"The Thing With Feathers"

Even though as a person I am not very interested in birds or ornithology, I actually thought this article that I read by Wells tower was quite interesting and attention grabbing. The author really gets into his topic of the article which is the ivory billed Woodpecker by adding comedic qualities like humor and sarcasm. One example would be when he said " I thought, oh, shit. Here I am, a guy with no education, no formal training, saying he'd seen an ivory bill. I expected everybody to say, 'Sparling, you idiot, you moron, you're delusional'". I also thought this article was interesting because the author added a lot of detail to the writing whether it be to describe the birds appearance or how the trip went.

From reading tis article, I see the group had a lot of dedication in finding this woodpecker until  they actually found the bird. if I was put in their shoes and wanted to look for a species that was said to be extinct but rumors were that it has came back to life, I would do a pleather of research of what its habitat like, main food source, and areas it was originally found so I can answer the question if it existing once again or is just a hoax to fool the lover of the species or people ho are incredibly interested.

If I did find the species I would for sure report my findings whether people doubted me or not because finding a species that once was extinct and suddenly is not anymore is a big deal in my eyes. I would gather as much info and evidence as I possibly could though so people could do the same or to make some believe me either way I would know what I saw so it doesn't mtter if people believed if I found the creature or not.

 

"The Thing with Feathers"

As a child my family was very big into ornithology and herpetology (the study of reptiles) so we toured the country in our little camper and went hiking, backpacking and canoeing so from a very young age I knew how to identify and track many animals, especially birds. So the answer to Rachel's question is very complicated. I know I could identify the bird if I saw it, because I have worked with palliated woodpeckers for many years and all that separates the two birds is a stripe and the color of their eyes. The bigger question would be what to do with that information. After some thought and reflection I think I would end up going to the Nature Conservatory very quietly and giving them the GPS location of the sighting so they could lead a more in depth search. Its hard to know what the balance is between enough press and too much because as the article stated sometimes our helpful blundering ends up causing more harm then good, like the case of the condor chick. These sorts of events need to have some media coverage otherwise the event would not be looked at as a credible source; but if you have too much media then everyone and their brother is going to be out there trying to catch a glimpse of something that might or might not be there. This is why I would quietly go to the Nature Conservatory and let them choose what to do with press and search parties. I don't think that the amount of fame that would come with announcing that you had found the bird out be worth the possible harm that would come to the environment and the bird itself.

This is a very tricky topic filled with "ifs" and "buts" which makes it a particularly hard topic to cover. It almost reminds me of the search or Bigfoot, though I do not believe in it some people do. There have been countless sightings of it but still nothing really tangible. When do you decide to stop the hunt? When is it safe to say its gone? These are interesting questions and thats what makes this subject so hard to cover.            

"The Thing with Feathers"

After reading this article, my impression was different than the blog leader. There were no pictures of the majestic creature, or any video that was not fuzzy showing the existence of the sought after prize.  I felt like the accounts by Sparling provided little evidence in the existence of the ivory bill, and beyond that there is much to be gained by the community in which the supposed sightings occurred. The sightings happened in a poor part of the delta that has much to hope for. I don't blame the community, i'm just saying that they need change and this is an opportunity that they may be embracing. The way that Sparling describes himself made me feel like he may be someone that is trying to live out a fantasy that he has had in finding the rare specimen. 

 There was also money donated and land bought for the use of conservation, so whether or not the bird was actually sighted is not a huge issue to me. If there was much to be gained by future generations of animals in my community I may even be swayed to say that I spotted an animal that I didn't. I would be tempted to do this in hopes that my decision was for the greater good. With that being said, I respect the fact that there is now land being set aside for future generations of animals. I sincerely hope that I am misinterpreting the article and the ivory bill is elusiveness has kept the breed alive.

“The Thing with Feathers”

Tower’s article “The Thing with Feathers” has some contrast to Eckleberry’s “Search for the Rare Ivorybill” even being on the same general topic, the ivory-billed woodpecker.  Eckleberry started with the history of the fight for the ivory-billed woodpecker before transitioning into his own personal story as he tells of the last living of the species.  Tower’s on the other hand, begins with the announcement of the reemergence of the ivory-billed woodpecker.  Overall, Eckleberry’s story had a sadder and depressing mood while this article was more light-hearted, such as having jokes here and there.  One thing that was similar, however, was the conclusion.  Even though they started out completely different, Towers depicts in the last few lines a fleeting hope to see the ivory-billed woodpecker, only to be tricked by a group of automobiles on a nearby highway.  If you think about it, they both end mildly depressingly.  While there was hope at the beginning of the article, like in Eckleberry’s story, it diminishes towards the end. 

Like most of the rest of my classmates, as it seems, if I did supposedly spot and ivory-billed woodpecker, I doubt I would report anything on it.  My reasoning is that I do not trust myself to know enough about the ivory-billed woodpecker to be able to identify it.  Additionally, I doubt I would even realize it at the time even if I could as I am not an avid bird watcher or any of the sort so I don’t think I would even think about it at the time.  However, under the right conditions, were I able to identify it and be conscious of the event, I believe that Sparling’s course of action is among the best.  I have little doubt that his fears about the media would have come true if he would have just came out and said that he found the bird.  For this reason, if I could identify the ivory-billed woodpecker and happened to see one, I think I would attempt to follow what Sparling did.  

"The Thing with Feathers"

This 2006 article, entitled “The Thing with Feathers” Wells Tower writes of Gene Sparling’s unlikely discovery of the extinct ivory-billed woodpecker and how it led to a massive secretive search for this bird. Tower’s use of colloquial language in the title and throughout the entire article helped him engage with a broader audience, not just the usual ornithologist. His vivid details and description of the search and the surrounding town kept the readers engaged and feel as if they are somehow personally connected to it. The story is uplifting in that it tells of an extinct bird prevailing even though mankind had destroyed its home and hunted them down.

In response to Rachael’s question, if I were ever in this situation I don’t think I’d be able to tell what kind of bird it was even if it was sitting right in front of me. But if I could, I’d like to think that I’d go about it just as Sparling did, but like him, I’d be afraid of people calling me crazy or accusing me of nailing taxidermy ivory-billed woodpeckers to a tree. If the universities had jumped on board like they did with Sparling, I don’t think I would have dedicated two years of my life to sitting in a swamp looking for this mysterious bird. 

"The Thing with Feathers"

First off, I would like to say that these last two blog posts have got me spinning over the Ivory-billed woodpecker. Last post all hope was lost of ever seeing another ivorybill again. This post has the opposite emotions and a sense of fulfillment. This article was exciting to read because it would be thrilling if somehow the ivorybill could come back and through all odds survive. But I had my doubts starting with the source. Mr. Sparling is not a professional bird watcher and I had a hard time trusting a man who is not a professional. My opinion changed when the two Cornell professors were convinced that Sparling did indeed see an ivorybill. That made my heart jump a little and keep me wanting to read more. The hope that the ivorybill is still out there was at an all time high. But as the article went on there were only small instances where someone might have seen the bird. Sparling never saw the bird again and neither did the Cornell professors. It was cool to almost go along with the narrator as he hunts for the ivorybill. To see and even feel his excitement as he searched for the bird. At the end of the article it became clear to me that hope for the bird's survival was thinning. There could be an ivorybill out there but the likelihood is very slim. There are reasons for misinterpreting a bird for the ivorybill. But there is something soothing to think that the ivorybill is beating the odds and getting another chance at survival.

I also imagined finding the ivorybill for the first time and I have to say I would be a very happy camper. I would not be able to keep this a secret so I feel for Sparling. I am not much of a bird person but I know if I would see this bird in the flesh I would become bird crazy.

"The Thing With Feathers"

As Rachael said, I am not much of a bird person either. I have always been interested in animals but never birds. I found this article to be interesting because of Sparling's passion for the bird. Sparling and his fellow colleagues would go to any extreme to find the ivorybilled. Sparling would spend numerous hours looking for the ivory billed and pretty much dedicated his life to finding it. It helped his credibility when other colleagues of his spotted it to make it seem realistic and not crazy. As far as Rachael's question, I think if spotted an ivory billed woodpecker I would be able to go around and tell people about it. I would tell people and describe the situation in great detail to make it credible and real and if people don't believe my story that is ok because I would know the truth to it. Even if some people don't believe your story some people will, and this could possibly open the door to more sightings of the bird. As far as the passion and time that Sparling invests in spotting the ivorybilled, I have my passions and things I obsess over, but these things do not take over my life. I do not think I could dedicate my whole life to something like Sparling did finding the woodpecker. Overall, I found this article to be interesting because of Sparling's quest to find the bird and the extremes he took to spot the bird and make people believe that it was still out there.