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I do not know if this has been circulated yet, but I was sent this by a good friend in the US. 9/26/06 Tim Meeks, (334) 844-2445 or (678) 200-4960 (meeksta@auburn.edu) Carol Nelson, (334) 844-8121 or (334) 309-6050 (nelsoc4@auburn.edu) AUBURN SCIENTISTS PUBLISH EVIDENCE OF IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKERS IN FLORIDA AUBURN - A research team led by Auburn University professor Geoff Hill, Ph.D., has compiled evidence that a population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers exists in a remote river basin in the panhandle of Florida, as reported today in Avian Conservation & Ecology, an electronic scientific journal (http://www.ace-eco.org). Hill, an author, professor and ornithologist in AU’s College of Science and Mathematics, led a kayaking expedition in May, 2005 with two research assistants, Tyler Hicks and Brian Rolek, along a section of the Choctawhatchee River in the Florida panhandle. Soon after they started their float down the Choctawhatchee, Rolek observed an ivorybill in flight and Hill heard a double knock, the signature sound of the ivorybill. Numerous large cavities in trees and places where thick, tightly adhering bark had been scaled from dead trees added impetus to the sighting. “It was just to be a weekend outing looking for potential habitat,” said Hill, who at the time was writing a book about bird coloration. “We really never dreamed we’d actually find an ivorybill.” Hill and his assistants made subsequent visits to the area, located near the town of Bruce, Fla., in an effort to better document the birds. On the weekend after their initial discovery, Hicks, an expert in bird identification, got a clear view of a female Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which has distinct plumage, including a white trailing edge on the upper wing, white stripes down the back and an all black crest. Hill then organized a follow-up search of the area and invited Dan Mennill, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Windsor in Ontario, to join the search team. Mennill, who is an expert at recording and analyzing animal sounds, devised a means to remotely record sounds in the swamp and erected seven listening stations in the area of the ivorybill sightings. “The regular, ongoing reports from Dr. Hill and his research team for the past 16 months have provided me an extraordinarily captivating and rewarding experience,” said Stewart Schneller, dean of the AU College of Science and Mathematics. “In turn, the excitement that exists with the anticipation of their future investigations is beyond description.” While the Auburn and Windsor scientists are confident in their discovery that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers persist in the swamp forests along the Choctawhatchee, they realize that the evidence amassed to date is not conclusive proof. Hill emphasized that “the only evidence that would constitute irrefutable proof is a clear photograph or video of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and such an image has to date eluded us.”
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