LVIS to Search for Elvis with Woody's Help

Many bloggers (including Ivory-bill Skeptic and Ivory-bills LiVE!!) have commented on the recent announcement that NASA will use the technology of it’s airborne Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor to map and analyze the vegetative structure of potential habitat of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. But no one, to date, has pointed out the irony between the pronunciation of the acronym (LVIS) for the laser and the nickname (Elvis) given by members of the Big Woods Conservation Partnership to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker purportedly discovered in Arkansas.

Better yet, we learn that the first name of the Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., is none other than Woody. I find this quite ironic, considering that many of the news stories reporting the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the subsequent controversy have included references to Woody Woodpecker, the fictional cartoon character.

It remains to be seen whether LVIS (the laser) and Woody (the person) will be the saviors of Elvis (the woodpecker) and his kin (if any survive).