Mission Ivorybill

02/22/2026

(From John Williams)-- Ivory-bills and cicadas...?

01/17/2026

(From John Williams)-- I got an email regarding an AI interpretation of a scientific paper I authored and placed on BioRxiv. After a bit of vetting to make sure it was real, it was real, so I looked at the ideas and hypotheses generated by it. They were ludicrous. The AI placed Ivory-billed and Pileated Woodpeckers both in the genus Campephilus. It also generated a hypothesis that the Ivory-billed would make different kent sounds based on whether it was eating beetle larvae or plant material. This is what I would call "far-fetched" which again is in the realm of ludicrous. I was stunned that AI got its interpretation so wrong. Below is the letter. It is also timely to post links to what I have contributed in the last four years to the IBWO search and knowledge set, below the letter. :) John

"Dear Author,

We are emailing you from Knowledge Lab (https://knowledgelab.org/) at the University of Chicago. We are studying how AI helps scientists extend their work in new directions. We came across your preprint "Spectrograms of ivory-billed woodpecker (campephilus principalis) kent sounds from seven expeditions show 587 hertz as a pattern" and applied custom AI models on it, which generated 5 new extensions (i.e., ideas proposed by AI based on the same context of your paper). Our pilot study of 400 scientists (excluding you) indicates that around 60% found at least one of the proposed extensions thought-provoking and actionable.
Would you like to see these extensions? They are included in the survey link below. The extensions are absolutely free and with no obligations -- although we would sincerely appreciate your thoughts on their quality. If you consent to review them and participate in the survey (link below), you may do so at your convenience within the next 7 days. If you do not consent, please feel free to disregard this email (and we will not collect any data from you and your research).


Click the survey link below, review them, and fill out your thoughts:
Take the survey
Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1yPc7XXPRcCh6Xs?Q_DL=n0vxYM7hgSBcamZ_1yPc7XXPRcCh6Xs_CGC_fL0keUwjj8jc5xD&Q_CHL=email

We would like to assure you that this email is not phishing. This project is conducted in good faith and has no commercial purpose (under the regulation of UChicago IRB25-1372, titled “The Capabilities and Potential of AI for Automating Scientific Idealization: A Large-Scale Human-in-the-Loop Study”). Our goal is simply to help train AI systems to better understand how scientists evaluate good science. We will share the final draft, technical details, and aggregate results from scientists once the study is complete. If you have any questions or would like to verify the legitimacy of this project, you can simply reply to this email, which will reach Honglin Bao, a data science PhD student in Knowledge Lab at the University of Chicago, at [email protected]

We sincerely appreciate your feedback.

Warm regards,
Knowledge Lab & Data Science Institute
University of Chicago"

(The actual AI-generated results are not accessible after I completed and sent in a (negative) evaluation.)

Links to papers-- https://www.biorxiv.org/search/ivory-billed%252Bwoodpecker

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14293/PR2199.001366.v1

07/27/2025

From John Williams-- Thought the group should see this-- go to Programs. Aug 7 is an IBWO presentation.

The UT Arboretum Society sponsors educational lectures, workshops and family activities throughout the year at the Arboretum. We also conduct fund-raising activities to support the operation and targeted needs of the Arboretum.

02/27/2025

Twenty-one years ago today, Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison saw a FEMALE Ivorybill. Some of the other accepted sightings from the Big Woods of Arkansas in 2004-5 were of a MALE Ivorybill.

Thanks to Tim and Bobby for helping keep this magnificent species from being declared extinct! In their honor, here is a program on Bobby's 2020 video.

𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 is an experienced and accomplished Ivorybill searcher. On February 27, 2004, Bobby and 𝗧𝗶𝗺 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 saw an Ivory-bil...

02/22/2025

(From John Williams)-- Thought the group should see this. I took all the DK recordings I could find and looked for a temporal pattern, and one showed up. The sources are good for these to be IBWO. Presuming effort to be the same, with 150 datapoints, a slight pattern emerges for the birds to DK more in the afternoon during Jan-Feb, then switch to the AM for March--

Approximate Hour Of Putative IBWO Double Knocks Per Month Numbers show how many recordings or reports Sources: M = Dan Mennill ARU data with Geoff Hill expeditions L = Live reports from Geoff Hill expeditions C = Cornell expeditions CADK = response to Cornell anthropogenic DK G = Guy Luneau ob...

02/20/2025

From John Williams-- I was out in the woods looking for ostrich ferns and came upon a situation where the trees were making noises from the wind. These were approx. 40 foot tall maples in gusts up to 35 mph. Nothing sounded like a double-knock-- the link is below with a screen shot of a NWS page. To scale this up a bit, a more mature woodland or forest, where the trees might approximate 80 feet, would require even stronger winds. There were many days in just the Geoff Hill study, for example, where sounds like Dks were recorded, weather recorded, with basically no wind.

The idea that trees can cause DKs as the genus Campephilus does should not be considered seriously.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_evyNWqjtYg47dAxBDu74a5Ka8PIA1bX/view?usp=sharing

01/26/2025

From John Williams-- Here is how wrong AI can get a search. I have a paper about head cams, typed in Bing "an efficient camera system ivory-billed woodpecker" and was given in large font the following, which is so wrong it invites a lawsuit for misleading researchers. My research was not in the "Cash" River. What AI did is combine two very different studies-- "To capture the elusive Ivory-billed Woodpecker, scientists have installed a ** camera system in Arkansas's Cash River National Wildlife Refuge**12. The camera system is always-on, has a combination of field of view and zoom, and is aimed to maximize chances of obtaining a definitive image of this species1."

01/19/2025

Scheduling Conflict for tomorrow night, so no monthly Zoom tomorrow. February's Zoom (2/27/25) will be twice as good to make up for it:)!

12/12/2024

(From John Williams)-- I've consolidated headcam research into this paper and offer a link here before placing it on BioRxiv. Input is welcomed. Happy Holidays all!--

An Efficient Camera System For Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Active Searches John D Williams Mission Ivorybill December 2024 Abstract Because of the rare, quick, and unpredictable nature of reports encountering the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a camera system is offered that is always-on, has a combinatio...

11/18/2024

Tonight's Zoom presentation focuses on misconceptions about the Ivorybill.

One of my biggest misconceptions was that HABITAT DESTRUCTION was the only explanation for the rapid decline of the species. In one of our previous Zooms, Brewster Medal winner, Geoff Hill made a compelling argument that HUNTING PRESSURE was the major cause of the plummeting numbers of Ivorybills.

This is such a critical insight. If the cause of the decline were habitat destruction, then Ivorybills could have been doomed to extinction because there simply wasn't enough good habitat for survival. The hunting hypothesis, on the other hand, provides more hope regarding the successful recovery of the species. Hunting pressure can (and has been) GREATLY (if not completely) improved. Habitat destruction, however, cannot be quickly remedied.

If you like nature and conservation, all of Dr. Hill's excellent presentation is worth a listen. If you just want to listen to the few minutes regarding the hunting pressure theory, start at the 16:30 mark of the video:

Brewster Medal-winning ornithologist, 𝗗𝗿. 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹, provides an excellent overview of extinction in North America. He also explains why he think...

11/08/2024

(From John Williams)-- Going over some notes, thought to share this again for newer readers; it was presented as a Mission Ivorybill Zoom. All it takes is one person to get the reasoning, use or adapt an idea, and get definitive evidence--