Expensive Early Bird

You may recall that I blogged about a big flap over the supposed re-discovery of an extinct woodpecker in Arkansas last summer. Many months and thousands of manhours later, not one additional woodpecker sighting has been recorded. The orinthologists who expressed skepticism from the very beginning are less than amused by Cornell's antics. So am I, for that matter:

The bird's seemingly miraculous survival for many decades caused a stir among conservationists worldwide, and the US government moved quickly to appoint a recovery team and commit more than $10 million to try to rescue the species.

Well, that was money well-spent, wasn't it? We paid a group of self-described conservationists millions of dollars to tromp around in a swamp and kill thousands of trees for no good reason. It would be funny if I weren't paying for it.