Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: Unextincted (again)

Several years ago, researches released a bombshell on the birding community when it was revealed that Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers (Campephilus principalis), which had thought to be extinct since 1944, were found in the Cache River Basin in Arkansas. The birding community – and the greater scientific community, and to some extant the larger public – were stunned at the news and researchers, conservationists and birders all went to work. That work involved: a) protecting the land; b) confirming the finding and c) seeing if they might exist elsewhere as well. Well, (a) was accomplished fairly quickly, but (b) has been a lot more difficult to achieve. However, it was released today that (c) might have been accomplished.

In an article in Avian Conservation and Ecology Journal online, researchers Geoffrey Hill, of Auburn University in Alabama, and Daniel Mennill of the University of Windsor write that they have found a second population in the Choctawhatchee River Basin in Northwestern Florida. According to the article, the researchers heard the unique “double-rap” and calls of the IBW many times and had at least 14 sightings – but no video or photographs.

The article says that on 5/21/2005, they found a bird in the swamp – and from then on recorded 99 distinctive “double knocks” and 210 IBW calls. As with the Cache River find, I’m sure that this will stir up some controversy. I’d been hearing rumors of this announcement for a couple of weeks, and it was nice to hear. There might be another one coming, although I think this was the big one that people were whispering about (although I do remember something about “9 pairs” that aren’t referenced here). Either way, I’m really psyched to hear that the IBW might still be around – and that I might actually have a chance to see a specimen one of these days…