Ivory-billed woodpecker

Ivory-billed woodpecker
Photograph of a male ivory-billed woodpecker leaving the nest as the female returns, taken on the Singer Tract, Louisiana, April 1935, by Arthur A. Allen
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Presumed Extinct  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Genus:	Campephilus
Species:	C. principalis
Binomial name
Campephilus principalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
C. p. principalis C. p. bairdii
Estimated range of the ivory-billed woodpecker prior to 1860 (solid line) and in 1891 (hatched area) – by Edwin Hasbrouck
Synonyms
Picus principalis Linnaeus, 1758

The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is a woodpecker that is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba.^[a] Habitat destruction and hunting have reduced populations so thoroughly that the species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its Red List as critically endangered,^[1][3] and by the American Birding Association as "definitely or probably extinct".^[4] The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944, and the last universally accepted sighting of a Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in 1987, after the bird's rediscovery there the prior year.^[5][6][7] Sporadic reports of sightings and other evidence of the persistence of the species have continued since then.

The bird's preferred diet consists of large beetle larvae, particularly wood-boring Cerambycidae beetles, supplemented by vegetable matter including such varied fruits as southern magnolia, pecans, acorns, hickory nuts, wild grapes, and persimmons. To hunt wood-boring beetle larvae, the bird uses its large bill to wedge and peel bark off dead trees to expose the larvae tunnels; no other species present in its range is able to remove tightly bound tree bark, and the ivory-bill faces no real competitor in hunting these larvae.

It is, or was, the largest woodpecker in the United States, and one of the largest in the world, with a total length of 48 to 53 cm (19 to 21 in) and a typical wingspan of 76 cm (30 in). In adults the bill is ivory in color, hence the bird's common name, while in juveniles it is chalky white. The bird has been found in habitat including dense swampland, comparatively open old-growth forest and, in Cuba, upland pine forests. Both parents work together to dig out a tree cavity roughly 15–70 feet (4.6–21.3 m) from the ground to create the nest, the typical depth of which is roughly 50 cm (20 in).

In the 21st century, reported sightings and analyses of audio and visual recordings were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as evidence that the species persists in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Various land purchases and habitat restoration efforts to protect any surviving individuals have been initiated in areas where sightings and other evidence have suggested a relatively high probability the species exists. In September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service^[8] proposed that the species be declared extinct. Following public comment periods, the Service said in a news release that it will continue to analyze and review information before finalizing any decision.

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