Hey! One of the professors working on this entire thing, Martjan Lammertink, is working in a lab below mine this summer. He had an awesome lecture on everything a few weeks ago, and Eric and I went and checked it out.

Big reason why they went public with the woodpecker is that it started to get very hard to keep it a secret. Reason why they didn't want to? THe influx of birders and other amateurs who would go down and try getting a glimpse of it during the ongoing scientific investigation and run the risk of ruining everything.

Now that everyone knows, they're planning on using the people who live there to help them track it, as well as I'm sure many people and companies would be more than glad to contribute in different ways.

It's so exciting, though. He showed us different pictures and told us almost everything they have found and let us listen to the recordings..

It's so uplifting! Even Eric got excited about it by the end, and he really didn't want to go.

http://www.livejournal.com/~agloriousday/424760.html?nc=7

oh, by the way, the double-drum that was recorded is indicative of communication between woodpeckers of that family (they have relatives in S. America), normally either a male announcing its presence to other males, or talking to a mate.

They also recorded a song that matches the old recording exactly. Many doubters say that they've heard Bluejays yell it, but having learned and listened to Bluejays, everyone who heard it during the lecture knew that this was something else.

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