The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world, at roughly 20 inches long with a 30-inch wingspan. It is native to the southeastern United States and Cuba. This majestic bird was nicknamed the “Lord God bird” for the exclamations of awed observers. Unfortunately, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is believed to be extinct. The last generally accepted sighting in the United States was back in 1944 in Louisiana.
When did the Ivory-billed Woodpecker go extinct?
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was once widespread across the southeastern United States, from North Carolina to Texas and south through Cuba. But habitat loss and hunting decimated its numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1930s, the only known population was in a tract of virgin forest along the Tensas River in northeast Louisiana.
In April 1944, Audubon Society artist Don Eckelberry observed a male Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the Tensas River swamp. This is considered the last universally accepted sighting of this species in the continental United States. There were unconfirmed reports in the following decades, but most scientists believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker went extinct in the United States sometime in the 1940s.
Cuba held isolated populations of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers into the 1980s before logging apparently wiped them out. Unconfirmed sightings occasionally surface, but there is no definitive proof the species survives anywhere in its historic range.
Where were the last sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker?
Most alleged sightings of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers after 1944 came from the southeastern swamps of Louisiana, the habitat where they were last known to survive in the United States:
- A sighting along the Choctawhatchee River in the Florida panhandle in 1985.
- Multiple sightings around the Pearl River in Louisiana in the 1990s and early 2000s.
- A reported sighting near the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas in 2004.
- A flurry of sightings in the Big Woods region spanning Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in 2004-2005.
These reports briefly renewed hopes the Ivory-billed Woodpecker persisted, prompting searches of the swamps and forests of the southeast. But there has been no definitive evidence – clear photographs, video, DNA samples, or carcasses. The lack of proof despite intensive efforts leads most experts to conclude the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is more myth than reality in the 21st century.
Why is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker so hard to find?
There are several factors that explain why the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has been so elusive if it still exists:
- Small population size – By the 1940s, it was reduced to an isolated pocket along the Tensas River. Populations that small are vulnerable to extinction.
- Remote habitat – It survived in thick, swampy forests and wetlands that are difficult for humans to access and survey.
- Wariness – As a hunted species, it displayed very shy and reclusive behavior.
- Misidentification – Other woodpecker species are sometimes confused with the Ivory-billed by inexperienced observers.
- Lack of nest sites – Logging of old-growth forests depleted its preferred nesting trees.
With no more than a handful of birds potentially remaining by the mid-20th century, the odds of encountering an Ivory-billed Woodpecker grew vanishingly small. The fact that any sightings occurred at all after 1944 is considered remarkable by ornithologists.
Could the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still exist?
While unlikely, some scientists hold out hope that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker persists in some remote wilderness. Its habitat ranged over millions of acres, with large tracts remaining relatively untouched. Given how quickly birds can disappear, some experts caution against prematurely declaring the species extinct based on lack of evidence.
In the mid-2000s, there were promises of good habitat still left to search, and rumors the birds had adapted to nesting in different types of trees. Enthusiasts noted the mountain gorilla and coelacanth were both rediscovered after being thought extinct. Until every tree is cut down and tract of forest surveyed, hope remains that a lucky sighting could prove the Ivory-billed Woodpecker survives.
Where should future searches focus?
The most promising areas to search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers are remote, swampy hardwood forests, especially:
- The Louisiana swamplands around where the last confirmed sightings occurred – Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Atchafalaya River Basin.
- Okefenokee Swamp on the Georgia-Florida border.
- Congaree National Park in South Carolina.
- Big Woods region of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
These locations have large tracts of mature forest with significant deadwood, good habitat for ivorybills to roost and nest. The difficulty is that these habitats make searching very arduous. The use of camera traps may make surveys more efficient in the future.
Conclusion
The likelihood of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker surviving into the 21st century is very slim. Most experts believe it went extinct sometime in the mid-20th century as logging wiped out old-growth forests across the southeastern United States. However, a handful of sightings have given some biologists hope that a few ivorybills may persist in remote swamps and forests. Until extensive targeted searches using modern tools like camera traps are conducted, the possibility of rediscovery remains.