occupancy and data separation

[Mateo]

I have a question about how to deal with data separation in a single season occupancy model.

One site covariate perfectly predicts absence (hence the data separation). If a use the covariate I get Beta = -37 and SE = 0, which makes sense given the data separation, but I expect reviewers to object to SE=0. Am I wrong about that?

My ideas:
1) Sweep the covariate under the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist. (Kidding!)
2) Declare the covariate a perfect predictor, designate sites where it predicts absence as non-habitat, and analyze only the remaining sites.
3) Use a totally different analysis, like maybe a classification tree or bias-reduced logistic regression.
4) Post a question on the phidot phorum.

Any suggestions?

My apologies if this has already been addressed. I did a search for “data separation” and did not find any posts.