Woodpecker sightings reported

After spending months in remote northwest Florida swamps searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker, researchers say they have seen and heard the rare bird once believed to be extinct.

But Auburn University ornithologists, who published their findings in Canada’s Avian Conservation and Ecology journal online Tuesday, failed to capture a picture of the large woodpecker, which makes a distinct double rapping sound.

That lack of evidence means doubt remains about the bird’s existence.

The bird was thought to be extinct until 2004, when Cornell University researchers released recordings and an inconclusive grainy video after searching for it in the swamps of eastern Arkansas.

Washington

Plame query costs at $1.44 million

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they have spent $1.44 million so far investigating the 2003 leak of a CIA operative’s identity.

Since Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and other attorneys in the case already were on the government payroll, most of the costs were covered as a “paper transfer” from one government account to another.

The only additional cost to taxpayers was $333,000, most of which went to travel and contractual services such as research and court recorders. Investigators did not rent office space in Washington, eliminating an expense that drove up costs for previous investigations involving top government officials.

“We do believe we were very conscientious with the expenditure of taxpayer funds,” said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Fitzgerald’s office.

Since 2003, Fitzgerald has been investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame, who claims she was outed as retribution for her husband’s criticism of the Bush administration’s prewar intelligence.

Nobody has been charged with leaking Plame’s name.

The only person charged in the case – former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby – faces perjury and obstruction charges.