Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Still Missing and Feared Extinct After More Than Sixty Years
In the last decade there have been numerous reported sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, but definitive proof still eludes search teams in the Southeast US.
The last time anyone saw an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, with enough solid evidence to convince ornithologists, was in 1944. From that time, until 2004, the species was feared, and believed by many, to be extinct. Since 2004, however, when M. D. Luneau acquired a short and much disputed video of a bird that appears to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, much time and money have been spent trying to confirm that the bird exists.
About Ivory-billed Woodpeckers
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is one of the largest species of woodpecker, and the largest native to North America. The black and white adult bird (males have a red crest) is between 46 and 51cm long (18-20 inches) and has a wingspan of about 80cm (31 inches).
Ivory-billed Woodpeckers had a small range, even in pre-colonial times, living only in the Southeastern United States and Cuba. They inhabit old growth hardwood forests—swampy bottomlands and wilderness areas—where they feed on beetle larvae in dead and diseased trees and, to a lesser degree, on wild fruits and nuts.
What Happened to Ivory-billed Woodpeckers?
The decline of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is largely attributable to habitat loss: the lumber industry decimated the old growth hardwoods of the Southeast by the 1930s leaving only isolated patches of good habitat for the birds. A few such patches remain today, notably in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, and in the Florida panhandle.
Pressure on the birds also came from feather collectors and from bird enthusiasts who deliberately and unthinkingly shot them as collector’s items. In a stunningly illogical desire to have their own specimen, birders hunted the woodpeckers more avidly the rarer they became.
The Difficulty of Confirming that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Still Exists
Since the 2004 sighting in Arkansas, both scientists and citizen birders have joined in the search for confirmation, while others find the evidence unconvincing and consider the effort a waste of precious resources that could be spent on more rewarding pursuits.
The mystery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has a certain romance for the public however, and conservationists have astutely observed that either credible evidence or confirmation of the bird’s existence paves the way for conservation of habitat that’s critical for many other species.
There are a number of reasons why the woodpecker may be hard to find, even if it does exist:
- The swampy wetlands of its preferred habitat are difficult to search in, especially when water levels are high.
- Ivory-billed Woodpeckers travelling longer distances tend to fly above the forest canopy where they can’t be seen from below.
- The species may be nomadic, moving from place to place in search of food and nesting sites.
- Ivory-billed Woodpeckers look somewhat similar to the common Pileated Woodpecker, making identification of birds seen from a distance problematic.
Confirming an Ivory-billed Woodpecker Sighting
Searches continue in Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. If you spend time in ivory-billed territory, familiarize yourself with the identifying features of Ivory-billed and Pileated Woodpeckers, and carry a camera—only a clear unambiguous photograph of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker is likely to settle the debate once and for all.
Sources:
Draft Recovery Plan for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta, Georgia.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America. Fitzpatrick, John W., Martjan Lammertink, M. David Luneau Jr., et al. Science: 308, 3 June 2005, 1460-62.
The Search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
