weeks pregnant with twin girls(I kept quiet about this because we lost a pregnacy early last year) And My Focus these days has been elsewhere and planning for a new family
I wanted to offer personal congratulations to you and your new family Ralph. Exciting stuff and I am wishing you and your spouse health and all the best with these 2 new little lives as additions to your home.
I registered here yesterday, and Donald welcomed me to the group (perhaps flock, covey, kettle, charm, kit, parliament, sedge, bevy, murder, or, in the case of IBWO, a descent is better), at which time I told him I would introduce myself to you.
So here goes.
I'm a native of Atlanta and a lifelong amateur birder, naturalist, and conservationist. When I was learning to speak as a toddler, a neighbor lady who would sit for me used bird flash cards to help me pronounce words. She said the first bird name I ever uttered was "nuthatch", and that I seemed fascinated by it since it was portrayed upside down on the tree trunk. So started my affinity for birds.
Jumping ahead, I attended and later worked as a counselor at an Audubon Society affiliated wildlife study center in West Virginia during the summer of 1974, and we deployed mist nets every morning to band birds. One fellow counselor there had a pet American Kestrel which he had rehabilitated from an injury. That summer we banded birds from owls to hummingbirds, including a confirmed Brewster's warbler, and I was hooked on birding.
From that point forward, my interest in birding never subsided, and as I grew up and proceeded with my first career as a professional photographer (at a time when it truly meant something to be in those ranks (ah, the fetid smell of sour grapes)), I participated in Christmas bird counts and immersed myself in the outdoors by becoming proficient as an advanced whitewater boater, a decent mountain biker, and a somewhat pathetic, yet enthusiastic rock climber (I suffer from APTWR - Attenuated Power To Weight Ratio, which grows worse as the years pass, with no known cure - donate now).
To get back on track, the beauty, diversity of species, the delicacy and intricateness of structure, and the level of environmental specialization and adaptation manifested in the avian world provides me an uninterrupted period of amazement with the natural world. I now work outside in the field of rescue forest products, and I am constantly watching all manner of birds go about their business. Here's an interesting link to a highly atypical individual I spotted downtown the other day.
Not to digress, I had always been captivated by listings in the bird books which, unlike the Carolina Parakeet and the Passenger Pigeon, listed the Ivory Billed Woodpecker as PRESUMED extinct. It's like pregnancy - you either ARE, or you are NOT. Nonetheless, the striking graphic beauty of the IBWO, or CP, as I like to call it, which surpasses even the stunning Pileated Woodpecker due to size alone, and its iconic symbolism of conceptual species decline and possible extinction due to habitat encroachment, came to represent a touchstone of the state of the natural world for me.
When the whole Cornell alleged re-discovery was announced (I'm not trying to start an argument here - I use the word "alleged", because it's just not conclusive enough for many experts or for me), I was ecstatic that it was even possible that CP had been able to survive in an undocumented, if not undetected, state for three generations. It gave rise to a rational hope that if there was one population, there could be more groups, either in the Cache River area or elsewhere.
I began to read books about IBWO, do research on its historical habitat and to follow the news on sightings by study groups and the concurrent hoaxes that popped up. And finally I decided that I would like to go and see the prime habitat where CP would have been most likely at home, so I recently outfitted a Spring Break mini-expedition with boats and cameras of all natures and took my bride of 12 years and 11 year old daughter on their first true birding trip to the rivers and swamps of the Florida panhandle, where we easily saw in one day, 32 species, including golden and bald eagles, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and swallow-tailed kites, as well as unintended up close and personal interactions with a covert, limb-hanging water moccasin and 9 foot alligator whose personal swimming hole spring we accidentally intruded upon. I didn't know my wife, who is from Florida and quite familiar with gators, could shriek that loud. It may be a while before I can get her to ride on the bow of the boat again.
I will post more on the rivers and swamps trip soon with some really nice images of IBWO suitable habitat, and I will also speak of organizing trips to those locales again, but right now I just wanted to say hello, and that I look forward to meeting and knowing many of you and sharing our interest in CP, its hopeful conclusive documentation, and its ultimate conservation and protection, along with its habitat which shelters many species who risk a similar fate to IBWO, but for the efforts of ecologists, naturalists, and conservationists.
Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
Thanks so much for joining and sharing your experiences with us, Drew. Prime IBWO habitats have often been overlooked by avid birders, and the experience of paddling through moss-covered cypresses as the occasional swallow-tailed kite circles overhead and prothonotary warbler calls echo across the swampscape is not to be missed. I once paddled through the Okefenokee at dawn, to a chorus of bellowing alligators and pileated woodpecker drums. Such places have a truly primeval feel that is unforgettable.
Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
Okay Folks normally an ibwo forum is not the place for a platform about other creatures per se but here in this thread we can share about anything we choose to as long as its done respectfully. Considering the gravity of the current situation in the gulf please do as I have done and consider helping the folks that help wildlife that have been affected by the recent environmental disaster. You can contact the National Wildlife Federation and help them here:
Re: Getting to know your fellow Researcher!Go to Top
I guess i'll introduce myself. I joined several days ago.
My name is Jackson Roe. I live in Arkansas and search for the IBWO in Bayou DeView. I have seen the IBWO once, and have heard what I think was an IBWO several times. I go searching in an inflatable kayak, and have a few camera traps I set up to take pictures every 5 minutes. I've captured a lot of animals on those camera traps, including a PIWO, but have not yet captured an IBWO.
Re: Timber or Canebrake is Correct . . .
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