Abstract
ScienceScience is a human endeavor, replete with all the trappings and promise of science as well as all the foibles of humans. Ghost Bird, an 85-minute documentary film [1] about the possible rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in eastern Arkansas in 2004, bares the very fabric of science along with the diversity of public perceptions that color this fabric with hues of economic, political, and conservation hopes, dreams, and realities. This is a story about people perhaps even more than it is about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. It is very much about the interfaces and interactions of science, conservation, culture, politics, and the news media.
Highlights
Science is a human endeavor, replete with all the trappings and promise of science as well as all the foibles of humans
At the scientific heart of the film is the claim by John Fitzpatrick and his colleagues of ‘‘confirmation’’ of the existence of the Ivory-bill in eastern Arkansas [3], and skepticism of that claim by others (e.g., [4,5])
While Ghost Bird presents the story of a manuscript by the skeptics that Fitzpatrick convinced the authors to withdraw, only two of the four authors of the manuscript are mentioned in the film (Prum and Jackson); the other authors were Mark Robbins and Brett Benz from the University of Kansas
Summary
Science is a human endeavor, replete with all the trappings and promise of science as well as all the foibles of humans. I acknowledge up-front that I am interviewed in the film, served on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Team of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and was among the first to challenge the potential rediscovery of this iconic bird.
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