 Enews Signup
 Printer Friendly
 Send Page to Friend
|
Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Campephilus principalis
Family: Picidae
Description: Mostly black plumage, almost a glossy blue-black, especially on wing-coverts; outer primaries and tail duller black. Males have red crest, white stripe on side of head extending from below eye down side of neck and onto side of back, broad white “shield” created by white of inner primaries and all secondaries when wings folded over back. Long, ivory-colored, chisel-tipped bill. Female similar to male but slightly smaller, crest entirely black and somewhat longer. Juveniles similar to adults of each sex but somewhat browner and with somewhat rounded tip to bill (especially from above) and shorter crest.
| Status: |
Federally Listed Endangered (June 2, 1970) Global Rank: G1 State Rank: S1 |
Distribution: Resident formerly from eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, northeastern Arkansas, southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Kentucky, and southeastern North Carolina south to the Gulf Coast and southern Florida, and throughout Cuba. Historic records for this species in Arkansas include: Osceola, Mississippi County, 1887; Newport, Jackson County, 1885; Marked Tree, Poinsett County, 1889; Helena, Phillips County, 1812.
Habitat: Information regarding the full extent of habitat conditions preferred by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is lacking. In the United States, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker appears to be associated with forested wetlands, especially the bottomland forests of the southeast. In Florida, the species was noted as nesting in bald cypress swamps and foraging in recently burned upland pine forests.
Diet: The diet of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker consists of both animal and plant material. The larvae of wood-boring beetles make up a large portion of the diet, particularly those beetle larvae associated with dying and newly dead trees. Plant material reported from the diet includes the seeds of poison ivy and magnolia as well as persimmons and hickory nuts.
Reproduction: Ivory-billed Woodpeckers generally breed sometime between January and May. Nest cavities are excavated in living or dead trees approximately 15 to 60 feet above the ground. Females lay one to four eggs. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs. Chicks typically hatch after 20 days and stay in the nest for around five weeks. Once out of the nest, juveniles follow their parents on foraging bouts for two or more months. Juvenile birds separate themselves from their parents typically in the winter.
Conservation Status: The widespread harvesting and clearing of forests across the southeastern United States during the early 20th century decimated this species habitat. The removal of the majority of old growth forest and mature trees resulted in a loss of roosting and nesting sites as well as elimination of dead and dying trees that supported populations of wood-boring insect larvae. Hunting also had an impact on some localized populations.
By the 1940s, the only confirmed population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers was restricted to a bottomland hardwood forest in northeastern Louisiana. That forest, known as the Singer Tract, was later logged. The last confirmed sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker was made at that site in 1944. A more recent sighting in southeastern Louisiana in 1999 has not been confirmed.
In 2004, purported sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in eastern Arkansas sparked large-scale search efforts. Based on data collected from sites in Arkansas, a research team headed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology published evidence in 2005 that stated the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still persists in North America. Others in the scientific community have contested the evidence presented thus far. Conservation agencies with responsibility for this species accept the evidence as substantial and continue to take into account the biological and habitat requirements of this species in making management decisions.
