Following are excerpts from Joseph McClain's 10/29/2015 article on William & Mary's website. I share it as an update to my post last week.
Article's opening paragraph:
Article's opening paragraph:
It was a stealth operation. A group of highly trained specialists infiltrated the area at dark, quietly deploying a range of technical apparatus to neutralize and secure eight carefully selected individuals, then whisking their captives miles away to a set of safe houses.
Closing paragraph - keeps things in perspective:
Watts explained that the establishment of a second population of Virginia’s red-cockaded woodpeckers has been a goal of several conservation groups for a decade. But, he said, the yardstick of the success of Operation Woodpecker will be in the reproduction.
“It’s a milestone,” Watts said. “But we need to keep in mind the distinction between introducing birds, like we did last week, versus birds establishing a population, which we won’t know until we see breeding in the spring.”
