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Woodpecker Back from the Dead
Arkansas, United States
The ivory-billed woodpecker once lived across the South in old-growth forests. But the forests were heavily logged. The woodpecker was last seen in 1944.
Scientists recently sighted the bird several times in forested “bottomland hardwood” wetlands in Arkansas. Revered among birders, the striking woodpecker is the size of a crow.
The species may inhabit wetlands along the Mississippi River. Habitat protection is underway.
Paper
Sciencexpress.org,
28 April 2005
Researchers
John W. Fitzpatrick, Cornell University
(lead)
Image Credits
Woodpecker mount – AMNH collection
Satellite
of United States - NASA MODIS
Woodpeckers in 1935 – Courtesy of David
Allen
Satellite of Mississippi Delta - NASA Landsat
Wetlands –
Clark Jones/Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Data Sources:
- Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: Rediscovering the Ivory-Billed Woodpeckerhttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/index.html#
- NASA Earth Observatory: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Habitathttp://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16896
- Big Woods Conservation Partnershiphttp://www.ivorybill.org/index.html
- The Nature Conservancyhttp://www.nature.org
- Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: All About Birdshttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Ivory-billed_Woodpecker_dtl.html#fig1