[mou] IBWP is questioned

[Laura Erickson]

The article in the New York Times does not say that members of the team
doubt the sightings.  The article says, "The expected publication of the
paper and the rebuttal was confirmed in interviews and e-mail exchanges
with two authors of the challenge, Richard O. Prum and Mark B. Robbins,
ornithologists at Yale and the University of Kansas, as well as with two
members of the team that reported finding the woodpecker."

The writer of the NYT article was a bit convoluted, but was actually
saying that he'd confirmed the paper opposing the sighting by consulting
two people on both sides of the controversy.

I'm trying to keep my links about the issue up-to-date on my blog.  I have
links to the July 18 article in Nature about the controversy, today's New
York Times article, and the original Science article, as well as to the
Arkansas birding list, which has been discussing the issue for a while.

www.birderblog.com

Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN

Staff Ornithologist
Binoculars.com
www.birderblog.com

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. 
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the
winter.

			--Rachel Carson


> In the New York Times (Today's New York Times) You can read about the
> dispute.  What I found in the article surprising is that even two members
> of the team that found the bird in question are also disputing the
> sighting.
>
> I am also curious to see how the ABA records committee is going to handle
> this bird.  This sighting and the arguments from both sides is going to be
> a dog fight. Reputations are at stake and careers/organizations can be
> ruin or severely bruised in this battle.
>
>
> Michael Hendrickson
> Duluth, Minnesota
> Minnesota Birding Treks
> http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/