The ivory-billed woodpecker

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The Ivory-billed

Woodpecker

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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On February 11, 2004, kayaker

Gene Sparling caught a glimpse

of a large and majestic

woodpecker in the Cache River

National Wildlife Refuge of

Arkansas. The encounter

spurred an extensive scientific

search for a species that many

feared extinct. Additional

sightings and a video from the

search have shown that the

Ivory-billed Woodpecker — what

John James Audubon referred

to as the “great chieftain of the

woodpecker tribe” — has cheated

extinction and so given future

generations a chance to view

this majestic species.

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The Ivory-billed Woodpecker

resembles its more common, but

slightly smaller cousin, the Pileated

Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus).

Often seen in suburban as well as

more forested settings, the Pileated

Woodpecker averages 17 inches in

length, has black trailing edges on

the wings, a solid black back, and red

and white on the face. By comparison,

the Red-headed Woodpecker

(Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is only

nine inches long. Adults have a solid

red head without a crest, while

immatures have a mottled gray head.

Description

At 20 inches in length, the Ivory-billed

Woodpecker (Campephilus

principalis) is among the world’s

largest woodpeckers. The wings show

a white trailing edge from above and

below. These white wing patches fold

to form a white “shield” or “saddle”

on the black back when the bird is

perched. A white line forms below

the eye, runs down the neck, and onto

the back of the bird. The face is

largely black, as is the chin. Males

have a prominent red crest; the

female’s crest is black.

Red-headed

Woodpecker

White trailing

edge of wing

Pileated

Woodpecker

Ivory-billed

Woodpecker

Cover photo: USFWS/

Larry Richardson;

illustrations above:

© David Allen Sibley

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Cache River National Wildlife Refuge

USFWS/Larry Richardson

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Male

Ivory-billed

Woodpecker

Male

Pileated

Woodpecker

Illustrations above:

© David Allen Sibley

Life History and Reproductive Biology

Knowledge about Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers is limited because

there have been few in-depth studies

of the species. Most of the

information known about the species

comes from a three-year study

conducted by James Tanner of a

population of Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers from what was known

as the Singer Tract in northeast

Louisiana. Tanner found that the

ivory-bill is usually territorial, but

when resources dictate it can be

nomadic. He estimated a home range

varying from one pair per six square

miles to one pair per seventeen

square miles. The ivory-bill needs a

much larger range as compared to

the Pileated Woodpecker (six pairs

per one square mile) or Red-bellied

Woodpecker (21 pairs per one square

mile). In poorer foraging habitat,

Ivory-billed Woodpeckers’ home

range size may be even larger.

Most ornithologists who studied the

Ivory-billed Woodpecker, beginning

with Audubon and continuing

through Tanner, believed that it

mated for life. Ornithologists today

speculate that the birds may live

between 10 and 15 years.

It is thought that breeding is initiated

between January and April. A pair

excavates a cavity that is 15 to 70 feet

high in a dead tree or the dead portion

of a live tree where fungus has

softened the wood. A site under a

broken limb may be favored for the

protection it offers from sun, rain and

predators. The nest entrance is oval,

taller than wide, and larger than a

typical Pileated Woodpecker’s

entrance. The clutch size is two to four

eggs and only one clutch is laid in a

year. Both sexes incubate the eggs

and feed their young, which remain

with the parents through the summer

and in some cases until the following

nesting season.

James Tanner’s

photo of an Ivory-billed

Woodpecker

at the Singer Tract,

Louisiana, 1935,

Arthur A. Allen/

courtesy of David

Allen.

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Vocalizations

The call of the ivory-bill is a nasal-sounding

kent – – often described as

sounding similar to the toot of a tin

horn. Ivory-bills are also known for

the unique double-knock they make

when striking a tree with their beaks.

Ornithologists believe this double-knock

is used for family groups or

mated pairs to keep in contact, for

announcing territorial boundaries to

other ivory-bills in the vicinity, and to

locate a mate. Most woodpeckers in

the ivory-bill’s genus (Campephilus)

make a similar double-knock.

The call of the ivory-bill was

originally recorded during the 1935

Brand-Cornell University-American

Museum of Natural History

Ornithological Expedition, organized

by Dr. Arthur Allen, founder of the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The 1935

sounds and video of the ivory-bill

were captured on the Singer Tract in

Louisiana by Peter Paul Kellogg, who

used a movietone system. These 1935

recordings are still used today for

playback by ivory-bill searchers.

They are also the sounds against

which modern recordings of possible

kent calls are checked.

Today researchers are using devices

called autonomous recording units

(ARUs). The ARU, which was

invented by the Cornell Lab of

Ornithology’s Bioacoustics Research

Program, includes a small hard drive

that is programmed to run at peak

times of activity for ivory-bills.

During the 2004–2005 search in the

Big Woods of Arkansas, 24 ARUs

were used to capture more than

18,000 hours of sounds. Cornell

researchers believe that a number of

sounds captured on these Arkansas

recordings may be those of the ivory-bill.

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Diet and Foraging

Behavior

Ivory-bills are

specialists in

their feeding

habits and feed

frequently on

beetle larvae

associated with

recently dead

and dying trees.

The birds use

their chisel-like

bills as wedges to

pry bark to

obtain the beetle

larvae located

underneath. The

ivory-bill seems

to prefer

members of the

long-horned

beetle family,

Cerambycidae,

and other wood

boring beetle larvae. Birds may

range widely in search of recently

dead trees that harbor these larvae.

Various nuts (pecans) and fruits

(hackberry, persimmon, and grapes)

are part of the diet as well. Events

that kill large numbers of trees such

as hurricanes, ice storms, floods,

drought, fires, disease and insect

infestations are believed to provide

excellent habitat for ivory-bills.

Historical Distribution and Abundance

Ivory-bills once inhabited large

blocks of mature forests in the

southeastern United States, from

North Carolina to Florida and west

to eastern Texas and Arkansas. They

were also known to inhabit old-growth

pine forests in Cuba.

Ornithologists believe the species was

never abundant since populations

were limited by the availability of

dying and recently dead trees for

foraging and trees large enough to

support cavities for roosting and

nesting.

Above: J.J. Kuhn

(left) and Paul

Kellogg record

sounds of the

Ivory-billed

Woodpecker at the

Singer Tract in

Louisiana during

the 1935 Ornitho-logical

Expedition

organized by

Arthur A. Allen of

Cornell, courtesy

James Tanner.

Below: Ron

Rohrbaugh,

director of the

Ivory-billed

Woodpecker

Research Project at

Cornell, puts up an

autonomous

recording unit

(ARU) in the Big

Woods of Arkansas,

Cornell Lab of

Ornithology/

Melanie Driscoll.

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The ivory-bill’s

precipitous decline began

in the latter half of the

19th century as forests

were cut to support a

growing demand for wood

products and cleared for

settlement and agriculture.

Technology and the

resource demands of two

world wars increased the

logging rate in the 20th

century, further decimating

essential habitat. In

addition, excessive

collection of birds for

commercial, recreational,

scientific, and educational purposes

also contributed to declines as the

range became restricted. By 1939,

James Tanner estimated that 22–24

birds remained in the United States.

Only widely scattered, large remnants

of mature, seasonally flooded forest

provide the best potential for habitat

today. Recent decades of

reforestation and improved forest

management practices should provide

more habitat as stands mature.

The Singer Tract and the

Disappearance of the Ivory-bill

By the 1920s, ornithologists believed

that only a few Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers remained and that the

species was headed for extinction.

Rumors of a population along the

Tensas River in northeast Louisiana

proved true when a Louisiana state

legislator shot one in 1932 on an

80,000-acre tract owned by the

Timber harvest

near White River

National Wildlife

Refuge in

Arkansas, 1940,

USFWS.

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Singer Sewing

Machine

Company. Word

of this

‘rediscovery’

spread, giving

ornithologists

hope that if the

Singer Tract

could be

protected, the

species might

survive.

Sponsored by

the National

Audubon Society,

James Tanner, a

doctoral student

at Cornell

University,

conducted a

detailed study of the species’ biology,

ecology, and distribution from 1937–

1939. Tanner wrote the definitive

book on Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

based on his findings.

The same year Tanner began his

research, the Singer Company sold

logging rights on their property to

the Chicago Mill and Lumber

Company. In 1938, logging began.

Tanner believed that logging and the

ivory-bill could co-exist, and outlined

a land management plan for the

Singer Tract that would reserve some

areas, selectively cut others, and

clear cut others. He provided this

plan to Chicago Mill, but his

recommendations were ignored.

During his years at the Singer Tract,

Tanner saw the population decline to

only six birds.

John Baker, president of the National

Audubon Society, appealed to

President Franklin Roosevelt, who

directed the Secretary of Interior to

try to save the land. Baker secured a

$200,000 pledge from Louisiana

Governor Sam Jones to purchase the

James Tanner on

the Singer Tract in

the 1930s. Photo

from Tanner’s

collection.

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property. Jones, along with the

governors of Tennessee, Mississippi,

and Arkansas, wrote to Chicago Mill

asking them to conserve the habitat

to save the bird. Despite these

efforts, the company refused to

cooperate.

Running out of options, Baker sent

National Audubon Society’s Richard

Pough to the Singer Tract in

December 1943 to search for another

bird. At a place called John’s Bayou,

Pough sighted what was until now

believed to be the last Ivory-billed

Woodpecker in the United States.

Artist Don Eckelberry, who also

worked for the National Audubon

Society, visited the same spot in April

1944 and drew one final sketch of the

bird as logging crews devasted the

forest near the bird’s roost tree.

Donald Eckelberry’s

painting of what has

until now been

believed to be the last

Ivory-billed

Woodpecker in the

United States.

Eckelberry painted

the bird flying across

the cutover forest of

the Singer Tract in

April, 1944. Courtesy

Jerome A. Jackson.

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Above: a tree with

bark and wood

stripped. Below:

expanded view of

woodpecker bill

marks found on

bark-scaled tree in

the White River

National Wildlife

Refuge. Possible

evidence of the

presence of the

Ivory-bill. Both

USFWS/Steve

Holzman.

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Jackson County

1986

Possible Encounters of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

1944 to present

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Since the ivory-bill’s last

confirmed sighting in the

United States at the Singer

Tract in 1944, there have

been many unconfirmed

reports of the bird. Data

taken from “In Search of the

Ivory-billed Woodpecker”

by Jerome A. Jackson and

USFWS files.

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Post 1940s sightings

The last widely-accepted sightings of

the birds in the United States were

those that took place at the Singer

Tract. However, there have been

numerous intriguing reports of ivory-bills

since that time.

John Dennis was a prominent

woodpecker biologist who in 1948

snapped the last scientifically

accepted photographs ever taken of

an ivory-bill in Cuba. In 1966, Dennis

reported seeing a female ivory-bill in

The Big Thicket of east Texas, but

his sighting could not be confirmed

by subsequent searchers.

While other promising reports,

including fleeting glimpses and

possible calls, have come from places

like the Atchafalaya Basin in

Louisiana, the Okefenokee Swamp in

Georgia, the Yazoo River in

Mississippi, the Pearl River in

Louisiana and the Santee Basin in

South Carolina, none of these

sightings have resulted in conclusive

physical evidence.

Tim Barksdale

(Birdman

Productions) and

Marc Dantzker

(Cornell Lab of

Ornithology),

videographers for

the ivory-bill

search team,

Cornell Lab of

Ornithology,

Elliott Swarthout.

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Rediscovery, 2004

On February 11, 2004, kayaker Gene

Sparling observed a huge and

unusual woodpecker in the Cache

River National Wildlife Refuge of

Arkansas. Tim Gallagher of Cornell

University and Bobby Harrison of

Oakwood College visited the swamp

with Sparling two weeks later and

had a close-up sighting of presumably

the same bird. This was the first time

in more than 60 years

that two qualified

observers together had

identified an Ivory-billed

Woodpecker in the

United States. These

sightings spurred an

extensive scientific

search, launched in

March 2004 by the Big

Woods Conservation

Partnership which

includes the Cornell Lab

of Ornithology, The Nature

Conservancy, Arkansas Game and

Fish Commission and the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service.

The search team included more than

100 individuals who spent up to 14

hours a day in canoes looking for the

bird in the swampy bayous of eastern

Arkansas. The team’s work was

focused at Cache River and White

River Refuges and nearby wildlife

management areas managed by the

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

This initial five-month search season

resulted in at least seven credible

sightings of an Ivory-billed

Woodpecker, and a brief video filmed

by David Luneau of the University of

Arkansas at Little Rock. After

extensive analysis, the video was

determined to be an ivory-bill. More

than 18,000 hours of audio recordings

during the combined 2004 and 2005

search periods also captured what

researchers believe is the ‘double-knock’

and kent call of the ivory-bill.

Bobby Harrison

searches for Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers

in the Cache River

National Wildlife

Refuge. He and

colleague Tim

Gallagher

identified an

ivory-bill there on

February 27, 2004.

The Nature

Conservancy/

Mark Godfrey.

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From Discovery to Recovery

Although the ivory-bill was listed as

an endangered species in 1967, it was

the rediscovery in 2004 in the Big

Woods of Arkansas that prompted

the formation of a federal recovery

team. The purpose of the recovery

team is to prepare a comprehensive

recovery plan for the species, advise

stakeholders on conservation actions,

and assist with implementing

recovery actions. The recovery plan

is the document that summarizes

everything that is known about the

biology, ecology, and distribution of

the species. It also describes the

conditions necessary for removing

the bird from the endangered species

list, outlines recovery actions, and

identifies research needs. Much

about the species remains to be

discovered, including the current

population status and distribution.

Therefore, an effective search

strategy is another component of the

plan. The recovery plan is scheduled

to be completed by June 2007.

Habitat Management

and Conservation

Degradation and loss of habitat led to

the rapid decline of the Ivory-billed

Woodpecker. Conservation and

management of adequate habitat will

be key to the bird’s recovery. Quality

habitat includes both upland and

lowland sites with very extensive,

continuous, multi-species, uneven

aged forest cover. Quality forest

habitat would include large trees and

a continuous supply of stressed and

dying trees.

Forest management practices on

federal and state lands are

undergoing review and revision to

enhance habitat for the species.

Federal cost-share programs, such as

the USDA Farm Service Agency’s

Conservation Reserve and

Enhancement Program and the

Natural Resource Conservation

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Service’s Wetlands Reserve

Program, are available for private

landowners in priority areas who

wish to provide habitat on their

property. Allowing dying and dead

trees to remain standing is

encouraged to provide foraging,

nesting and roosting habitat.

Federal Land

Acquisition

and the Duck

Stamp

As part of the

recovery

strategy, the

U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service

may also acquire

additional lands

from willing

sellers using funds from a number of

programs. One key acquisition

program is the Federal Migratory

Bird Hunting and Conservation

Stamp program, commonly known as

“Duck Stamp.” This $15 stamp is one

of the most successful conservation

programs in the country, investing

98% of funds generated into land

conservation. While all waterfowl

hunters age 16 and older are

Sara Barker and

Elliott Swarthout

of the Cornell Lab

of Ornithology

map out their

search for the bird,

Cornell Lab of

Ornithology/Ken

Rosenberg.

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required to purchase and carry Duck

Stamps, anyone can purchase one to

invest in conservation. Since its

inception in 1934, the sale of Federal

Duck Stamps has generated more

than $670 million, resulting in the

purchase or lease of over 5.2 million

acres of waterfowl habitat in the U.S.

In fact, more than 44,000 acres at

Cache River National Wildlife

Refuge were purchased using

Federal Duck Stamp funding.

Conserving Arkansas’ Big Woods

While the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Recovery Team will examine the

needs of the species throughout its

historic range, much of the initial

conservation and recovery focus will

be centered on the Big Woods of

Arkansas.

Long before the Ivory-billed

Woodpecker was rediscovered in the

Big Woods of Arkansas, conservation

agencies, non-profit organizations

and private landowners have worked

together to protect this ecosystem.

Partnerships among The Nature

Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Arkansas Game and Fish

Commission, Arkansas Natural

Heritage Commission, Bureau of

Land Management, U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers, Potlatch Corporation,

legislators and private individuals led

Scott Simon (right),

The Nature

Conservancy’s

Arkansas State

Director, and

naturalist filmmaker

Timothy R.

Barksdale search for

Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers in the

Cache River

National Wildlife

Refuge, The Nature

Conservancy/Mark

Godfrey.

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to protection, acquisition, and

enhancement of hundreds of

thousands of acres over the last 20

years. At 550,000 acres, the Big

Woods of Arkansas is the largest

corridor of bottomland hardwood

forest remaining in the Mississippi

Delta north of the Atchafalaya River.

In 1989, Cache River and White

River National Wildlife Refuges and

all Arkansas Game and Fish

Commission Wildlife Management

Areas located in the lower White and

Cache River basins were recognized

by the 49 nations of the United

Nations’ Ramsar Convention as a

“Wetland of International

Importance.” These lands joined the

ranks of other internationally

renowned ecosystems worthy of

protection such as the Okefenokee

Swamp, the Florida Keys, and the

Chesapeake Bay. The Cache-Lower

White Rivers area is also recognized

as an “Important Bird Area” by the

National Audubon Society.

Two recent partnerships will help

conserve the Arkansas Big Woods for

future generations. The Big Woods

Conservation Partnership was

officially formed on April 7, 2004. The

partnership is working to restore or

conserve 200,000 additional acres of

forest habitat and rivers in the Big

Woods over the next 10 years.

Another group working to conserve

this area is the Corridor of Hope

Conservation Team. Through public

and private partnerships, the

Corridor of Hope Conservation Team

will develop and implement

conservation plans for the Ivory-billed

Woodpecker. The Team advises

the recovery team and helps with

outreach to local communities to

ensure a collaborative process.

Members of the team are civic

leaders, decision makers, elected

officials and other local stakeholders.

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White River National Wildlife Refuge

USFWS/Larry Richardson

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Historic Time Line for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

1820 Naturalist John James Audubon collects Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers along the Ohio, Arkansas and

Mississippi Rivers.

1870s Laws protecting much of the southern forests are

dropped and forests cut to meet demand for wood

products. Much remaining Ivory-billed

Woodpecker habitat is purchased and cleared for

agriculture and land settlement.

1906 President Theodore Roosevelt, on a hunting trip to

northeastern Louisiana, sees three ivory-bills.

1924 Arthur A. Allen, founder of the Cornell Laboratory

of Ornithology, discovers a pair in Florida. Even at

this early date, many ornithologists had already

considered the species to be extinct. Tragically, two

local taxidermists hear of Allen’s discovery and

shoot both birds — legally.

1935 A team from the Laboratory of Ornithology,

including Arthur A. Allen, Peter Paul Kellogg,

George Miksch Sutton, and James T. Tanner,

locates three woodpecker nests in the Singer Tract,

Louisiana. They produce the first motion pictures

and sound recordings ever obtained of the species.

1935 White River National Wildlife Refuge is

established on 113,000 acres in eastern Arkansas.

1937 James Tanner conducts field work in the

Southeastern United States over a three-year

period foccusing on the Singer Tract. He collects

information for his doctoral dissertation, which is

published by the National Audubon Society. He

estimates that only 22 ivory-bills exist in the

United States.

1941 National Audubon Society launches a campaign to

preserve the Singer Tract.

1944 National Audubon Society sends artist Don

Eckelberry to the Singer Tract to sketch and

document the last confirmed Ivory-billed

Woodpecker in the U.S.

1966 Texas birdwatchers Olga Hooks Lloyd and John

Dennis report seeing an Ivory-billed Woodpecker

in the Big Thicket area of east Texas.

1967 The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is added to the

endangered species list.

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Historic Time Line for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

1968 James Tanner spends two weeks searching in the

Big Thicket but finds no evidence of the birds.

1972 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins work on

the Cache River Drainage Project, which would

have channelized 232 miles of the river. Bayou

DeView, where the 2004-2005 Ivory-billed

Woodpecker sightings have been concentrated,

would have been drained. Rex Hancock, a

Stuttgart, Arkansas dentist, helps organize the

Citizens Committee to Save the Cache.

1978 After Hancock’s six-year effort, federal funding for

the Cache River Drainage Project ends.

1980 Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge is

established on the former Singer Tract — 40 years

too late to save the Ivory-billed Woodpecker here.

1986 The Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is

established when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service purchases 1,395 acres of land from The

Nature Conservancy with $646,000 in Federal

Duck Stamp funding. The refuge was established

by legislation supported by Senators Dale

Bumpers and David Pryor.

1989 The Cache River and White River National

Wildlife Refuges, and Arkansas Game and Fish

Commission WMAs located in the Cache River and

lower White River basins are designated as

“Wetlands of International Importance” by the

Ramsar Convention of the United Nations.

1992 A massive land exchange of 41,000 acres is

orchestrated by The Nature Conservancy, Senator

Bumpers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the

Bureau of Land Management and the Potlatch

Corporation (which owned the land) to create a

protected corridor connecting the Cache River

National Wildlife Refuge with the White River

National Wildlife Refuge. The land exchange,

valued at more than $20 million, is accomplished at

virtually no cost to the taxpayer.

1996 With support from The Nature Conservancy and

state agencies, Arkansas voters approve a 1/8th of

one percent sales tax to be used by the Arkansas

Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas

Natural Heritage Commission to purchase and

protect lands in the Arkansas Delta and elsewhere.

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Ivory-billed Woodpecker Websites:

http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill

Information on the recovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

http://www.agfc.com/ivorybilled

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

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

Search updates and online sightings form

http://nature.org/ivorybill

The Nature Conservancy

http://www.ivorybill.org

The Big Woods Partnership

http://www.audubon.org

The National Audubon Society

Special thanks to Dr. Dan Scheiman, Audubon Arkansas.

Historic Time Line for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

1999 David Kulivan, a forestry student at Louisiana

State University, reports seeing a pair of Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers in the Pearl River region of

Louisiana. The sighting leads to renewed efforts to

find the bird.

2002 An expedition is launched in the Pearl River

region, but no birds are found. Although the search

team does find large tree cavities and peeled bark

on trees, suggesting the possible presence of Ivory-billed

Woodpeckers in the area, there are no

definite sightings.

2004 Gene Sparling of Hot Springs, Arkansas, spots an

Ivory-billed Woodpecker while kayaking through

the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. When

confirmed by a subsequent sighting by Bobby

Harrison of Oakwood College and Tim Gallagher of

the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a search is

launched, resulting in numerous eyewitness

accounts as well as video evidence, filmed by David

Luneau, showing that the species still lives. The

Big Woods Conservation Partnership is formed.

2005 A federal endangered species recovery team is

formed. The search in Arkansas continues as a

collaborative effort by the Cornell Lab of

Ornithology, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The

Nature Conservancy, Arkansas Game and Fish

Commission, Audubon Arkansas, Arkansas

Natural Heritage Commission, and other partners.

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December 2005