The Zeiss Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Begins January 17, 2002 in Louisiana.CHESTER, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2001 Business, Sports, Entertainment & Lifestyle Editors International Search Team to Participate in 30-Day Expedition Zeiss Sports Optics, a leading manufacturer of high-quality sports optics, today announced that the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker ivory-billed woodpecker, common name for the largest of the North American woodpeckers, Campephilus principalis. Once plentiful in Southern hardwood forests, since 1952 it was believed to be extinct or nearing extinction. will begin on January 17, 2002 in southeastern Louisiana. The team of five official searchers, and other birding experts who have volunteered their services, will spend 30 days in the Pearl River Pearl River, uninc. village (1990 pop. 15,314), Rockland co., SE N.Y., near the N.J. line. It is a residential suburb of New York City, and a computer and telecommunications research and development center. Pearl River River, central Mississippi, U. Wildlife Management Area conducting the most extensive search in decades for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in this part of the state -- a search for a bird that is widely believed to have been extinct for at least 50 years. The Zeiss-sponsored search came about after David Kulivan, a forestry student at Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, generally known as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public, coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the main campus of the Louisiana State University System. , reportedly saw a pair of Ivorybills while turkey hunting in the Pearl River area in 1999. Experts, including Dr. Van Remsen, an ornithologist at Louisiana State University and curator of birds at its Museum of Natural Science, deemed it a very credible report. Since then, searches have been made in the Pearl River area but none for an extended period of time. "We saw an article about David Kulivan's sighting and were intrigued," said Anthony R. Cataldo, vice president and general manager, Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss (September 11, 1816 – December 3, 1888) was an optician commonly known for the company he founded, Zeiss. Sports Optics U.S.A. "After speaking with Dr. Remsen and officials at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' Natural Heritage Program more than a year ago about the merits of an extended search, they were eager to proceed. We have been in the planning stages for months now." Dr. Remsen offered to recruit two experienced birders for the search and placed an ad on his Web site. The response was overwhelming. "We had 50 highly-qualified applicants from around the world apply for these two positions and soon realized that the combined skill sets of some of these individuals would greatly increase our chances of locating the Ivorybill if it still exists in this area," said Dr. Remsen. "Zeiss graciously agreed to sponsor three additional searchers." The international search team includes: Richard L. Knight - one of Tennessee's most active and experienced birders and the author of numerous birding articles. -- Martjan Lammertink - born in The Netherlands and now residing in Indonesia, Lammertink has spent 21 months searching for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Imperial Woodpecker The Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis) is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. Due to its close relationship and similarity to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, it is sometimes also called "Mexican Ivorybill" but this name is also used for the Pale-billed in Cuba and Mexico. -- David Luneau - a professor of electronics and computers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, it became a private four-year institution, called Little Rock University, in 1957. It returned to public status in 1969 when it was merged into the University of Arkansas System under its present name. , Luneau has already spent extensive time searching the Pearl River area and will be assisting in the deployment of electronic recording devices to detect woodpeckers. -- Peter McBride - a habitat biologist from Washington, McBride did his thesis research on the Magellanic Woodpecker and has extensive field research in several areas of North America and South America. -- Alan Wormington - based in Ontario, Canada, Wormington is one of the most experienced birders in North America and has served on the American Birding Association The American Birding Association (ABA) is a non-profit organization of people interested in birding. Membership is open to all, but many of its publications and programs have historically been aimed at birders who like making difficult field identifications and finding rare species. Checklist Committee and the editorial board of North American Birds <onlyinclude> This list of North American birds is a comprehensive listing of all the bird species known from the North American continent north of Mexico. </onlyinclude> . To maximize the chances of locating an Ivorybill, Dr. Remsen formed an official search planning team that has been working with the searchers for months. In addition to Dr. Remsen, the planning team includes: David Kulivan; Nancy Higginbotham and Gary Lester of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' Natural Heritage Program; Dr. Vernon Wright of LSU's School of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries; Dr. Keith Ouchley of the Louisiana Nature Conservancy; Alison Styring of LSU's department of biological sciences and Museum of Natural Science; Dr. Jerome A. Jackson of Florida Gulf Coast University About FGCU History The newest university in the State University System of Florida, the school was established by then-governor Lawton Chiles in 1991, although the site of the university wasn't chosen until 1992, and construction pushed back even further still (until who is the world's leading authority on the history and biology of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker; and Dr. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a laboratory dedicated to research in the field of ornithology at Cornell University. The lab is focused on the understanding and conservation of birds, but also does research, more generally, on biological diversity; specific programs include . Cornell will be deploying state-of-the-art electronic recording devices in the Pearl River area during the search that is scheduled to last for 30 good-weather days. Additional information on The Zeiss Search and links to articles about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker can be found at www.zeiss.com. About the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Many experts believe that the American population of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has been extinct for at least 50 years, but reported sightings have continued, stirring hope that some may have survived the intense deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. of the past century. Averaging 20 inches tall, with a wingspan of 31 to 33 inches, the Ivorybill made its home primarily in the southeastern and Gulf Coast regions of the United States, where it lived among old-growth river-bottom timberland. Here they would strip bark off of dying trees with their powerful ivory-colored bills to reach the bugs and larvae Larvae, in Roman religion Larvae: see lemures. beneath. These massive trees, so attractive to the Ivorybill, were equally appealing to the timber industry, and it is widely believed that logging led to the extinction, or near extinction, of the bird. About Zeiss: For more than 155 years, Carl Zeiss has maintained a reputation for leading the evolution of optics to the high-tech precision that outdoorsmen Outdoorsmen are men who enjoy hunting, fishing, and camping out in the woods. Typically, they live in the northern United States or Canada. Stereotypically, they are flannel wearing, beard toting men like Paul Bunyan or the Brawny paper towel mascot. know today. Headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany, the company is a world-renown manufacturer of optics. Zeiss pioneered the development of binoculars in 1894 and continued to build on its strength as an innovator by introducing the world's first roof prism binocular binocular, small optical instrument consisting of two similar telescopes mounted on a single frame so that separate images enter each of the viewer's eyes. As with a single telescope, distant objects appear magnified, but the binocular has the additional advantage in 1897 and inventing anti-reflection coating in 1935. The U.S. headquarters for the distribution of Zeiss sports optics is located in Chester, Virginia. |
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