The Million Dollar Bird

Not only is the Ivory Billed Woodpecker incredibly rare, it's also expensive. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the search for the Lord God Bird cost at least a million dollars.
All told, searchers put in 20,000 hours along the Cache and White rivers in eastern Arkansas to come up with 16 brief sightings that add up to maybe one minute of face time with the Arkansas Delta’s comeback kid. .........
Unlike the unsuccessful 2002 search for ivory-bills in Louisiana that was followed closely by the public, the Arkansas hunt dodged publicity. Search leaders from The Nature Conservancy and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology in New York took great pains to keep their mission under wraps by requiring all participants to sign confidentiality agreements. The Nature Conservancy even bought a house in Cotton Plant and rented two more in St. Charles for out-oftown researchers to stay in so a spike in hotel stays wouldn’t spawn rumors. "It was kept quiet because everyone realized we had to be sure this time," Simon explained.
The article has a detailed description of the search.... and also reveals that the "bird rush" hasn't started yet.
The Waffle House in town hasn’t reported any extra business, and neither has the Super 8 Motel next to Interstate 40. It'll really be a big deal when the Waffle House notices.