… because it used to be EXTINCT!
But then, it got better.
From the National Geographic:
The rare recurve-billed bushbird, recently rediscovered by scientists in Colombia after a 40-year absence, sports a curving beak that gives the illusion of an enigmatic smile.
This photograph, taken by a conservationist with the Colombia-based nonprofit Fundación ProAves, is the first ever taken of a live bushbird.
The elusive species had not been spotted between 1965 and 2004, due to its limited range and remote habitats. It was seen recently in Venezuela and in a region of northeastern Colombia, where it was photographed.
Researchers found the bird in a 250-acre (101-hectare) reserve next to the Torcoroma Holy Sanctuary near the Colombian town of Ocaña, where in 1709 locals claimed they saw the image of the Virgin Mary in a tree root. The forests of the sanctuary have been protected by Catholic Church authorities in the centuries since.
So, if I am not mistaken, the moral of this story is the following:
“If you see an endangered (or in this case “extinct”) animal, don’t tell anybody you saw it*, but instead tell people you saw the Virgin Mary” — or maybe just a “Virgin” (Look frank, a Virgin, we gotta make shrine out of this here woods.”
Forget the endangred species act, what we need is an “Endangered Virgin Mary” act — or perhaps just “Endangered Virgin” act.
*No one will believe you anyway (not even if you have the live bird in a cage), unless you are an officially sanctioned “Ivy League Ivory Bill Researcher with a PhD in ornithology”.
Bob: Be careful what you wish for…
… I can imagine an endangered virgin act. With the failure of the Immigration Bill, this may be Bush’s last chance to leave a legislative mark. Instead of just a brown spot.
yeh, before I ever moved into the Oval Office, i think I would order a new chair.
I’m not too worried about the possible ramifications of an “Endangered Virgin Act”. I’m sure as soon as their numbers started increasing (assuming the government put them in an isolated area in Antarctica — with a “zero visitation” policy — that is), the government would delist them and it would be “open season” again.
And my last comment was quite serious by the way.
Lots of the local people had sighted the Ivory Bill, but it took the Cornell Ornithologists to “rediscover” it. Sheer hubris. Nonsense, really.
I didn’t know that about the Ivory Bill.
“this may be Bush’s last chance to leave a legislative mark. Instead of just a brown spot.”
Which spot? The one he left on that chair in the Florida schoolhouse when he heard that his business partner Osama had actually carried out their plan? hehhehe
I am guesing that this statement is one of those correlation is not causation and visa vis dealies:
” The forests of the sanctuary have been protected by Catholic Church authorities in the centuries since.” I mean, it was declared extinct and then
These are not the first photographs. Check out these sites for the story and first photographs
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=89957&highlight=bushbird
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=62754&highlight=bushbird
http://www.birdvenezuela.com/v.....shbird.htm
recurve bow are great!
www.recurvebow.org