A sad tale with a newly hopeful ending: the Ivory-Bill!

Poststructural Pub
1

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/index.html

This will take you to the Cornell ornithology lab’s page about the ivory-billed woodpecker. Long thought extinct, a team from Cornell documented at least 15 sightings of a bird in Arkansas, seven of which are to be published in today’s Science magazine, and captured a few seconds of the bird on video.

You might be familiar with at least the name of this bird, since it’s often used in discussions about extinction in the United States. A magnificent bird – the largest woodpecker we have – the bird lived across the south in deep forests, but as almost all of the hardwood forests were cleared over time, its numbers fell until the last one was spotted in the first half of the twentieth century (there have been scattered reports of sightings since then, but none confirmed). They are about the size of a crow, huge for a woodpecker, and boldly colored in black and white, with males displaying the famous Woody Woodpecker red crest. In some parts of the south, they were called the “Lord God” bird, or the “Good Lord” bird, because anyone who saw one of these huge woodpeckers usually exclaimed one of those phrases. Extensive searches have been made for the bird since the last one was spotted, but one was never seen, so the bird was finally considered extinct.

Last year, a kayaker thought he spotted one in Arkansas, and researchers from Cornell subsequently traveled there and confirmed his sightings. It’s amazing that the bird has survived despite the almost complete loss of its habitat, and is a testimony to the fact that conservation efforts aimed at habitats, rather than individual species, can have great results.

Anyway, I’m walking on air at the news. I’m a bird nut.

2

An artist’s image of what an ivory-
billed woodpecker looks like. So far,
naturalists have captured only a fleeting
video image of the rare bird in Arkansas.

There’s an article and news clip about this bird on [u]NPR[/u]. A second half of the story runs tomorrow. This mornings new said the bird hadn’t been seen in 60 years. I have friends that will probably be heading down there now. I suppose quite a few people are already headed that direction. Bird watchers tend to be pretty intense.

3

That’s the most depressing part. Hopefully the authorities will have some way of limiting access so the birders don’t end up hounding this poor creature to death.

The influx of Great Grey owls this past winter was a low point in the world of birder and bird-photographer ethics. I read lots of reports of these owls, most of which were starving, dying after being pursued by photographers or being killed by cars after being lured to roadsides by birders who tossed out food for them.

I used to be an enthusiastic birder, but stopped participating in birding groups years ago because I was so disgusted by people’s behavior. There are lots of birders out there who observe accepted codes of ethics, but there are many more who don’t. It’s a shame.

4

That’s great news!

We’re “backyard” birders. We just put out food in our bird feeders and see what comes along (other than squirrels and raccoons!)

I’ve had a trio of male blue jays come back every year for the past 5 years (wonder how long they live?). They all were from the same nest - saw them when they were still “juveniles” and they have continued to hang around together - which is unusual behavior for male blue jays.

Also have a cardinal - if I see him this year this will be the third year - that we have christened “baldy”. He doesn’t have a crest on his head - there’s a big gray patch instead.

And, we get the usual “dive bombing” humming birds!

Missy

5

I hope so, too. I think it’s in a pretty inaccessible area, so probably only the most driven birders will try to get there, but as Lorenzo noted, there are some crazy-intense birders out there who’ll do anything to add a species to their “life list”.

I’m an enthusiastic birder (well, lately more of a hiker who keeps his eyes peeled for birds), but I don’t keep a list, or go out in birding groups. Some birders seem to consider the birds just a commodity, something to see so they can cross it off on their to-do list. Sort of like watching some tourists travel through Europe: “Okay, we’ve seen Notre Dame and the Louvre and Big Ben and the Leaning Tower of Pisa; now off to kiss the Blarney Stone and . . .” Seeing a birder disturb a nesting bird or running down a hungry owl . . .oy.

Nonetheless, I’m very happy that it appears that the ivory-bill has survived, and may make a slow recovery if more habitat can be restored. I’m going to bask in the hope for a while, rather than bemoan what might happen if unethical birders descend on the place. Hope’s a good thing.

6

Wow! That is amazing news. I had heard about the people investigating in Louisiana a while back, but I didn’t know that there had been a likely sighting in January in Arkansas. I hope they can protect the area from people going in. Surely it would not be hard to justify.

Keeping a list of the birds you have seen can be a way of remembering trips you’ve been on and just remembering what birds you’ve seen. I have a hard time identifying birds and if I am finally sure of what I am seeing I find it rather a treat to mark the date and place on a list. I’m sure it can be carried to an extreme, just like anything.

7

Yeah, I’m sorry if I was so negative…I guess I’m still sore about the great grey owls, which was a big issue here in Montreal where we had a large group of them on an island just north of the city. The local birding hotlines stopped providing the locations of sightings because too many people were harrassing the birds.

It is indeed wonderful that this ivory-bill was sighted, and my fervent hope is that where there’s one there might be more…it’s possible that these birds are exceptionally long-lived and this could just be a lone survivor, but I’m hoping it turns out that there’s a small population that can be encouraged to grow!

8

That is good news for the woodpecker!

BradHurley wrote:

I used to be an enthusiastic birder, but stopped participating in birding groups years ago because I was so disgusted by people’s behavior. There are lots of birders out there who observe accepted codes of ethics, but there are many more who don’t. It’s a shame.

I was to at one time an enthusiastic birder, living just miles from Pointe Pelee but alas with the influx of birders who really don’t care if they trample each other, litter the land, speed down the highways from one place to other killing the birds they’re hunting, I have left birding altogether.

Every year it gets worse around here, great for the economy bad for the birds.

MarkB

9

Now someone in tasmania just needs to dig up a thylacine! :slight_smile:

10

Sheesh, give a guy a silver lining and watch him rip it up in search of the cloud. (Brad after winning the lottery: “Crap. Now I’m going to get calls from a bunch of distantly related gold-diggers . . .”)

Kidding! Kidding. It’s hard not to be a little guarded about stuff like this, esp. when one’s well versed in conservation issues (as Brad is). I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the woodpecker.

And yeah, a thylacine would be awfully cool, too.

11

You know, the sightings the NPR story is talking about were in an area not far from where I grew up in Arkansas. I’m expecting that Arkansas hunters will be looking forward to a ivory-bill hunting season at some point in the future.

I kid the Arkansas hunters. I kid because I love.

Dale

12

Lets just hope false “sightings” don’t start happening all over the place and feathers offered for sale on eBay!!

The Lord God Bird

  • Interior Secretary Gale Norton called the find an "exciting opportunity.

“Don’t love this bird to death,” Norton added, saying there has not been time to make plans for public access to view the bird.

Once prized by Indians who believed that its bill possessed magical powers, the ivory bill was also hunted in the late 19th and 20th centuries for its feathers, popular on ladies hats. Loss of habitat was its main threat, however.

The ivory-billed woodpecker, one of the largest such birds in the world, is one of six North American bird species thought to have become extinct since 1880. While somewhat rare, the bird ranged widely across the southeastern United States until logging eliminated many forests between 1880 and the 1940s.

Sometimes called the white-back, pearly bill, poule de bois and even Lord God bird, the ivory bill was known for the two-note rap of its bill as it ripped into tree bark in search of edible grubs and beetle larvae.

There have been anecdotal reports of the birds, but the last conclusive sighting in continental North America was in 1944 in northern Louisiana. A subspecies of the bird has been reported in Cuba. -[u]more[/u]

13

I am so totally PSYCHED!!!

:party: :party: :party: :party: :party:

Robin

14

That’s cool! Thanks for posting. I’ll be on the look-out, although I seriously doubt one of these will visit my back yard. Maybe one day I’ll get to see one.

I wouldn’t call myself a bird fanatic, but I do enjoy feeding and watching the birds, and I get excited when I see a species I haven’t seen before or don’t get to see very often. Last week I opened the blinds in the front room just in time to see a roadrunner scurrying down our street! That was neat.

15

Let’s hope they don’t start spontaneously combusting like the frogs!

16

I remember my dad telling me about them and how over the years there were reported but unconfirmed sightings. This was in Tennessee.

17

I saw one in the woods of Vestavia, south of Birmingham, Alabama, with my brother and a friend sometime in the fall of 1965, or the spring of 1966, but of course I can’t prove it. It was locally known by a slightly different name than the ones already given: The “Lord Almighty Woodpecker.” I prefer this name over the others, myself.

18

I just read about those in “Our Southern Highlanders”. I’d never heard of them before.

19

Has anyone here seen a large red raccoon? My grandmother and I saw a very large one, about the size of a German shepherd dog, one evening. We went home and told Grandpa what a huge raccoon we’d seen and he asked if it was a red one. We said it was, and he said that the red ones get big like that. Said that he’d seen one before and shot it (maybe in the 1940’s) and they ate it. The only raccoon they’d ever eaten. The one we saw was within about a mile of where Grandpa grew up, and it was about twelve years ago.

20

(update)

Disputed Ivory-billed Woodpecker - Judge Halts Irrigation Project

[u]Washington Post[/u]

By ANDREW DeMILLO
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 20, 2006; 3:39 PM

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A federal judge halted a $320 million irrigation project Thursday for fear it could disturb the habitat of a woodpecker that may or may not be extinct.

The dispute involves the ivory-billed woodpecker. The last confirmed sighting of the bird in North America was in 1944, and scientists had thought the species was extinct until 2004, when a kayaker claimed to have spotted one in the area. But scientists have been unable to confirm the sighting.

Still, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that for purposes of the lawsuit brought by environmental groups, he had to assume the woodpecker exists in the area. And he ruled that federal agencies may have violated the Endangered Species Act by not studying the risks fully.

“When an endangered species is allegedly jeopardized, the balance of hardships and public interest tips in favor of the protected species. Here there is evidence” that the ivory-billed woodpecker may be jeopardized, he said.

The National Wildlife Federation and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation had sued the Army Corps of Engineers, arguing that the project to build a pumping station that would draw water from the White River would kill trees that house the birds and that noise from the station would cause the woodpeckers stress.

The judge said the Corps and the Interior Department must conduct further studies before proceeding.

The Corps began building the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project last year, about 14 miles from where the bird was supposedly spotted. It suspended work in mid-March to keep from exceeding its budget and is scheduled to resume construction in October with the start of a new fiscal year.

About $80 million has been spent so far. The project is scheduled to begin delivering water to farmers in 2010 or 2011.

The kayaker’s claim to have seen an ivory-billed woodpecker in the woods near the White River caused a sensation in scientific circles. But more than 100 volunteers and researchers who spent weeks last winter trying to find conclusive evidence of the bird’s existence came back empty-handed.

The Corps had conducted a study showing the project would not significantly harm the woodpecker’s habitat, but environmental groups said the study was too narrow.

Under the judge’s order, the agencies must evaluate any ivory-bill nests and forage sites within 2 1/2 miles of the construction project.

The pumping station would draw 158 billion gallons from the White River per year. Authorities said it is needed because the main aquifer beneath eastern Arkansas’s soybean, cotton and rice fields is running out of water and could run out by 2015, causing economic hardship.

A Justice Department lawyer said this year that a one-month delay would cost the Corps as much as $264,000, and a six-month wait $3 million.