Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Picus principalis Linnaeus, 1758

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is classified as Critically Endangered (CR), facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Learn more about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker at Birds of North America Online. - Visit the Big Woods Partnership The Big Woods Conservation Partnership is led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Nature Conservancy, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the U.S. More

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is or was one of the largest woodpeckers in the world, at roughly 20 inches in length and 30 inches in wingspan. Native to the virgin forests of the southeastern United States (along with a separate subspecies native to Cuba), due to habitat destruction and to a lesser extent hunting, its numbers have dwindled to the point where it is uncertain whether any remain. More

In early 2004, the ivory-billed woodpecker, a ghost of the old South, flashed through a swamp sparking an unprecedented search. Track the efforts to find the ivory-bill. The Big Woods - At 550,000 acres, the Big Woods of Arkansas are the second-largest contiguous block of bottomland hardwood forest in North America. Learn more about the Big Woods. More

Although the ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct in the United States for more than 60 years, it has since been re-discovered in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge of Arkansas. Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is where the ivory-billed woodpecker was re-discovered. Photo by Mississippi River Trust-Steven Stake. Gene Sparting, who first saw the ivory-billed woodpecker in 2004. Photo by Phillip Hoose. More

Order Official Ivory-billed Woodpecker Conservation Stamps and Prints ONLINE ! $15.00 Ivory-billed Woodpecker Conservation Stamp design $15.00 Ivory-billed Woodpecker Conservation Stamp design Ivory-billed Woodpecker Conservation Stamp (Click for enlarged stamp!) NEW: Ivory-billed Woodpecker sighting & Updated Ivory-billed Woodpecker video page! The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is also referred to as "The Grail Bird" because seeing an Ivory-bill in person is considered the "Holy Grail" of birding. More

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 (Fitzpatrick et al., 2005). No definitive confirmation of those reports emerged, despite intensive searching over five years following the initial sightings. In June 2006, a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to the discovery of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker nest, roost or feeding site. More

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker, once thought to be extinct, has been confirmed and documented in the CacheRiver and White River forests of eastern Arkansas. Ivory-billed Woodpeckers once inhabited the bottomland hardwoods and pine forests of southeastern United States and Cuba. This large black and white woodpecker disappeared as its habitat has increasingly declined. It has been more than 60 years since the last confirmed sighting of this bird in the United States. More

Tallulah, Louisiana, shoots an ivory-billed woodpecker in the Singer Tract swamp forests of Madison Parish to prove to state wildlife officials that the birds still exist in the area. More

For 50 years the ivory-billed woodpecker has been widely considered extinct. But the Elvis of the bird-watching world is alive in eastern Arkansas, bird experts announced today. (Watch a video on the discovery from the Nature Conservancy .) Ornithologists reported the bird's rediscovery in a remote area of wetland forest. The discovery "is huge, just huge," said Frank Gill, senior ornithologist at the New York City-based National Audubon Society. "It is kind of like finding Elvis. More

overseeing the Ivory-billed Woodpecker’s recovery effort expressed interest in the latest results of work to find the elusive woodpecker in the Florida panhandle. At the same time, while the agencies indicated the evidence to date is promising, they said the bird’s presence is not yet confirmed. - Learn more . . . More

pair of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers need 6 to 10 square miles or more of habitat. The larger the home range, the less quality habitat there may be to support a pair. Pairs are thought to mate for life and are also known to travel together. These paired birds will mate every year between January and May. Before they have their young, they excavate a nest in a dead or partially dead tree about 8-15 meters up from the ground. Usually three eggs are laid and incubated for 3-5 weeks. More

The Ivory-billed woodpecker once lived in eastern Texas, bringing the list up to nine. In general, woodpeckers require older trees and snags (dead trees) for feeding and nesting. Conservation of our mature forests and urban woodlots will ensure habitat for these important birds, as well as other species of wildlife dependent on their cavities. Each species photo and caption underneath links to line art drawings of both the male and female of each bird species. More

Ivory-billed Woodpecker was reported from the panhandle of Florida. Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama) ornithologist Dr. Geoff Hill led the team who observed the birds along the Choctawhatchee River, a floodplain forest filled with tall bottomland hardwood trees. Like the series of sightings on the Cache River in spring 2005, these more recent sightings occurred in southeastern bottomland hardwood forest - rich habitat that is also home for Swallow-tailed Kites, Prothonotary Warblers, and other wildlife. More

Ivory-billed WoodpeckerSoutheast Region * Refuge Finder * Service Finder * Office Finder * Contact Finder * Southeast Region * About the Bird * Description * Seen One? * For Birders * More

in the world, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was a bird of old-growth forests of the Southeast. Destruction of its forest habitat caused severe population declines in the 1800s, and only a handful of birds remained into the 20th century. It was thought to have gone extinct in the middle of the twentieth century. The bird was rediscovered in the "Big Woods" region of eastern Arkansas in 2005, but has proven difficult to relocate since then. For a full account of this story, including conservation efforts, go here. More

Elusive Ivory-billed Woodpecker search must go on - The Huntsville Times - 2/24/08 - Volunteers on a mission to locate Ivory-billed Woodpecker in SC - The State - 2/21/08 - Poll: Do you think Ivory-billed Woodpeckers still exist? - The Owl Box Blog - 2/12/08 - More on search for elusive Ivory-billed Woodpeckers - Stokes Birding Blog - 2/12/08 - Scientists searching for More

Presumably, living Ivory-billed Woodpeckers traverse about and forage everyday, 365 days a year, week-after-week, year-after-year, decade-after-decade. And at some point during those daily jaunts they likely vocalize with 'kents' and double-knocks that have some carrying capacity through the forest. More