American ivory-billed woodpecker
| Ivory-billed woodpecker | |
|---|---|
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| A hand-coloured photo of a male from 1935 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Campephilus |
| Species: | C. principalis |
| Binomial name | |
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Campephilus principalis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Subspecies | |
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Campephilus p. principalis |
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| Synonyms | |
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Picus principalis Linnaeus, 1758 |
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Campephilus p. principalis
†Campephilus p. bairdii
Picus principalis Linnaeus, 1758
The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world, at roughly 20 inches (51 cm) long and 30 inches (76 cm) in wingspan. It is native to the virgin forests of the Southeastern United States (along with a separate subspecies native to Cuba). Because of habitat destruction and, to a lesser extent, hunting, its numbers have dwindled to the point where whether any remain is uncertain, though reports have indicated it has been seen again in the current century. Almost no forests today can maintain an ivory-billed woodpecker population.
The species is listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The American Birding Association lists the ivory-billed woodpecker as a class 6 species, a category it defines as "definitely or probably extinct".
Reports of at least one male ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas in 2004 were investigated and subsequently published in April 2005 by a team led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. No definitive confirmation of those reports emerged, despite intensive searching over five years following the initial sightings.
An anonymous $10,000 reward was offered in June 2006 for information leading to the discovery of an ivory-billed woodpecker nest, roost, or feeding site. In December 2008, the Nature Conservancy announced a reward of $50,000 to the person who can lead a project biologist to a living ivory-billed woodpecker.
In late September 2006, a team of ornithologists from Auburn University and the University of Windsor published reports of their own sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers along the Choctawhatchee River in northwest Florida, beginning in 2005. These reports were accompanied by evidence that the authors themselves considered suggestive for the existence of ivory-billed woodpeckers. Searches in this area of Florida through 2009 failed to produce definitive confirmation.
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Wikipedia